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London Institute for Mathematical Sciences

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London Institute for Mathematical Sciences
MottoTruth, Beauty
TypeIndependent research institute
Established2011
DirectorDr Thomas Fink
Location
The Royal Institution, London, UK
Websitelims.ac.uk

The London Institute (officially the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences) is Britain's only independent research centre in theoretical physics and mathematics. It was founded to be an alternative to universities, where scientists have to spend time on teaching and administrative duties.[1] Instead, the Institute gives its researchers the freedom and support to devote themselves to research full-time.

History

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In 2008, the Texan physicist Thomas Fink had the idea for creating an independent British institute for physics and maths. It was initially met with scepticism. The then head of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory, Peter Littlewood, told him, “An institute cannot live on grants alone.” But Caltech's Tom Tombrello, who had mentored Fink on his Physics 11 course, encouraged the idea. The institute was founded in 2011 and received its first grant, from DARPA, the following year.[2]

In 2015 it became eligible for funding from the EU scientific research agency.[3] In 2019 it was awarded Independent Research Organisation status by UKRI, becoming the first independent research centre in the physical sciences to be allowed to compete with universities for funding from the seven Research Councils.[4][5] In 2021 its researchers moved from its offices in a Grade II* listed building on South Street in Mayfair into the Royal Institution Grade II* listed building. It now occupies rooms that were once the private apartments of Sir Humphry Davy, Michael Faraday and John Tyndall, among others.[6]

Research

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The London Institute does research in theoretical physics and mathematics. It does not have laboratories and does not conduct experiments. The institute is committed to curiosity-driven, theoretical research as this has historically led to the most far-reaching breakthroughs, such as gravity and electromagnetism. In an article in The Times, it defined its work as “spotting the patterns within patterns”, which is a way to “unify seemingly disconnected fields” and open up new perspectives and subfields.[7]

Research at the London Institute spans four themes: Mathematics that unifies; The elegant universe; Life, learning and emergence; and the Theory of human enterprise.[8] Its researchers have published papers on statistical physics in Nature Reviews Physics; algebraic geometry in the Journal of High Energy Physics; graph theory in the European Journal of Combinatorics; and network theory in Physical Review Letters.[9] In 2024, researcher Oleksandr Gamayun’s paper on topological solitons became the Institute’s first to be published in Nature.[10]

In 2021, the UK government announced the launch of Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), a new science agency designed to support projects that may create "a paradigm shift in science". As a roadmap for the new agency, the London Institute compiled a list of the 23 Mathematical Challenges of our time.[11][12] Inspired by David Hilbert's list of 23 challenges, 17 of which have been solved or partially resolved, the new list was intended by the Institute as a reminder to itself and others to aim high. It was published in full in The Times.[13]

Culture

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The London Institute offers its researchers the high level of support expected by professional athletes.[14] In addition to its scientists being unencumbered by teaching duties, it employs coders, writers, analysts and designers, as well as experts in storytelling, development and building partnerships. It also consults with leadership coaches to improve the mental wellbeing and acuity of its researchers.

Employees of the London Institute do not work from home. The reason, as explained by Director Thomas Fink in The Daily Telegraph, is that it's only when they share the same physical space that they can solve the workplace equivalent of the “stable marriage problem”, optimising the balance between interaction and solitary focus.[15]

The London Institute believes that communicating its discoveries is as important as making them.[16] With this in mind, it takes pride in its website to ensure that it is clear and compelling, both in design and the quality of its prose. In 2022, lims.ac.uk was named at the Webby Awards as one of the five best science websites in the world, alongside Science magazine and NASA Solar System Exploration.[17]

Writers at the Institute publish articles in newspapers and magazines from Nature to The Times and The Guardian, celebrating its research and values, and contributing to the debate on how to fund and carry out science.[18]

