A hands-on exhibition at Imperial College London exploring how maths helps us understand Planet Earth, coordinated by the Mathematics of Planet Earth Centre for Doctoral Training.
Guided tours run for about 1 hour and are limited to 15 guests at a time. On every single day of the exhibition but Saturday 24 October (when exhibition commences at 12.00), guided tours are offered on the hour starting at 09:00, and the last tour departs at 16:00.
Interact with this event on Twitter using the hashtag #mathsonearth.
Download the brochure for full event information [pdf]
About the event
Our planet is a complex system with multiple facets including the physical (such as the atmosphere, the oceans, the soil and the ice sheets), biological (e.g.biodiversity, aquaculture, carbon cycle) and the human side (e.g. urban climates, power systems and social media).
It is also a system at risk.
The planet’s capacity to support life as we know it is in danger. The stability of the systems supported by Planet Earth is threatened by rapid changes in the balance between climate and the Earth constituents: atmosphere, oceans, rivers, the chemistry of earth components and many others.
Human activity has grown to the point that it influences directly the global climate. It now has a strong impact on the capacity of the planetto be self-sufficient and threatens the stability of the systems supported on it. The challenges that our planet and our civilisation are currently facing cannot be addressed only by separate scientific endeavours. Instead, our efforts must be multidisciplinary, and their common language is mathematics.
The mathematical sciences play a leading role in the joint effort of researchers to understand and quantify the challenges we face, and look for solutions.‘Mathematics of Planet Earth’ is an international exhibition displaying exhibits, videos and computer programs. Collectively these illustrate how mathematics plays a role in answering essential questions that concern our planet. In graphics visualisations and hands-on experiments you will discover the contributions that mathematics makes to topics such as astronomy, fluid dynamics, seismology, glaciology and cartography.
What does maths have to do with our planet?
Everything! Maths is crucial for scientists trying to understand how fast glaciers are melting, when volcanoes will erupt and where tsunamis might start. The satellites that orbit Earth are kept under control by maths. And without maths, we wouldn’t have the maps that tell us what Earth looks like!
So it’s more than just fractions?
Absolutely. You will be able to see how mathematical modelling works and meet some of the researchers who use maths to understand extremeweather and climate change. You can also see just how beautiful maths can be, with a display of artwork created by mathematicians and artists.
For more information, visit the MPECDT website.
Check out some of the exhibits that will be at the event.
About the MPECDT
This exhibition is organised by the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in the Mathematics of Planet Earth (MPE). The Centre was jointly createdby Imperial College London and the University of Reading to bring together world class academics, external partners and representatives from key commercial sectors.
Public lecture series
Within the MPE Exhibition programme, we are also delighted to present, a public lecture series, featuring an array of outstanding and fascinating talks. The lectures will take place in the South Kensington Campus, in Room 402 in Central Library (entrance from Sherfield Building foyer on level 2) – no. 20 on the campus map.
The lecture schedule is as follows:
Mathematics of Planet Earth on Friday by Professor Christiane Rousseau (Université de Montréal)
Friday 23 October (17:00)
Earth is a complex planet with an atmosphere, oceans and climates. The human species shares the planet with millions of living species, some of them invasive, and others in danger of disappearing. But what is the link with mathematics? Can mathematics help to understand and manage the planet? You will be surprised to see the variety of scientific questions to the answer of which mathematics can contribute. With mathematical tools, we can discover the history of the Earth, explore its interior, study its climates and find strategies for managing its ecosystems. Mathematics also plays a role in understanding the dangers faced by our planet and its inhabitants: epidemic diseases, global warming, searise and growth of population.
Mathematics between research, application and communication by Professor Gert-Martin Greuel (University of Kaiserslautern)
Tuesday 27 October (17:00)
Possibly more than any other science mathematics of today finds itself between the conflicting demands of research, application and communication. A great part of modern mathematics regards itself as searching for inner mathematical structures just for their own sake, only committed to its own axioms and logical conclusions. To do so, neither assumptions nor experience nor applications are needed or desired. On the other hand, mathematics has become one of the driving forces in scientific progress and moreover, has even become a cornerstone for industrial and economic innovation. However, public opinion stands in strange contrast to this, often displaying a large amount of mathematical ignorance.
In my talk I shall look at these tensions and try to reveal some of the causes that lie underneath. I will focus on the question whether it is possible or necessary to transmit an understanding of mathematics to the general public. I will also talk about the IMAGINARY project, an attempt to interpret and communicate mathematics to a broad audience in order to improve the image and understanding of mathematics.
Another look at climate dynamics: hot intuitions vs cold formulas by Prof Mickael Chekroun (University of California, Los Angeles)
Thursday 29 October (17:00)
The common thread will be to talk about the recurrence phenomena that occur across various time scales in climate dynamics, and how one can characterize them mathematically within a unified framework. A discussion about whether there is any fundamental limitation inherent to their prediction — beyond the sensitivity of initial data that nowadays is almost taught in kindergarten — and the study of their sensitivity to perturbations, anthropogenic or not. This talk will try to deconstruct several passionate intuitions about it, illustrating how modern mathematical tools can help us to build-up a cold-minded understanding, without removing the excitement.