The London Mathematical Society (LMS) celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2015 and we have been marking the occasion in a number of ways. Our most recent, and certainly our most public, event was held at the Science Museum in London in November.
A number of the School’s Outreach team were on hand throughout the weekend at the end of November as part of the museum’s What’s Your Angle? event. This event gave visitors the opportunity to discover how mathematics relates to everyday life.
Our demonstrations explored two key areas of research, the first being the dynamics and properties of waves and the second looking at vortices and Skyrmions.
There were interactive activities to engage the public with the School’s research in solitons as they went undercover at Coral Beach Surf School. Solitons are a unique type of wave and a specialism of many mathematics lecturers at Kent. These waves can travel for great distances without slowing down or changing their shape. Visitors made waves collide in a 3m luminous water tank, created colourful whirlpools in a bottle, observed playful dolphins making bubble rings underwater and shot smoke rings from a vapour gun. These phenomena are all example of solitons, and participants enjoyed experiencing them in a hands-on way. After their visit to our cube, the undercover journalists reported on our research. The team from SMSAS appreciated the opportunity to pitch their research to such a broad audience ranging from school children to academics. The combination of art and mathematics gave it a new twist, bringing maths to life in an engaging way.
http://www.kent.ac.uk/smsas/outreach/LMS.html
There are more pictures of the event here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vzq1wkwi3qhpusc/AABrQagoZGB2Q3SAGSRY-2QMa?dl=0
(Courtesy of the Science Museum)