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Recurring Events & Prizes

There are a number of recurring events aimed largely at female mathematicians. Some are gatherings and workshops; going to one is a wonderful way to experience what it is like to find yourself in a large group of mainly female mathematicians. In addition to mathematics, you get the opportunity to meet so many interesting people and to have  so many memorable exchanges besides. Both fruitful collaborations and lifelong friendships are frequently the result. On another front, various mathematical societies have set up regular high profile lectures by prominent female mathematicians showcasing their work. Let us know if you know of more. Finally we list some prizes specifically for female mathematicians.

Gatherings and Workshops

Association for Women in Mathematics

The AWM organises a large number of conferences, programs and events for women mathematicians. For details see the AWM website here

European Women in Mathematics

EWM has organised an general meeting somewhere in Europe every other year from 1986. The full list is here. Most years it has also organised a summer school.  EWM, jointly with the EMS Women in Maths Committee, has also organised panel discussions and lectures in connection with the European Congresses of the European Mathematical Society. You can find information about many other past events which have been organised by EWM here. Information about events in individual European countries is here.

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EWM 15th general meeting, CRM Barcelona, 2011. Photo courtesy Rashi Khanum
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EWM 6th General Meeting, Warsaw, 1993. Photo courtesy Anne Leggett McDonald

International congresses

For many years, AWM and EWM have together organised events in conjunction with the 4-yearly International Congresses. In 2010  the first International Conference of Women Mathematicians, ICWM 2010, was held in Hyderabad, India just before the ICM in Hyderabad, India, August 2010.

The second such conference,  International Congress of Women Mathematicians, is was held immediately prior to ICM 2014 in Seoul, Korea.

The first (WM)², the World Meeting for Women in Mathematics July 31, 2018, Riocentro convention center, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was a satellite event of the ICM 2018 organized and partially funded by CWM.

Hausdorff Centre for Mathematics, Bonn

Since 2010, the Hausdorff Centre has been hosting a series of events `Young Women in ...'

Institute for Advanced Study Princeton

Since 1994 with the support of the National Science Foundation, IAS together with Princeton University, has hosted  an intensive 11-day mentoring program for undergraduate and graduate women in mathematics.
The program brings together research mathematicians with undergraduate and graduate students. It is designed to address issues of gender imbalance in mathematics. More information here.

London Mathematical Society

The London Mathematical Society organises an annual Women in Mathematics Day. There was a major four day event for the LMS 150th anniversary in 2015. More information here.

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British Women in Maths Day 2013 (Newton Institute). Photos courtesy Jonathan Tickner photography

Chilean  Society of Computer Sciences

Since 2011, the group  “Mujeres en Computacion”  has organised Special Women’s sessions during the annual international congress of the Chilean Society of Computer Sciences.

European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiads

The third European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad will take place in Antalya, Turkey, April 10-16, 2014. This competition, inspired by the China Girls’ Math Olympiad, is similar in style to the International Mathematical Olympiad, with two tests taken on consecutive days. Participating countries send teams consisting of their strongest four high-school-age, female mathematicians. More information here.

Annual Lectures

There are various annual lectures by prominent women mathematicians. In addition, in recent years many of the distinguished EMS lecturers have been women. Beyond the lectures listed below, the  Agnes Scott College women in maths website has a further list of lecture series for women mathematicians here.

Mary Cartwright lectures

The Mary Cartwright Lecture is an annual event organised by the London Mathematical Society and forms part of the annual programme of Society Meetings. Dame Mary Cartwright was the first British women to have a career as a professional mathematician in the modern sense. Her life spanned the 20th century. Her work became of fundamental importance to chaos theory. She was the first female mathematician to become a member of the Royal Society and was Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge 1948-68.

Kovelvesky lectures

AWM and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) established the annual Sonia Kovalevsky Lecture to highlight significant contributions of women to applied or computational mathematics. This lecture is given annually at the SIAM Annual Meeting. Sonia Kovalevskaya (1850-1891) was the most widely known Russian mathematician of the late 19th century. In 1874, she received her Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Göttingen and was appointed lecturer at the University of Stockholm in 1883. She did her most important work in the theory of differential equations.

