Caroline Mary Series (born 24 March 1951) is an English mathematician known for her work in

hyperbolic geometry In mathematics, hyperbolic geometry (also called Lobachevskian geometry or János Bolyai, Bolyai–Nikolai Lobachevsky, Lobachevskian geometry) is a non-Euclidean geometry. The parallel postulate of Euclidean geometry is replaced with: :For a ...

Kleinian group In mathematics, a Kleinian group is a discrete subgroup of the group (mathematics), group of orientation-preserving Isometry, isometries of hyperbolic 3-space . The latter, identifiable with PSL(2,C), , is the quotient group of the 2 by 2 complex ...

s and

dynamical systems In mathematics, a dynamical system is a system in which a Function (mathematics), function describes the time dependence of a Point (geometry), point in an ambient space, such as in a parametric curve. Examples include the mathematical models ...

Early life and education

Series was born on March 24, 1951, in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

to Annette and

George Series George William Series (22 February 1920 – 2 January 1995) was a British physicist, notable for his work on the optical spectroscopy of hydrogen atoms. Early life and education Series was born in Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire, the son of Will ...

. She attended Oxford High School for Girls and from 1969 studied at

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...

, where she was interviewed for admission by Anne Cobbe. She obtained a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in Mathematics in 1972 and was awarded the university Mathematical Prize. She was awarded a

Kennedy Scholarship Kennedy Scholarships provide full funding for up to ten British post-graduate students to study at either Harvard University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Susan Hockfield, the sixteenth president of MIT, described the scho ...

and studied at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

from 1972, obtaining her Ph.D. in 1976 supervised by

George Mackey George Whitelaw Mackey (February 1, 1916 – March 15, 2006) was an American mathematician known for his contributions to quantum logic, representation theory, and noncommutative geometry. Career Mackey earned his B.A. at Rice University in 1938 ...

on the ''

Ergodicity In mathematics, ergodicity expresses the idea that a point of a moving system, either a dynamical system or a stochastic process, will eventually visit all parts of the space that the system moves in, in a uniform and random sense. This implies th ...

of product groups''.

Career and research

In 1976–77 she was a

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, and in 1977–78 she was a

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

. From 1978 she was at the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

, first as a lecturer, then, from 1987, as a reader, and from 1992 as a professor. From 1999 to 2004 she was

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British UK Research Councils, Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical scienc ...

(EPSRC) Senior Research Fellow at the University of Warwick. In the 1970s, Series found illustrations of

Rufus Bowen Robert Edward "Rufus" Bowen (February 23, 1947 – July 30, 1978) was an American internationally known professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, who specialized in dynamical systems theory. Bowen's wo ...

's Theory of Dynamic Systems in the geometry of

continued fraction A continued fraction is a mathematical expression that can be written as a fraction with a denominator that is a sum that contains another simple or continued fraction. Depending on whether this iteration terminates with a simple fraction or not, ...

s and two-dimensional hyperbolic geometry, effect of

Fuchsian group In mathematics, a Fuchsian group is a discrete subgroup of PSL(2,R). The group PSL(2,R) can be regarded equivalently as a group of orientation-preserving isometries of the hyperbolic plane, or conformal transformations of the unit disc, or co ...

s. After that she investigated similar, including fractal, geometric patterns in three-dimensional hyperbolic spaces, with

s as

symmetry group In group theory, the symmetry group of a geometric object is the group of all transformations under which the object is invariant, endowed with the group operation of composition. Such a transformation is an invertible mapping of the amb ...

s. The computer images led to a book project with

David Mumford David Bryant Mumford (born 11 June 1937) is an American mathematician known for his work in algebraic geometry and then for research into vision and pattern theory. He won the Fields Medal and was a MacArthur Fellow. In 2010 he was awarded th ...

and David Wright, which took over ten years. Other coauthors with whom she published in this area include Linda Keen and

Joan Birman Joan Sylvia Lyttle Birman (born May 30, 1927, in New York CityLarry Riddle., ''Biographies of Women Mathematicians'', at Agnes Scott College) is an American mathematician, specializing in low-dimensional topology. She has made contributions to th ...

. Series became the third woman to be president of the

London Mathematical Society The London Mathematical Society (LMS) is one of the United Kingdom's Learned society, learned societies for mathematics (the others being the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), the Edinburgh ...

when she held the post in 2017–2019. She is emeritus professor in mathematics at the University of Warwick.

Selected publications

* with

and David Wright: ''Indra's Pearls.'' Cambridge University Press 2002. * * *
Series, Wright ''Non euclidean geometry and Indra´s Pearls'', Plus Magazine
*

Honours and awards

In 1987 she was awarded the Junior

Whitehead Prize The Whitehead Prize is awarded yearly by the London Mathematical Society to multiple mathematicians working in the United Kingdom who are at an early stage of their career. The prize is named in memory of homotopy theory pioneer J. H. C. Whitehe ...

by the

. In 1992 she held the Rouse Ball Lecture in Cambridge, and in 1986 she was the

invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians An invitation system is a method of encouraging people to join an organization, such as a Club (organization), club or a website. In regular society, it refers to any system whereby new members are chosen; they cannot simply apply. In relation to w ...

in Berkeley (''Symbolic Dynamics for Geodesic Flows''). From 1990 to 2001 she was the editor of the Student Texts of the London Mathematical Society. In 1986 she was a founding member of European Women in Mathematics (EWM). In 2009 she was the Emmy Noether visiting professor at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

. She was elected a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

in its inaugural class of 2013. She is an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College. *1972–74 Kennedy Scholarship, Harvard University *1987 Junior Whitehead Prize, London Mathematical Society *2014 Senior Anne Bennett Prize, London Mathematical Society *2016

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: *2017 Elected to the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

*2021 David Crighton Medal, London Mathematical Society Series was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the

2023 Birthday Honours The 2023 King's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of King Charles III to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part ...

for services to mathematics.

Personal life

She is the daughter of the physicist

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Series, Caroline 1951 births Living people Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Harvard University alumni 20th-century English mathematicians 21st-century English mathematicians 21st-century British women mathematicians Academics of the University of Warwick Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Members of Academia Europaea Whitehead Prize winners Fellows of the Royal Society Female fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford 20th-century British women mathematicians Commanders of the Order of the British Empire