On 17/07/2011 16:51, Andr=E9 Joyal wrote:
Dear All,
An article on
THE UNPLANNED IMPACTS OF MATHEMATICS
was recently published in Nature:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v475/n7355/full/475166a.html
andr=E9
[For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]
Dear All, Let me put this in a context for non-UK readers of this list. Various=20 bodies in the UK are asking for `impact' as part of their assessment of=20 research. This is in particular true of the REF exercise. (Perhaps=20 someone else can comment on this as well as I am `out of this', having=20 been a victim of a previous round of such `exercises'.) We all know that=20 mathematics is central to modern technological developments, but pure=20 mathematics finds itself in the position of having little direct IMPACT=20 as measured in the way that the nebulous THEY (i.e. the bean counters)=20 have defined it. We thus have that a sociologist can say that their=20 research resulted in (whatever), a physicist can point to a new=20 technical development, whilst a pure mathematician is left saying=20 `doh!'. This may have, unless watched, very serious implications for=20 category theory as between us and the areas with IMPACT there seems to=20 be a wide gulf, at least to the outsider. (When money is short, people=20 fight over what little there is with enthusiasm!) This may have also an impact on the recrutement of new researchers, so=20 someone working in PDEs is likely to be viewed as potentially having=20 more impact than someone working in category theory. (If you think that=20 as you are not in the UK then you need not worry, and that your research=20 organisations are not going to behave so stupidly,..... ) There is a wiki (at lmsrefresponse dot wordpress dot com <- and I hope=20 this is ok with the list rules about links replace dot by . of course)=20 which some of you may want to look at. The London Math Soc does not seem=20 that sure as to how to best treat the situation. (I would request, that if someone on the list wants to discuss IMPACT,=20 that they look at the lms pages first. If they go to the LMS main page=20 then to `policy' and look for impact they should find it and various=20 related documents. Please restrict attention to category theory, as that=20 is very vulnerable as quite a few other mathematicians have a negative=20 attitude to it.) Tim [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]