Tag Archives: permutation groups

From permutation groups to model theory

Posted on 16/05/2018 by

I cannot resist a conference with a title like this! But in this case, there is another very important reason to attend. In the mid-1970s, when I began being interested in infinite permutation groups (I had been a strictly finite … Continue reading →

Posted in events, history | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Symmetry vs Regularity

Posted on 06/12/2017 by

This is the title of a conference to be held next year (2018) from 1 to 7 July, in Pilsen, Bohemia, Czech Republic. The subtitle is “The first 50 years since Weisfeiler-Leman stabilization”, and the webpage is here. If you … Continue reading →

Posted in events, exposition | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Summer school at Marienheide

Posted on 24/09/2017 by

Last week, I was lecturing at a summer school in Franz Dohrmann Haus, a very pleasant conference centre in the small town of Marienheide, not far from Köln. Apart from a walk on Wednesday afternoon, I didn’t get much exercise, … Continue reading →

Posted in events | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A week in Vienna

Posted on 26/03/2017 by

Last week, in the second week of Spring break in St Andrews, I was in Vienna, giving a course of lectures to the PhD students, at the invitation of Tomack Gilmore, a Queen Mary undergraduate now finishing his PhD with … Continue reading →

Posted in events, Lecture notes, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

12160

Posted on 27/10/2015 by

12160 is an interesting number; but I didn’t know that until last night. As part of the work on semigroups, we are looking at the following problem. Given n and k, with n ≥ 2k, suppose that G is a k-homogeneous subgroup … Continue reading →

Posted in doing mathematics, exposition | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Permutation groups and transformation semigroups

Posted on 31/07/2015 by

When I first decided to apply to the LMS to run a Durham symposium on Permutation Groups and Transformation Semigroups, I had a fairly clear idea of what I wanted: topics (both finite and infinite) where the techniques and results … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Real v recreational mathematics

Posted on 10/04/2014 by

A footnote to my report on Persi Diaconis’ lecture on Martin Gardner. Persi challenged us to consider the question: Is there a sharp division between “real” mathematics and “recreational” mathematics, and if so, where does it come? G. H. Hardy clearly thought … Continue reading →

Posted in exposition | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment