"The Story of Maths" - a new TV series on the BBC

BBC/OU Open2.net - The Story of Maths

"The Story of Maths" is a new 4-part TV series on the history of mathematics, presented by Prof. Marcus du Sautoy and produced by the BBC and the Open University. The first episode will be broadcast at 9pm on Monday 6th October on BBC Four. For more information, see the programme's homepage, at the link above.

From The Times newspaper: "Ask Your Father: What's the biggest number in the world?"

A story from The Times newspaper from the 20th of June 2008, featuring some thoughts of Oxford mathematician and public-communication expert Prof. Marcus du Sautoy on how to answer the age-old problem of explaining large numbers and infinity to children.

Lifetime Achievement prize for George Lusztig

From the American Mathematical Society web pages:

George Lusztig of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has received the 2008 AMS Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement. Presented annually by the American Mathematical Society, the Steele Prize is one of the highest distinctions in mathematics. The prize was awarded today [7th January 2008] at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Diego, California.

"The work of George Lusztig has entirely reshaped representation theory, and in the process changed much of mathematics," the prize citation states. "His work has touched widely separated parts of mathematics, reshaping them and knitting them together. He has built new bridges to combinatorics and algebraic geometry, solving classical problems in those disciplines and creating exciting new ones. This is a remarkable career, and as exciting to watch today as it was at the beginning more than thirty years ago."

The full citation may be found in the prize booklet (PDF), from page 46 onwards.

Many congratulations to Prof. Lusztig. I have personally been inspired by his work, especially on quantum groups. Indeed, my whole research career would likely not exist without him.