Mathematics at the British Science Festival Newcastle, 6-12 September 2013

摘要

The British Science Festival has been running, under a variety of names, since 1831. The Mathematical Sciences Section of the Festival is a small committee which solicits ideas for events from the mathematical sciences community and aims to put on a programme covering a wide range of interests within the discipline, including statistics and aspects of computer science. Each year they choose a President from among those well known for their ability to communicate to a wide audience; recent Presidents have included Simon Singh Hon FIMA,David Spiegelhalter FIMA, Caroline Series FIMA and John Barrow; this year's President is Celia Hoyles OBE CMath CMathTeach FIMA, of the Institute of Education and President Designate of the IMA. For 2014, when the Festival will be in Birmingham, the President will be Professor Peter McOwan,a Vice-Principal at QMUL and author with Matt Parker of 'The Magic of Computer Science'. An article about their work can be found on page 252 of this issue. Matt, the Standup Mathematician, regularly presents their joint show 'The Maths and Computing Magic Show' at the Festival and this year there were two performances during the Family Weekend, on Saturday, attracting audiences of adults and children to the Discovery Museum in Newcastle.