Committee Meeting Minutes for 1962

Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee of the British Mathematical Colloquium held in Chamberlain Hall, University of Southampton at 9 p.m. on Thursday, April 12, 1962.
  1. Professor E T Davies read a letter from Professor C J Tranter, apologising for the latter's absence. Dr W N Everitt agreed to act as Chairman of the Committee Meeting.
  2. Dr L W Longdon was appointed Secretary of the 1963 Colloquium and was appointed to the Committee.
  3. The minutes of the meeting of the 1961 Colloquium Committee were read and approved.
  4. Professor E T Davies reported that the National Science Foundation had given a generous grant to meet Professor R Bott's travelling expenses, and that the American Mathematical Society had advertised, without charge, the 1962 meeting in the Notices of the Society. The Chairman was instructed to write to those organizations expressing the thanks and appreciation of the Committee.

    In reply to an enquiry from the Chairman as to whether other sources of financial support could be approached, Professor G Higman stated that the Ministry of Science had been tried without success, and Dr F Rhodes reported that the British Council would not allow their funds to be used for guest speakers from America.
  5. Dr Rhodes reported that the London Mathematical Society had borne the cost of printing a leaflet advertising the 1962 Colloquium. The leaflet was distributed by the Society. The Chairman was directed to write to thank the President and officers of the Society for this publicity.
  6. Dr Rhodes stated that only £2 had been lost by not demanding a 5/- deposit from persons when they applied for membership of the Colloquium and that the Secretary's task had been made much lighter. It was agreed to leave the question of charging a deposit in 1963 to the local secretary.
  7. It was agreed that the Committee have the policy of inviting two foreign speakers each year. In reply to a question from Professor A G Walker, Professor G Higman stated that foreign visitors to the Colloquium should only be regarded as speakers when they were invited specifically to address the Colloquium.
  8. The programme for the 1963 Colloquium was discussed. It was agreed to renew the invitation to Professor A Beurling and to invite one other foreign guest speaker.
  9. Professor G E H Reuter congratulated the organisers of the 1962 Colloquium on the improvised arrangements which had to be made in the unfortunate absence of Professor Beurling.
  10. An invitation, from Professor R L Goodstein, to hold the 1964 meeting at Leicester, was warmly received and the Chairman was asked to enquire about the possibility of a meeting in April 1964.
  11. Members of the Committee were requested to publicise the need for invitations from universities for the meetings of the Colloquium after 1964.
  12. Professor Reuter thanked the 1962 Colloquium organisers for the arrangements made for the meeting on stochastic analysis on Saturday, 14th April, 1962. Dr Rhodes suggested that, of the members of the Colloquium, it appeared that six had attended by virtue of the stochastic analysis attraction.
  13. It was agreed that, if the host university or institution was willing to accept the administrative and other difficulties, exhibitions of books and publications at various Colloquia would be welcome.
  14. Professor Higman commented that, under the present arrangement, a splinter group organiser was obliged to chair the daily meetings of his group and was thus not able to hear papers presented at groups other than his own. The Committee ruled that a splinter group organiser should not be obliged to chair every meeting of his group but, if desired, may appoint a substitute.
  15. It was agreed that, wherever possible, an indication of the variation in accommodation charges for members attending Colloquia on a part time basis, should be given in the final notice.
  16. The Committee expressed their thanks to the retiring chairman and secretary.
  17. There being no further business, the meeting closed at 10.20p.m.
Minutes signed by R L Goodstein 5:9:63.