1996 NEW ZEALAND MATHEMATICS COLLOQUIUM AND ANNUAL MEETING OF THE NZ MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY
The 1996 NZ Mathematics Colloquium will be held at Massey University, Palmerston North from 1-4 July 1996. The Colloquium will be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the New Zealand Mathematical Society.
There will be an informal gathering and registration with snacks provided from 5pm on Sunday 30 June. The main programme commences at 9am Monday 1 July and will conclude by 4.30 pm Thursday 4 July. There will be an outing on Tuesday afternoon.
Thursday 4 July will be a Theme Day on Mathematical Physics. Paul Callaghan, Professor of Physics at Massey University has accepted an invitation to speak on Thursday. Professor Callaghan has recently been awarded a DSc from Oxford for his work in the field of Nuclear Magnetic Resonances and his book `Principles of NMR Microscopy' is a basic text for researchers in this area. We caught up with him as he returned from the Antarctic where he is involved in a collaborative research project using NMR to investigate the unfrozen brine water in the sea ice of McMurdo Sound.
The First Circular will be distributed in February with a call for offers of contributed papers to be submitted by 30 April. Registrations close on 31 May and abstracts of contributed papers are due by this date. We have not yet finalised our panel of Invited Lecturers and the Committee would welcome any recommendations from members.
Mike Hendy, Convenor
Gillian Thornley, Secretary
AITKEN PRIZE (NZMS STUDENT PRIZE)
The NZ Mathematical Society offers a prize for the best contributed talk by a student at the annual NZ Mathematics Colloquium.
Known as the Aitken Prize, in honour of the New Zealand born mathematician Alexander Craig Aitken, this prize will be offered for the second time at the 1996 Colloquium to be held at Massey University in Palmerston North during the week 3-7 July 1996.
The prize will consist of a cheque for NZ$250, accompanied by a certificate.
Entrants for the prize must be enrolled (or have been enrolled) for a degree in Mathematics at a university or other tertiary institution in New Zealand in the year of the award. During the Colloquium, they should give a talk on a topic in any branch of the mathematical sciences.
A judging panel will be appointed by the NZMS Council, and make recommendations to the NZMS President and Vice-President for the award. Normally the prize will be awarded to one person, but in exceptional circumstances the prize may be shared, or no prize may be awarded.
Entrants should clearly indicate their willingness to be considered for the award when they register their intention to contribute a talk at the Colloquium. For the 1996 Colloquium, this information is required by the organising committee by April 30, to Secretary, 1996 NZ Mathematics Colloquium Committee, Mathematics Department, Massey University, Private Bag 11-222, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
Photographs taken during the Aitken Conference Dinner in Dunedin in August which have been provided by Harold Henderson.
From left to right: Marston Conder, NZMS President 1993-95; Bernhard Neumann, Honorary Life Member NZMS; Derek Holton; NZMS President 1991-93
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son of Alexander Craig Aitken |
Forder Lecturer 1995 |
From left to right: Marston Conder; Chris Stephens, Winner of NZMS Aitken Prize 1995; Charles Semple, Highly Commended
NZMS AWARDS 1995
Honorary Life Memberships of the NZ Mathematical Society have been conferred upon Professors Roy P. Kerr and Wilf G. Malcolm, in recognition of their valuable contributions to mathematics in New Zealand. [Readers may recall both have been featured in the centrefold section of this Newsletter, Professor Malcolm in issue #33 and Professor Kerr in issue #58, where some details of their careers may be found - editor.]
NZ Mathematical Society Research Awards for 1995 have been made to
Vladimir Pestov
(Victoria University of Wellington)
"for his creative and ingenious research in areas ranging from topological groups and Lie theory to the nonstandard analysis of superspace, in which he has solved long-standing open problems as well as demonstrating his breadth and depth of understanding and a gift for elegant and colourful exposition"
and to
Neil Watson
(University of Canterbury)
"for an outstanding series of research articles on harmonic functions and potential theory, in which he has introduced new ideas and tools, and deep analyses, that have resulted in new and improved approaches to classical theorems and led to their generalisation to more abstract situations".
The judges' report stated: "The field of nominees for the 1995 awards was truly outstanding. If the Society had chosen to have made several awards all in this one year it could have done so with great and justifiable pride in these achievements of its members. However, it seemed appropriate to limit the number of awards to two in the hope that the other excellent candidates will allow their names to be put forward again. The judges very much hope this happens so that the excellent standard of New Zealand mathematical research can be further recognised and encouraged."
The Aitken Prize (for the best talk/paper presented by a student at the annual NZ Mathematics Colloquium) was offered for the first time in 1995, and was awarded to Chris Stephens, a PhD student at the University of Canterbury, for his paper "Global optimisation requires global information". Also Charles Semple (graduate student at Victoria University of Wellington) was highly commended for his paper "Large matroid representation over partial fields".
These awards were announced and presented during the Aitken Centenary Conference held in Dunedin during the week 28 August-1 September 1995.
Marston Conder
Immediate Past President, NZ Mathematical Society