New College Society London Lecture 2023

Almost 50 Old Members and friends gathered for the annual New College Society London Lecture on Tuesday. Professor Frances Kirwan, New College Professorial Fellow and Savilian Professor of Geometry, spoke on 'Four Centuries of Geometry in Oxford and New College', a fascinating journey back in time to look at New College’s mathematicians and their contributions to the sum of human knowledge. Past Savilian Professors of Geometry include John Wallis (1649-1703) who introduced the symbol ∞ to represent infinity, and Edmond Halley (1704-1742) of Halley’s Comet fame, the only comet visible to the naked eye which can be seen twice in a human lifetime.

Alumni and guests enjoyed meeting old friends over drinks and canapés at LSE’s New Academic Building before the lecture began. The evening was also a rare opportunity to admire the magnificent New College gömböc - a convex three-dimensional homogeneous body which has just one stable and one unstable point of equilibrium when it rests on a flat surface. A physical example had never been created until 2006.