User:Larklight/Invariant Society

This is a draft; I intend to add this page to the main wiki when it's ready.

The Oxford University Invariant Society, or 'The Invariants', is a university society open to members of Oxford University dedicated to promotion of interest in Mathematics among members of Oxford.

History
The Society was founded in 1936 by J. H. C. Whitehead, Graham Higman and Jack de Wet. The name of the society was chosen at random by Higman from the titles of the books; in this case, Oswald Veblen’s Invariants of Quadratic Differential Forms. The openning lecture was G. H. Hardy on Round Numbers.

Though many members joined the forces during the war, meetings continued, including lectures by Douglas Hartree and H. A. Newman, as well as debates - 'Is Mathematics an end in itself?' - and mathematical films.

Past Speakers
The society has hosted hundreds of prominent mathematicians, with recent lectures by David Acheson,, Brian Stewart, and Sir Roger Penrose, amongst others.

Promient Members
Many prominent mathematicians were members of the society as students, including...

The Invariant
The society publishes an annual magazine entitled The Invariant, the last copy of which was published in 2006

Archimedeans
The Archimedeans, the student mathematics society at Cambridge, hold an annual Problems Drive, to which The Invariants send a team. Despite competing with numerous Cambridge teams, the society won the last Drive they were invited to.