The Mathematical Institute is the mathematics department at the University of Oxford, England. It forms one of the ten departments of the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Divisional Board in the University.
The Institute is located in multiple buildings, the main one was built in 1966 and is located at the northern end of St Giles' in central north Oxford.[1] It also has an entrance on Blackhall Road to the east. The building of the institute was originally proposed by G.H. Hardy at least 30 years earlier[2]. In 1934 Hardy was allocated six rooms in the new extension to the Radcliffe Science Library[3]. The current building was designed by University surveyors office[3].
In addition, the Institute has two annexes, which are also located close to the centre of Oxford. Dartington House is situated on Little Clarendon Street, a short walk from the main building, and the Gibson Building is situated further north, on the site of the Radcliffe Infirmary[4]. The Gibson building hosts the Numerical Analysis Group, OxPDE (The Oxford centre for nonlinear partial differential equations), and OCCAM (the Oxford Centre for Collaborative Applied Mathematics).
The Mathematical Institute includes both pure and applied mathematics (statistics is a separate department) and is one of the largest and most respected mathematics departments in the UK.[5]. The institute houses a community of 120 mathematicians from postgraduate students to professors.[6].
Oxford has a number of "statutory chairs" in both pure and applied mathematics. The Savilian Professor of Geometry is Nigel Hitchin, FRS, the Wallis Professorship is held by Terry J. Lyons, FRS, the Waynflete Professorship of Pure Mathematics is held by Raphaël Rouquier, the Whitehead Professorship of Pure Mathematics is held by Martin R. Bridson, and the Professorship of Pure Mathematics is held by Roger Heath-Brown. The chairs in applied mathematics are: the Sedleian Professorship of Natural Philosophy is held by John M. Ball, FRS, the Rouse Ball chair is held by P. Candelas, the Professorship of Mathematical Biology is held by Phil Maini, the Professorship of Numerical Analysis is held by Nick Trefethen, the Professorship of Mathematics and Its Applications is held by Jon Chapman and the Professorship of Mathematical Modelling is held by Alain Goriely. Roger Penrose is a prominent emeritus member of the Institute. Sir Michael Atiyah was another prominent member between 1961 and 1990.[7] Furthermore, Professor Marcus du Sautoy is the current holder of the university's Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science[8].
Plans are underway for the Institute to move to new purpose designed premises next to the Radcliffe Infirmary on Walton Street.[9]
In 2007, the Institute joined five other UK University mathematics departments in forming the Taught Course Centre, a collaborative project to allow maths lecturers at each of the five Universities to give lectures to students at each of the others using Access Grid technology.