The Archimedeans are the mathematical

society A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Socie ...

of 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 ...

, founded in 1935. It currently has over 2000 active members, many of them alumni, making it one of the largest student societies in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. The society hosts regular talks at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences, including in the past by many well-known speakers in the field of mathematics. It publishes two magazines, ''Eureka'' and ''QARCH''. One of several aims of the society, as laid down in its constitution, is to encourage co-operation between the existing mathematical societies of individual Cambridge colleges, which at present are just the Adam's society of St John's College and the

Trinity Mathematical Society The squared square upon which the Trinity Mathematical Society logo is based. The Trinity Mathematical Society, abbreviated TMS, was founded in Trinity College, Cambridge in 1919 by G. H. Hardy to "promote the discussion of subjects of mathemati ...

, but in the past have included many more. The society is mentioned in

G. H. Hardy Godfrey Harold Hardy (7 February 1877 – 1 December 1947) was an English mathematician, known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis. In biology, he is known for the Hardy–Weinberg principle, a basic principle of pop ...

's essay

A Mathematician's Apology ''A Mathematician's Apology'' is a 1940 essay by British mathematician G. H. Hardy, which offers a defence of the pursuit of mathematics. Central to Hardy's " apology" — in the sense of a formal justification or defence (as in Plato's '' Ap ...

. Past presidents of The Archimedeans include

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 ...

and Richard Taylor.

Activity

The main focus of the society's activities are the regular talks, which generally concern topics from mathematics or theoretical physics, and are accessible to students on an undergraduate level. Among the list of recent speakers are

Fields medalists The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The name of the award ho ...

Wendelin Werner Wendelin Werner (born 23 September 1968) is a German-born French mathematician working on random processes such as self-avoiding random walks, Brownian motion, Schramm–Loewner evolution, and related theories in probability theory and mathematica ...

and

Alain Connes Alain Connes (; born 1 April 1947) is a French mathematician, and a theoretical physicist, known for his contributions to the study of operator algebras and noncommutative geometry. He is a professor at the , , Ohio State University and Vande ...

, as well as authors Ian Stewart and

Simon Singh Simon Lehna Singh, (born 19 September 1964) is a British popular science author, theoretical and particle physicist. His written works include ''Fermat's Last Theorem'' (in the United States titled ''Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve th ...

. Many of the speakers are international, and are hosted by The Archimedeans during their visit. After exams and University-wide project deadlines, the society is also known to organise social events.

Publications

Eureka Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...

'' is a mathematical journal that is published annually by The Archimedeans. It includes articles on a variety of topics in mathematics, written by students and academics from all over the world, as well as a short summary of the activities of the society,

problem set A problem set, sometimes shortened as pset, is a teaching tool used by many universities. Most courses in physics, math, engineering, chemistry, and computer science will give problem sets on a regular basis. They can also appear in other subjects, ...

s, puzzles, artwork and book reviews. The magazine has been published 65 times since 1939, and authors include many famous mathematicians and scientists such as

Paul Erdős Paul Erdős ( hu, Erdős Pál ; 26 March 1913 – 20 September 1996) was a Hungarian mathematician. He was one of the most prolific mathematicians and producers of mathematical conjectures of the 20th century. pursued and proposed problems in ...

Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lewis ...

Douglas Hofstadter Douglas Richard Hofstadter (born February 15, 1945) is an American scholar of cognitive science, physics, and comparative literature whose research includes concepts such as the sense of self in relation to the external world, consciousness, an ...

, Godfrey Hardy,

Béla Bollobás Béla Bollobás FRS (born 3 August 1943) is a Hungarian-born British mathematician who has worked in various areas of mathematics, including functional analysis, combinatorics, graph theory, and percolation. He was strongly influenced by Paul E ...

John Conway John Horton Conway (26 December 1937 – 11 April 2020) was an English mathematician active in the theory of finite groups, knot theory, number theory, combinatorial game theory and coding theory. He also made contributions to many branches ...

, Stephen Hawking,

Roger Penrose Sir Roger Penrose (born 8 August 1931) is an English mathematician, mathematical physicist, philosopher of science and Nobel Laureate in Physics. He is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics in the University of Oxford, an emeritus fello ...

, Ian Stewart, Chris Budd, Fields Medallist

Timothy Gowers Sir William Timothy Gowers, (; born 20 November 1963) is a British mathematician. He is Professeur titulaire of the Combinatorics chair at the Collège de France, and director of research at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Trinity Col ...

and

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...

Paul Dirac Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (; 8 August 1902 – 20 October 1984) was an English theoretical physicist who is regarded as one of the most significant physicists of the 20th century. He was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the Univer ...

. It can also be read on Mathigon. The journal is distributed free of charge to all current members of the Archimedeans. In addition, there are many subscriptions by other students, alumni and libraries. Subscriptions to ''Eureka'' are the society's main source of income. The Archimedeans also publish ''QARCH'', a magazine containing problem sets and solutions or partial solutions submitted by readers. It is published on an irregular basis and distributed free of charge.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Archimedeans Mathematics in the United Kingdom Clubs and societies of the University of Cambridge Student organizations established in 1935