Talks

Speaker Meeting
Prof Miles Reid (Warwick)
"Geometry and the Universe"
Friday 12th October 2007, 7:30pm, CMS

The parallel postulate is an axiom involved in the logical foundations of plane Euclidean geometry. It was the subject of probably thelongest-running debate in intellectual history, partly settled in the early 19th century by the discovery of non-Euclidean geometry. With this discovery, the question of whether Euclidean or non-Euclidean geometry is true in the real world becomes a question of empirical observation in physics and astronomy. Astronomers and cosmologists are now able to observe some features of the universe over billions of light years, and to trace back with some confidence its history to the first 1/10th second of its existence. The talk will be a light-hearted overview of some of these topics as they appear to a modern pure mathematician.

Speaker Meeting (Seminars for Undergraduates)
Dr. David Conlon
"Graph Ramsey Theory"
Friday 19th October 2007, 3pm, CMS

Ramsey's Theorem states that, if you have n people in a room, then there must be a large group of people (with size about log n) who are all mutually friends or all mutually strangers. This is an intriguing theorem, because though it is relatively easy to show that the order of the group should be about log n, it is notoriously difficult to determine the numbers exactly. In this talk, I will talk about this theorem and its various offshoots, highlighting the recent developments in the field and the various problems which are still left to be solved.

Speaker Meeting
Dr Andreas Doering (Imperial)
"What is a quantum thing?"
Friday 26th October 2007, 7:30pm, CMS

In the first part of the talk, I will present the Kochen-Specker theorem, which shows that it is not possible to assign true or false to all propositions about a quantum system at once. Thus, the Kochen-Specker theorem is a major obstacle to any naive realist interpretation of quantum theory. In the second part, it will be shown how topos theory, which is a generalisation of set theory, does allow the assignment of truth values to all propositions, notwithstanding the Kochen-Specker theorem. The idea is to use the internal logic of a topos, which is richer than ordinary Boolean logic. Moreover, a brief sketch is given of how states and physical quantities can be 'translated' into topos-internal structures.

Mathematical Improvised Comedy
Improvised Comedy Ents
"Improvised Comedy Ents"
Friday 9th November 2007, 7:30pm, CMS

Back by popular demand, Improvised Comedy Ents bring you an evening of fast-paced games and sketches, from a cast of mathmos, driven by suggestions from the audience.

Speaker Meeting
Professor Boris Zilber (Oxford)
"The Logic of Geometry"
Friday 23rd November 2007, 7:30pm, CMS

I am going to tell the story of how the quest for logically perfect structures lead to a rediscovery of quantum geometry.

Social

CUSU Freshers' Fair
2rd-3th October 2007
Kelsey Kerridge

Freshers' Buffet Lunch/Squash
Thursday 4th October 2007, 12.00
St. Columbas Hall, Downing Place
Follow the scarf after your second pair of lectures to our squash, where you'll find refreshments, cheap books for your first year, old copies of Eureka and lots of friendly Committee members. Sign up for our Society!

Puzzles and Games Ring
Every Saturday, 2pm
Location TBC
Our games subgroup is now up and running again! Come along to play any of a variety of games, including various board games, Othello, Backgammon, Tripples, Mensa, Chess, Draughts, Fibonacci, Cirrondo, The Viking Game, Go, Risk and Icehouse games; or bring your own!

Scients Christmas Dinner
Date TBC
Location TBC
We will be celebrating Christmas with the other scientific societies. [Details].