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The History of Number Theory

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This post was contributed by James Fisk, graduate administrator at the School of Business, Economics and Informatics. James attended a British Society for the History of Mathematics event hosted by Birkbeck’s Department of Economics, Mathematics and Statistics

bshmBirkbeck welcomed the British Society for the History of Mathematics (BSHM) to its campus on Saturday 21st May, for a conference looking to trace the fascinating, and often surprising, history of number theory.

The event, ‘The History of Number Theory’ had been organised by BSHM with support from the Department of Economics, Mathematics and Statistics and saw speakers trace a history stretching from antiquity to the 21st Century, from thinkers such as Euclid to Fermat and Gang Tian.

Speaking after the event, Professor Sarah Hart said “It brought together a wide array of people; there were many students and academics, but also those with just an interest in the subject. Having such a diverse audience truly enriched the conversation.”

In the second iteration of what both Birkbeck and the Society anticipate to be a continuing annual fixture, the conference welcomed speakers eager to bring to life theories that have engaged mathematicians for centuries (and some, for millennia).

The History of Number Theory - Robin Wilson - Eulers Number TheoryAlmost 100 attendees arrived at Birkbeck for the conference, a place where Louis Joel Mordell, responsible for the Mordell Equation, took a lecturer post in 1913. Ben Fairbairn, Senior Lecturer in Mathematics at Birkbeck, discussed Mordell‘s impact, saying “Mordell’s time at Birkbeck saw him solve two conjectures posed by Srinivasa Ramanujan, the hugely influential Indian mathematician. Of the three conjectures posited in ‘On Arithmetical Functions’, Mordell solved two at Birkbeck, with the third only being closed as recently as 1974!”

The conference also saw Simon Singh discuss the making of his hugely successful ‘Fermat’s Last Theorem’ documentary, produced for the BBC’s Horizon series and chronicling the esteemed mathematician’s problematic last theorem. Those wishing to get a flavour of the event can still find the documentary on BBC iPlayer.

With the conference covering millennia of fierce debate around Number Theory, an anecdote shared on the day by Ben Fairbairn and about Louis Joel Mordell best summarises the human side of the field: “He travelled by a certain train which should have got him to Birkbeck in time. But frequently the train arrived late. He pointed out the discrepancy between promise and performance to the Railway Company, who said that they would do something about it. And so they did: they adjusted the advertised time of arrival and, in consequence, the train now always arrived as advertised, but always too late for him.”

Birkbeck’s Department of Economics, Mathematics and Statistics offer a range of courses covering the material discussed at the conference. You can see how to join the British Society for the History of Mathematics by visiting their site.

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Recognizing Entrepreneurial Universities in Academic Rankings

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This post was contributed by Matthew Jayes of Birkbeck’s School of Business, Economics and Informatics. The article concerns an international education project founded by Birkbeck visiting professor, Henry Etzkowitz – who is also a member of Birkbeck Centre for Innovation Management Research (CIMR)

CIMR logo

Initial results and new projects aimed at crediting academic contribution to economic and social development as well as publication and educational activities in international university ranking systems will be announced at Global Entrepreneurial University Metrics (GEUM) Meet.

On 3-5 June 2016, the International Triple Helix Institute (ITHI) in cooperation with the Triple Helix Association (THA) will host the second GEUM workshop in Palo Alto, Silicon Valley, USA.

The Global Entrepreneurial University Metrics initiative (GEUM) is an international Working Group initiated by the International Triple Helix Institute (ITHI), CWTS Leiden University, and the Psychology in the Public Interest Program, North Carolina State University, under the umbrella of the Triple Helix Association. The scope of the GEUM is to catalyze the development of new metrics including entrepreneurship, gender and diversity and furtherance of the public interest in University ranking systems.

Professor Henry Etzkowitz, of Birkbeck Centre for Innovation Management Research (CIMR), and GEUM project founder, said: “Most global University rankling systems privilege publication activity, with the effect of driving out other academic contributions to the economy and society. The purpose of the GEUM initiative is to broaden input into what is ranked and how ranking is accomplished.”

The initiative, led by Professor Etzkowitz – who is also President of the ITHI/THA – coordinated by Alexander Bikkulov (Co-ordination Manager), and with Dr Chunyan Zhou as Proposal Coordinator, begun with seven country teams from:

  • Austria
  • Brazil
  • China
  • Finland
  • The Netherland
  • Russia
  • The US

It was kicked off during a first workshop held on 22-23 June 2015 in Leiden (the Netherlands) supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF).

GEUM has already produced some new results since the first research projects from the initiative break through: Brazil, Finland, Austria and Russia have conducted the GEUM studies in their countries and will present the results in the workshop that will move between Dinah’s Garden Hotel, Stanford University and a prototypical Silicon Valley “garage Setting” this week-end.

“First GEUM Workshop was a good kick-off for many research teams involved – including Russian team,” says Alexander Bikkulov, Head of Center for Project Development and Fundraising at ITMO University (Russia).

“We can see this in a number of successful projects started in 4 countries during the year. And we definitely see the positive impact of having strong international contacts – both in strengthening the applications for grants and in real exchange of ideas and expertise.”

The founding country teams (Austria, Brazil, China, Finland, Holland, Russia, U.S.A) will be joined by project teams-in-organization from Japan, Spain and the U.K.

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Law on Trial 2016: Can the EU Regulate a Financial Crisis?

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This post was contributed by Daniele D’Alvia, MPhil Law student in Birkbeck’s School of Law. Here, Daniele considers the central question of a Law on Trial 2016 event being held on Thursday 16 June: “Can the EU Regulate a Financial Crisis?”

