Termcard for Hilary Term 2001

Tuesday 1^st Week
Prof. G. R. Grimmett (Cambridge)
“Stochastic Pinball”
The most fundamental stochastic process is termed `random walk’, and it models the movement of a particle about a space. There is a neat interplay between random walks and electrical networks.

Tuesday 2^nd Week
Prof. Sir Christopher Zeeman
“Applications of Catastrophe Theory to the Physical, Biological and Behavioural Sciences”
Catastrophe theory was discovered by Rene Thom in the 1960s, and is a method of mathematical modelling that is particularly applicable to phenomena in which continuous causes give rise to discontinuous effects.

Tuesday 3^rd Week
Jackie Stedall (Queen’s)
“Ariadne’s Thread: The Life and Times of a Key Textbook”

Tuesday 4^th Week
Members’ Papers
Your chance to speak before the society. Please let the secretary know beforehand if you wish to speak.

Tuesday 5^th Week
Dr. Tony Gardiner (Birmingham)
“Mummy, mummy. Where do mathematicians come from?”
We will examine some popular myths and try to answer the question in the title – while looking at some attractive and relevant mathematics.

Tuesday 6^th Week
Prof. P. Maini (Brasenose)
“Applications of Mathematics to Wound Healing”
Wound healing involves the complex non-linear interaction of a number of physical and chemical processes. The combined effects of these can be studied using mathematical modelling.

Tuesday 7^th Week
Prof. P. Donnelly (Statistics Dept)
“Modelling Genes”
The talk will give an insight into the mathematics and the science behind some of the applications of mathematical, statistical, and computational methods to modern molecular genetics.

Sunday 8^th Week
Trip to Blenheim Palace