Another way it communicates and celebrates discovery is through hosting events at the Royal Institution.[19] In 2021, the Institute's Fellows Thomas Fink and Yang-Hui He interviewed the Nobel Physics Laureate Roger Penrose in the Theatre. In 2022, the Institute hosted a two-day conference on the mathematics of cell coding, in partnership with the biotech company bit.bio.[20] In 2023, Prof He delivered a Friday Evening Discourse on how non-Euclidean geometry gave rise to modern physics.[21]

Organisation

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The Director of the London Institute is the physicist Thomas Fink. Its Board of Trustees includes Sir Roy Anderson, FRS, formerly the chief scientist at the Ministry of Defence; Sir John Beddington, FRS, formerly the UK government's chief scientific adviser; and Martin Reeves, Global Director at Boston Consulting Group. Scientists and non-scientists are not segregated but work closely together, so everyone is involved in funding, carrying out and communicating discoveries.[22]

Funding

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The London Institute is funded by research grants from the EU's Horizon 2020, the European Innovation Council, DARPA, the US Department of Defense, the Ministry of Defence, the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK. Industry collaborations include investments from firms in strategy, biotech and AI.[23] The London Institute has partnered with over 50 research organisations from around the world.[24]

With the expansion of the development team in 2021, the Institute added philanthropic gifts to its funding sources. In 2022 donors helped launch the Arnold and Landau Fellowships, created to support Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian scientists affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[25][26]

Arnold and Landau Fellowships

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After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Institute created the Arnold and Landau Fellowships, named after the Ukrainian mathematician Vladimir Arnold and the Russian physicist Lev Landau. Consisting of ten three-year full-time positions, this is the biggest programme of its kind in the world.

References

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  1. ^ "How British science can flourish". The Spectator. Mar 2020.
  2. ^ "Unwinding nature's clocks, with $14 million from DARPA". EurekaAlert!, The American Association for the Advancement of Science. Mar 2012.
  3. ^ "Foundational Research on MULTIlevel comPLEX networks and systems". cordis.europa.eu. Oct 2016.
  4. ^ "Independent Research Organisations". UK Research and Innovation.
  5. ^ "'We need to challenge the university monopoly on research'". Times Higher Education. Apr 2019.
  6. ^ "Building". London Institute for Mathematical Sciences. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  7. ^ "It's high time there was a Nobel prize for mathematics". The Times.
  8. ^ "Research themes". London Institute for Mathematical Sciences.
  9. ^ "Papers". London Institute for Mathematical Sciences.
  10. ^ "Non-reciprocal topological solitons in active metamaterials". Nature. 627: 528–533. 20 Mar 2024. doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07097-6.
  11. ^ "23 Mathematical challenges". The Times. Jun 2021.
  12. ^ "23 Mathematical challenges". LIMS - London Institute for Mathematical Sciences. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  13. ^ Whipple, Tom, Science. "Mathematicians sum up the 23 big problems of our time". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2022-03-14.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ "People". London Institute for Mathematical Sciences.
  15. ^ Fink, Thomas, Comment. "Home-working kills innovation and creativity". ISSN 2059-7487. Retrieved 2023-08-25.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ "Design philosophy". London Institute for Mathematical Sciences.
  17. ^ "Top Science: Websites and Mobile Sites". The Webby Awards.
  18. ^ "London Institute in the press". London Institute for Mathematical Sciences.
  19. ^ "London Institute Events". London Institute for Mathematical Sciences.
  20. ^ "The cell programming revolution". Youtube. Mar 2022.
  21. ^ "How geometry created modern physics – with Yang-Hui He". Youtube.
  22. ^ "Sage of Discovery". Business Life, British Airways. Apr 2019.
  23. ^ "Funding". London Institute for Mathematical Sciences. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  24. ^ "Partners". London Institute for Mathematical Sciences. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  25. ^ Fink, Thomas (10 October 2022). "Britain should open its doors to Russia's top scientists". The Times. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  26. ^ Fink, Thomas (1 July 2022). "Britain is rescuing academics from Vladimir Putin's clutches". The Telegraph. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
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