IMAGINARY

‘IMAGINARY; the Splendour and Power of Mathematics’ is a travelling exhibition about visible and invisible mathematics, featuring unique 3D objects, unusual puzzles, interactive apps and visualisations. The exhibition includes numerous beautiful posters showing unusual mathematical shapes, a series of 3D objects, puzzle set-ups and several interactive apps that you can engage with via large touch screens.

During the exhibition visit, one will gain a better understanding of the importance and applications of mathematics for research, simulation, study and everyday use in society. Schools can visit this exhibition with the whole class. This visit includes a guided tour by UvA and VU mathematics students.

Jay Armas wins Outreach Prize of the European Physical Society for 'Science & Cocktails'

Science & Cocktails is an initiative that brings science and entertainment closer together, by creating a series of public lectures intertwined with music/art performances and, of course, cocktails.

Armas founded the concept in 2010 in Copenhagen, and it has since then grown to become a registered non-profit organisation dedicated to improving the communication of scientific research to the general public, with regular events in Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Aarhus and Johannesburg.

From numbers to the universe

How many dimensions are there? Is our universe flat or curved? How symmetric are the smallest particles we know? In his new popular science book 'Van getal naar heelal' (Dutch for 'From numbers to the universe') physicist Marcel Vonk decribes how modern mathematics helps physics forward - and the other way around.

'Tales of Electrologica'

Gerard Alberts, retired associate professor and historian of digital cultures and historian of mathematical thought, composed this book together with Prof. Jan Friso de Groote (TU/e). The book provides a postwar and Cold War perspective of early (Dutch) computer manufacturing. Several pioneers and historians join forces in telling highly engaged tales about the Dutch history of computing, bringing them to an English speaking audience. Gerard Alberts also contributed to this book with two chapters: 'Electologica, a Gem' and 'Philips and the Fate of Electrologica'. Paul Klint, emeritus professor of Software Engineering, also tells his tale in the chapter 'Software without memory'. Worth a special mention is that the chapter 'History of Dekker's Algorithm for Mutual Exclusion' was written by Dirk Dekker, emeritus professor of numerical mathematics and one of the co-founders of the Informatics Institute, who passed away in 2021.