What goes for science goes in particular for mathematics. (Hello there? Yes, we're here too. Did you know there are more mathematicians in the world than astronomers? Amazing, isn't it?) The total media coverage of mathematics in the past decade is less than that given on January 3 to pop star Elton John's sore throat. Mathematicians have not helped their cause by reacting to the press like a bunch of panicky old maids, afraid of opening the door to the milkman lest they lose their virginity. I am firmly convinced that when René Thom's catastrophe theory was reported as the greatest thing that had happened in mathematics since Newton invented sliced bread—sorry, calculus—it was because a lot of people thought that it was the only thing that had happened in mathematics since then. I don't blame them: nobody had told them any different.
Recently the London Mathematical Society set up ...
