Caroline Series
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Caroline Mary Series (born 24 March 1951) is an English mathematician known for her work in
hyperbolic geometry In mathematics, hyperbolic geometry (also called Lobachevskian geometry or Bolyai–Lobachevskian geometry) is a non-Euclidean geometry. The parallel postulate of Euclidean geometry is replaced with: :For any given line ''R'' and point ''P ...
,
Kleinian group In mathematics, a Kleinian group is a discrete subgroup of the group (mathematics), group of orientation-preserving Isometry, isometries of hyperbolic 3-space . The latter, identifiable with PSL(2,C), , is the quotient group of the 2 by 2 complex ...
s and
dynamical systems In mathematics, a dynamical system is a system in which a function describes the time dependence of a point in an ambient space. Examples include the mathematical models that describe the swinging of a clock pendulum, the flow of water in a p ...
.


Early life and education

Series was born on 24 March 1951 in
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
to Annette and
George Series George William Series FRS (22 February 1920 – 2 January 1995) was a British physicist, notable for his work on the optical spectroscopy of hydrogen atoms. Early life and education Series was born in Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire, the son of Wi ...
. She attended
Oxford High School for Girls Oxford High School is an Independent school (UK), independent day school for girls in Oxford, England. It was founded by the Girls' Day School Trust in 1875, making it the city's oldest girls' school. History Oxford High School was opened on ...
and from 1969 studied at
Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...
, where she was interviewed for admission by
Anne Cobbe Anne Philippa Cobbe (7 August 1920 – 15 December 1971) was a mathematician at the University of Oxford. She was an inspirational and supportive pure mathematics tutor at Somerville College which, during her time there, was still a women's coll ...
. She obtained a
B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
in Mathematics in 1972 and was awarded the university Mathematical Prize. She was awarded a
Kennedy Scholarship Kennedy Scholarships provide full funding for up to ten British post-graduate students to study at either Harvard University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Susan Hockfield, the sixteenth president of MIT, described the schol ...
and studied at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
from 1972, obtaining her
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
in 1976 supervised by
George Mackey George Whitelaw Mackey (February 1, 1916 – March 15, 2006) was an American mathematician known for his contributions to quantum logic, representation theory, and noncommutative geometry. Career Mackey earned his bachelor of arts at Rice Unive ...
on the ''
Ergodicity In mathematics, ergodicity expresses the idea that a point of a moving system, either a dynamical system or a stochastic process, will eventually visit all parts of the space that the system moves in, in a uniform and random sense. This implies th ...
of product groups''.


Career and research

In 1976–77 she was a lecturer at
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, and in 1977–78 she was a
research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...
at
Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...
. From 1978 she was at the
University of Warwick , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020â ...
, first as a lecturer, then, from 1987, as a
reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...
, and from 1992 as a professor. From 1999 to 2004 she was Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Senior Research Fellow at the University of Warwick. In the 1970s, Series found illustrations of Rufus Bowen's Theory of Dynamic Systems in the geometry of
continued fraction In mathematics, a continued fraction is an expression obtained through an iterative process of representing a number as the sum of its integer part and the reciprocal of another number, then writing this other number as the sum of its integer ...
s and two-dimensional hyperbolic geometry, effect of
Fuchsian group In mathematics, a Fuchsian group is a discrete subgroup of PSL(2,R). The group PSL(2,R) can be regarded equivalently as a group of isometries of the hyperbolic plane, or conformal transformations of the unit disc, or conformal transformations o ...
s. After that she investigated similar, including fractal, geometric patterns in three-dimensional hyperbolic spaces, with
Kleinian group In mathematics, a Kleinian group is a discrete subgroup of the group (mathematics), group of orientation-preserving Isometry, isometries of hyperbolic 3-space . The latter, identifiable with PSL(2,C), , is the quotient group of the 2 by 2 complex ...
s as symmetry groups. The computer images led to a book project with
David Mumford David Bryant Mumford (born 11 June 1937) is an American mathematician known for his work in algebraic geometry and then for research into vision and pattern theory. He won the Fields Medal and was a MacArthur Fellow. In 2010 he was awarded t ...
and David Wright, which took over ten years. Other coauthors with whom she published in this area include
Linda Keen Linda Jo Goldway Keen (born August 9, 1940, in New York City, New York) is a mathematician and a fellow of the American Mathematical Society. Since 1965, she has been a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Lehm ...
and
Joan Birman Joan Sylvia Lyttle Birman (born May 30, 1927, in New York CityLarry Riddle., ''Biographies of Women Mathematicians'', at Agnes Scott College) is an American mathematician, specializing in low-dimensional topology. She has made contributions to t ...
. Series became the third woman to be president of the London Mathematical Society when she held the post in 2017–2019. She is emeritus professor in mathematics at the University of Warwick.


Selected publications

* with
David Mumford David Bryant Mumford (born 11 June 1937) is an American mathematician known for his work in algebraic geometry and then for research into vision and pattern theory. He won the Fields Medal and was a MacArthur Fellow. In 2010 he was awarded t ...
and David Wright: ''Indra's Pearls.'' Cambridge University Press 2002. * * *
Series, Wright ''Non euclidean geometry and Indra´s Pearls'', Plus Magazine
*


Awards and honours

In 1987 she was awarded the Junior
Whitehead Prize The Whitehead Prize is awarded yearly by the London Mathematical Society to multiple mathematicians working in the United Kingdom who are at an early stage of their career. The prize is named in memory of homotopy theory pioneer J. H. C. Whiteh ...
by the London Mathematical Society. In 1992 she held the Rouse Ball Lecture in Cambridge, and in 1986 she was the
invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians This is a list of International Congresses of Mathematicians Plenary and Invited Speakers. Being invited to talk at an International Congress of Mathematicians has been called "the equivalent, in this community, of an induction to a hall of fame." ...
in Berkeley (''Symbolic Dynamics for Geodesic Flows''). From 1990 to 2001 she was the editor of the Student Texts of the London Mathematical Society. In 1986 she was a founding member of European Women in Mathematics (EWM). In 2009 she was the Emmy Noether visiting professor at the
University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...
. She was elected a
Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...
of the
American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...
in its inaugural class of 2013. She is an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College. *1972 â€“74 Kennedy Scholarship, Harvard University *1987 Junior Whitehead Prize, London Mathematical Society *2014 Senior Anne Bennett Prize, London Mathematical Society *2016
Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: *2017 Elected to the
Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...


Personal life

She is the daughter of the physicist
George Series George William Series FRS (22 February 1920 – 2 January 1995) was a British physicist, notable for his work on the optical spectroscopy of hydrogen atoms. Early life and education Series was born in Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire, the son of Wi ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Series, Caroline 1951 births Living people Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Harvard University alumni 20th-century English mathematicians 21st-century English mathematicians British women mathematicians Academics of the University of Warwick Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Members of Academia Europaea Whitehead Prize winners Fellows of the Royal Society Female Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford 20th-century women mathematicians 21st-century women mathematicians