This year, Law on Trial – the School of Law’s l week-long programme of free-to-attend public lectures and panel discussions – will focus on the EU referendum. The annual showcase will run from Monday 13 to Friday 17 June 2016 and will bring together academic staff, recognised internationally as authorities in their field. Find out more

Law on Trial 2016

On the 23rd of May 2016 the international credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded – for the second time this year – Deutsche Bank’s ratings for unsecured senior debt to Baa2 two notches above junk status, and it has also cut the long-term deposit rating one notch from A2 to A3. The cut has occurred after the heavy loss that the German Bank has faced last year and its impossibility to guarantee internal capital generation by 2018.

In addition, since the 1st of January 2016 Europe has seen the implementation of a new ‘bail-in’ regime for banks (namely, the new rules are a result of the EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive), which requires the writing down of senior debt (bond instruments in particular) in case of a possible default or financial distress of banks. This circumstance has surely affected those assessments provided by Moody’s too.

Furthermore, the German Council of Economic Experts has recently proposed a new sovereign insolvency mechanism in order to overturn the financial principles of the post-war order in Europe. The proposal is centred on new ‘haircuts’ on holders of Eurozone sovereign debt and aims at matching the new-implemented rules enacted for banks under the EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive that have been mentioned above.

This has been done to restore the credibility of the ‘no-bailout’ clause in the Maastricht Treaty. The tax-payer does not have to suffer any loss under the new ‘bail-in’ culture, but what about the markets and the senior creditors? Indeed, under the new scheme bondholders will suffer losses in any future sovereign debt crisis before there can be any bail-out of the Eurozone by the European Stability Mechanism. The negative effects of such reforms have just manifested this year in January 2016 when the bondholders (i.e. senior debt) of the Portuguese bank Novo Banco have been written down under the new implemented scheme of ‘bail-in’ for banks in distress.

Indeed, these reforms are contributing to a ‘bond-running’ effect because the senior debt under these regimes is the first one to be written down. To this end, a new possible aggressive speculation by investors and economic crisis is just ready to start in Europe.

It really seems that currently in Europe the real question has shifted from how to stay in Europe to how to stay in the market. In other words, nowadays it is the politics of financial markets that governs politics at national governments level and not the other way round.

Hence, the rhetoric but essential question that Prof Michelle Everson has posed for the panel discussion that will be held this year at Law on Trial: “Can the EU Regulate a Financial Crisis?” Indeed, the panel discussion is focused on providing a possible answer by taking into account the global nature of financial risk, the limits of financial regulation as well as its effects in relation to both the management of risk (i.e. the sovereign and bank insolvency mechanisms) and its pricing (i.e. a bank in default).

Law on Trial 2016: The European Union at the Crossroads, runs at Birkbeck from Monday 13 to Friday 17 June. Book a free place here.

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Birkbeck Graduate Research School Relaunches

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This post has been contributed by Rima Amin, Registry Officer at Birkbeck.

To Brexit or not to Brexit, that was the question posed to students and speakers at the Birkbeck Graduate Research School’s (BGRS) “Relaunch” event on Monday, 23 May. The event hosted a Brexit debate followed by a drinks reception and an informal group discussion on the development of the Research School.

The BGRS is a network providing resources, skills workshops and social events to support students during their time at Birkbeck. These are currently provided through the BGRS website, academibirkbeck-entrance1.jpgc workshop calendar and email communications.

The BGRS is currently revising the services it provides, how it communicates and seeking further ideas on how it can be improved to meet research students’ needs better.

In his welcome speech Pro-Vice Master Julian Swann said “Tonight is about engaging in debate on Brexit which is an event of great topical interest to us all. Development of the research school is a priority for Birkbeck, so along with the debate tonight we look forward to having you give us your views about how to create a stronger community for research students.”

Chaired by Professor Rosie Campbell from Birkbeck’s Politics Department, the debate began with Ben Harris-Quinney from the Leave side making his case saying: “Research students are a crucial group who can find great opportunity in Brexit as they are people ready to engage in the world with ideas.”

He said that Britain is a bigger contributor of academic research opposed to its European counterparts inferring that research students are currently giving more than they are gaining.

Next was the turn of Lord Richard Balfe from the remain side who began by criticizing campaigners on both sides of Brexit who treat the referendum as though Britain is going to end if they don’t get their way.

Lord Balfe spoke of Britain in the 1950’s where racism was rife and signs saying “No dogs. No Irish” were visible on the streets. He said that Britain had come a long way since then and migrants have played a key role to the current well-functioning economy in Britain.

The students raised challenging insights to both speakers. Lord Balfe was questioned over the lack of transparency over decision-making in European Parliament compared with British Parliament.

The conclusion from the remain drapeaux européensside: “One person’s red tape is another person’s working rights- we should be proud of what we have achieved.” And that from the leave side: “With champagne receptions and lobster dinners, the EU can appear glamourous, but when you see through it, you realise democracy is more effective when local.”

The Chair of the debate thanked the speakers and the questions from the students calling the contributions “a much richer discussion than what we can find in the papers.”

Research student Ekua Agha said “The debate was extremely innovative and provoked a lot of thought on the issues. The informal setting but formal discussion was struck at a nice balance.”

Birkbeck Graduate Research School would like to thank Ben Harris Quinney, Lord Richard Balfe and all attendees.

It’s not over.

If you couldn’t make last night’s debate, we still want to hear your thoughts on how we can develop the research school. Here are the questions we asked research students at the event. Please send your thoughts to researchstudentunit@bbk.ac.uk. 

1. What do you want the Graduate School to be/do?
2. What’s the best thing about studying at Birkbeck?
3. If you could change 1 thing about your time at Birkbeck, what would it be?
4. How do you want to find out about training & events?
5. What do you think about tonight’s event?/Ideas for future events?