View source for Edinburgh Mathematical Society

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2017}}
{{Short description|Learned society devoted mathematics}}
{{Infobox organization
| logo = Edinburgh Mathematical Society logo.svg
| name = Edinburgh Mathematical Society
| abbreviation = EMS
| formation = {{Start date and age|1883|||df=y}}
| native name = 
| native_name_lang = 
| type = [[Mathematical society]]
| headquarters = 
| location_country = [[Scotland]]
| website = {{url|https://www.ems.ac.uk/}}
| leader_title = President
| leader_name = [[Tara E. Brendle]]
| awards = [[Sir Edmund Whittaker Memorial Prize]]
}}
The '''Edinburgh Mathematical Society''' is a [[mathematics|mathematical]] society for academics in [[Scotland]].

==History==
The Society was founded in 1883 by a group of [[Edinburgh]] school teachers and academics, on the initiative of [[Alexander Yule Fraser]] [[FRSE]] and [[Andrew Jeffrey Gunion Barclay]] [[FRSE]],<ref>{{cite book |url=https://rse.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/RSE-Fellows-BiographicalIndex-1.pdf |title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 |date=July 2006 |publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh |isbn=0-902-198-84-X}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=EMS Founder Members |url=https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/EMS/EMSFounder/ |access-date=2022-06-23 |website=Maths History |language=en}}</ref> both maths teachers at [[George Watson's College]], and [[Cargill Gilston Knott]], the assistant of [[Peter Guthrie Tait]], professor of physics at the [[University of Edinburgh]].<ref name=mac>{{cite web |url=http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Societies/EMS.html |title=The Edinburgh Mathematical Society |publisher=mcs.st-and.ac.uk |access-date=16 September 2014}}</ref> The first president, elected at first meeting on 2 February 1883, was J.S. Mackay, the head mathematics master at the [[Edinburgh Academy]].<ref name=mac/>

The Society was founded at a time when mathematics societies were being created around the world, but it was unusual in being founded by school teachers rather than university lecturers.<ref name=mac/> This was because, due to the very small number of mathematical academic positions in Scotland at the time, many skilled mathematics graduates chose to become schoolteachers instead.<ref name=j>{{cite journal|title=Death of a Schoolmaster |author=Marit Hartveit |journal=[[Newsletter of the European Mathematical Society|EMS Newsletter]] |date=December 2009 |pages=27–30 |url=http://www.ems-ph.org/journals/newsletter/pdf/2009-12-74.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304113048/http://www.ems-ph.org/journals/newsletter/pdf/2009-12-74.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-04 }}</ref> The fifty five founding members contained teachers, ministers and students, as well as a number of academics from the [[University of Cambridge]].<ref name=":0" /> The proportion of teachers remained high compared to other mathematical societies, and by 1926 university members made up only one-third of the total members.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Flood |first1=Raymond |last2=Rice |first2=Adrian |last3=Wilson |first3=Robin |title=Mathematics in Victorian Britain |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YruifIx88AQC&pg=PA172 |date=29 September 2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-162794-1 |page=172}}</ref> However, the dominance of teachers in the numbers of the society declined towards the 1930s, and between 1930 and 1935 no papers were presented in the ''Proceedings'' by teachers.<ref name=j/> This was due to an increase in the number of academic positions available and the new requirement for teachers to undergo an additional year of vocational training.<ref name=j/>

The Edinburgh Mathematical Society is now mainly for academics.<ref name=j/>

==Activity==
The Society organises and funds meetings and other research events throughout Scotland. There are normally eight meetings a year, at which talks are presented by mathematicians.<ref name=abt/>

Every four years it awards the [[Sir Edmund Whittaker Memorial Prize]] to an outstanding mathematician with a Scottish connection.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ems.ac.uk/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Whittaker+Prize |title=Whittaker Prize |publisher=ems.ac.uk |access-date=16 September 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140917021629/http://www.ems.ac.uk/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Whittaker+Prize |archive-date=17 September 2014 }}</ref> The Society is a corporate member of the [[European Mathematical Society]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.euro-math-soc.eu/member-societies |title=Member Societies |publisher=euro-math-soc.eu |access-date=16 September 2014 |archive-date=17 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140917021835/http://www.euro-math-soc.eu/member-societies |url-status=dead }}</ref> and in 2008 it became a member of the [[Council for the Mathematical Sciences]].<ref name=abt/>

==Journals==
The society releases an [[academic journal]], the ''Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society'', published by [[Cambridge University Press]] ([[International Standard Serial Number|ISSN]] 0013–0915.)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=PEM |title=Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society |publisher=journals.cambridge.org |access-date=16 September 2014}}</ref> The ''Proceedings'' were first published in 1884, and are issued three times a year, covering a range of [[Pure mathematics|pure]] and [[Applied mathematics|applied]] mathematics subjects.<ref name=abt>{{cite web|url=http://www.ems.ac.uk/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=About%20the%20EMS |title=About the Edinburgh Mathematical Society |publisher=ems.ac.uk |access-date=16 September 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112230116/http://www.ems.ac.uk/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=About%20the%20EMS |archive-date=12 November 2014 }}</ref>

Between 1909 and 1961, the Society also published the ''[[Edinburgh Mathematical Notes]]'', on the suggestion of George Alexander Gibson, a professor at the [[University of Glasgow]], who wished to remove the more elementary or pedagogical articles from the ''Proceedings''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Edinburgh Mathematical Notes |url=https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/EMS/Edinburgh_maths_notes/ |access-date=16 September 2014 |publisher=mcs.st-and.ac.uk}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[List of Mathematical Societies]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|http://www.ems.ac.uk}}

{{Mathematics in the United Kingdom}}
{{The European Mathematical Society}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:1883 establishments in Scotland]]
[[Category:Learned societies of Scotland]]
[[Category:Mathematics education in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Mathematical societies]]
[[Category:Organisations based in Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Scientific organizations established in 1883]]