Ladyzhenskaya Lectures, Leipzig

Commemorating Olga Ladyzhenskaya’s contributions to mathematical physics and partial differential equations, the research area Mathematical Sciences organises the Ladyzhenskaya Lecture Leipzig. They are heldd by renowned female mathematicians and they take place each semester. Olga A. Ladyzhenskaya (1922–2004) made deep and important contributions to the whole spectrum of partial differential equations. Her mathematical achievements were honored in many countries. In Germany she was a foreign member of the Leopoldina academy of sciences. Among her offices, she was president of the Mathematical Society of St. Petersburg and, as such, a successor of Euler. A longer article  about her life and work can be found here

Emmy Noether Lectures

AWM established the Emmy Noether Lectures in 1980 to honor women who have made fundamental and sustained contributions to the mathematical sciences. Starting 2015 it will be jointly sponsored by AWM and AMS. These one-hour expository lectures are presented at the Joint Mathematics Meetings each January. Emmy Noether (1882 – 1935) was one of the great mathematicians of her time, someone who worked and struggled for what she loved and believed in. Her life and work remain a tremendous inspiration.

Emmy Noether Professorship (Emmy-Noether-Gastprofessur)

In honour of the great mathematician Emmy Noether the Faculty of Mathematics of the University of Göttingen has created a visiting professorship named after the scientist, who studied, taught und researched in Göttingen from 1915 until 1933. Once a year the faculty awards the Emmy Noether professorship to an outstanding female mathematician who will visit Göttingen for 3 to 4 weeks to present a current field of research in talks and seminars. More information here.

ICIAM Olga Taussky-Todd Lectures

An Olga Taussky-Todd Lecture has been held at each ICIAM Congress since 2007. This lecture is given by a woman who has made outstanding contributions in applied mathematics and /or scientific computation. Olga Taussky-Todd (1906-1995) worked in theoretical and applied mathematics. Her research helped to establish linear algebra and matrix theory as a research area in mathematics, and her varied appointments, in both Europe and North America and including positions in both academia and government laboratories, set an example for applied mathematicians. Her support and encouragement of younger women mathematicians is warmly remembered.

Prizes

There is a number of prizes specifically for women mathematicians.  A very comprehensive list of prizes and awards for and won by women mathematicians can be found on the Agnes Scott College website here. A list of prizes offered by the AWM can be found on their website here.  Of course we are always delighted when women win other prizes too, in particular we congratulate Maryam Mirzakhani on becoming the first woman to win the Fields medal in 2014. A number of women have won one of the prestigious EMS prizes, and in 2006 Sujatha Ramdorai won the Ramanujan prize for young mathematicians working in developing countries.

  • In 2014 the London Mathematical Society instituted the Anne Bennett prize for contributions to and influence on mathematics, in particular for  inspiration for or advancement of women mathematicians.
  • The Louise Hay Award of the AWM recognizes outstanding achievements in any area of mathematics education. It is named for Louise Hay (1935-1989),  a founder member of AWM and the first female head of a major US mathematics department, namely UIC. Hay is widely recognized for her contributions to mathematical logic, her strong leadership, and her lifelong commitment to nurturing the talent of young women and men.
  • The Kovalveskaya fund supports various prizes for women scientists in developing countries. For example,  the Sofia Kovaleskaia prize 2014 is jointly awarded by the S. Kovaleskaia Foundation and the Mexican Society of Mathematics, to promote the participation of women in Mexico’s research in mathematics.
  • In 1995 the Canadian Mathematical Society inaugurated the Krieger-Nelson Prize to recognize outstanding research by a female mathematician.  Cecilia Krieger (1894-1974) and Evelyn Nelson (1943-1987) were Canadian mathematicians. In 1930, Krieger became the first woman – and only the third person overall - to earn a mathematics doctorate from a Canadian University, Toronto.
  • The Ruth Lyttle Satter prize of the AMS recognizes an outstanding contribution to mathematics research by a woman in the previous six years. It was instituted in 1990 by Joan Birman in memory of her sister Ruth Satter, to honor her sister’s commitment to research and to encouraging women in science.