The Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences is an international research institute for

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and its many applications at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. It is named after one of the university's most illustrious figures, the mathematician and natural philosopher

Sir Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the great ...

and occupies one of the buildings in the Cambridge Centre for Mathematical Sciences.

History

After a national competition run by SERC, the Science and Engineering Research Council (now known as EPSRC

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to universi ...

), this institute was chosen to be the national research institute for mathematical sciences in the UK. It opened in 1992 with support from St John's College and

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

. St. John's provided the land and a purpose-built building, Trinity provided running costs for the first five years and the

London Mathematical Society The London Mathematical Society (LMS) is one of the United Kingdom's learned societies for mathematics (the others being the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), the Edinburgh Mathematical S ...

provided other support. Shortly afterwards at the institute, the British mathematician

Andrew Wiles Sir Andrew John Wiles (born 11 April 1953) is an English mathematician and a Royal Society Research Professor at the University of Oxford, specializing in number theory. He is best known for proving Fermat's Last Theorem, for which he was awar ...

announced his approach to proving

Fermat's Last Theorem In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem (sometimes called Fermat's conjecture, especially in older texts) states that no three positive integers , , and satisfy the equation for any integer value of greater than 2. The cases and have been k ...

in three lectures on 21–23 June 1993. In 1999 the institute was awarded a Queen's Anniversary Prize in recognition of "world-class achievement in education." Although it is part of the national infrastructure for mathematical research, it is formally part of the

, from which it receives some funding. Nowadays five UK Research Councils, BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC, NERC, STFC support about 55% of its activity. A number of philanthropic individuals, family and educational trusts, private companies and bodies associated with the

generously give their support.

Scientific programmes

There are typically two or three programmes at any one time, each with up to twenty people and lasting between 4 weeks and 6 months. During these periods of activity there are courses and workshops for the attendees. Programmes are chosen from proposals that cover the entire range of mathematical sciences and their applications by a Scientific Steering Committee of mathematical scientists solely on their scientific merit and the likelihood that they will have significant impact in their subject.

Directors

* 1991–1996 Sir

Michael Atiyah Sir Michael Francis Atiyah (; 22 April 1929 – 11 January 2019) was a British-Lebanese mathematician specialising in geometry. His contributions include the Atiyah–Singer index theorem and co-founding topological K-theory. He was awarded the ...

OM FRS * 1996–2001

Keith Moffatt Henry Keith Moffatt, FRS FRSE (born 12 April 1935) is a Scottish mathematician with research interests in the field of fluid dynamics, particularly magnetohydrodynamics and the theory of turbulence. He was Professor of Mathematical Physics at ...

FRS * 2001–2006 Sir

John Kingman __NOTOC__ Sir John Frank Charles Kingman (born 28 August 1939) is a British mathematician. He served as N. M. Rothschild and Sons Professor of Mathematical Sciences and Director of the Isaac Newton Institute at the University of Cambridge from ...

FRS * 2006–2011 Sir David Wallace CBE FRS * 2011–2016

John Toland John Toland (30 November 167011 March 1722) was an Irish people, Irish rationalist philosopher and freethought, freethinker, and occasional satirist, who wrote numerous books and pamphlets on political philosophy and philosophy of religion, whi ...

FRS * 2016–2021 David Abrahams * 2021–

Ulrike Tillmann Ulrike Luise Tillmann FRS is a mathematician specializing in algebraic topology, who has made important contributions to the study of the moduli space of algebraic curves. She is the president of the London Mathematical Society in the period ...

FRS The institute is chaired by technology entrepreneur and founder of

Cantab Capital Partners Cantab Capital Partners is a hedge fund based in Cambridge, England, co-founded by Dr. Ewan Kirk and Erich Schlaikjer. Cantab operates quantitative funds using computer models to drive investment decisions. As of Feb 2015 Cantab had $4.5 billion ...

Ewan Kirk Ewan Mckinnon Kirk (born February 1961) is a British technology entrepreneur, founder of Cantab Capital Partners, chair of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences and Non-Executive Director of BAE Systems. He is also Co-Chair of the ...

References

External links

*
Interactive map
of the Mathematical Sciences site including links to the departments. {{Coord, 52.20989, N, 0.10287, E, source:placeopedia, display=title Research institutes established in 1992 Mathematical institutes Institutions in the School of the Physical Sciences, University of Cambridge Research institutes in Cambridge

History

Scientific programmes

Directors

See also

References

External links