Oxford University Invariant Society

The Oxford University Invariant Society, or 'The Invariants', is a university society open to members of the University of Oxford, dedicated to promotion of interest in mathematics.[1] The society regularly hosts talks from professional mathematicians on topics both technical and more popular, from the mathematics of juggling to the history of mathematics.[2] Many prominent British mathematicians were members of the society during their time at Oxford.[3]

Oxford University Invariant Society
AbbreviationThe Invariants
TypeStudent organisation
PurposeEducation
HeadquartersMathematical Institute, Oxford
Location
  • Oxford, UK
Official language
English
Websitewww.invariants.org.uk

History

The Society was founded in 1936 by J. H. C. Whitehead together with two of his students at Balliol College, Graham Higman[4] and Jack de Wet.[5] The name of the society was chosen at random by Higman from the titles of the books on Whitehead's shelf[6]; in this case, Oswald Veblen's Invariants of Quadratic Differential Forms. The opening lecture was given by G. H. Hardy in Hilary Term 1936, with the title 'Round Numbers'.[7][8]

Though many members joined the armed forces during the war, meetings continued, including lectures by Douglas Hartree and Max Newman, as well as debates - 'Is Mathematics an end in itself?' - and mathematical films.[9]

The society has hosted hundreds of prominent mathematicians,[10] including lectures by Benoit Mandelbrot,[11] Sir Roger Penrose,[12] and Simon Singh.[13]

Since 1961, the Society has published a magazine entitled The Invariant.[14]

gollark: You can't infer much from language choice as people will obviously try and spoof that.
gollark: Often you can *write* a thing in a basic obvious way, but *read* code doing it in a fancy exotic way.
gollark: Sometimes, yes.
gollark: Perhaps. This would be somewhat problematic though, given that you'd have to know all the languages in use to do it well.
gollark: Anyway, downloading an entire perl interpreter is probably not *that* silly, thus do retroactively?

References
  1. Invariants Society Constitution, http://www.invariants.org.uk/constitution
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-08-12. Retrieved 2009-06-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Oxford Maths Institute: History of Mathematics
  3. More mathematical people: contemporary conversations. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 1990. ISBN 9780151581757.
  4. http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Higman.html Biography of Graham Higman
  5. Wilson, Robin (Spring 2011). "Invariant Society 75th anniversary". Oxford Mathematical Institute Newsletter.
  6. John Fauvel, Raymond Flood & Robin Wilson (editors), Oxford figures: 800 years of the mathematical sciences (2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 2013), page 318.
  7. The Early History of the Invariant Society by Robin Wilson, The Invariant (2010)
  8. Professor Graham Higman's Obituary in The Daily Telegraph
  9. The Early History of the Invariant Society by Robin Wilson, The Invariant (2010)
  10. https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/system/files/attachments/introbook18_0.pdf Oxford Undergraduate Handbook
  11. John Fauvel, Raymond Flood & Robin Wilson (editors), Oxford figures: 800 years of the mathematical sciences (2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 2013), page 318.
  12. Hilary 2010 Termcard, Bodleian Library
  13. http://www.cherwell.org/news/world/2010/01/26/the-drugs-don-t-work
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