Letters in The Guardian and The Times: Maths is essential for “science superpower” status

On Saturday 6 August, The Times published a letter from London Mathematical Society President Ulrike Tillmann in response to William Hague’s column in the same paper calling for the next Prime Minister to “deliver on the promise that Britain will be a scientific superpower”. 

In his article, Lord Hague wrote that becoming a science superpower is “the single most important activity” for bringing “prosperity, growth and security to this country”.

In her letter, Professor Tillmann agreed – and added that “the Government must not forget the importance of mathematics — the bedrock of all sciences — in achieving this ambition.” She highlighted the government’s failure thus far to deliver the full £300m in research funding first promised to mathematical sciences in 2020. Clarity around this funding is urgently needed, she wrote, so that universities can “approve study programmes that will last years into the future and which could provide the next technological breakthrough.”

Protect Pure Maths is calling on the Government to commit to providing the remaining funding to research in the mathematical sciences. Learn more about ‘maths missing millions’ here. Write to your MP about the missing millions using our template here.

Read Professor Tillmann’s full letter on The Times website here.

On Tuesday, The Guardian published a letter from Professor Tillmann in response to an article covering the release of the Lords’ Science and Technology Committee report on the UK’s strategy to become a science superpower.

In her letter, Professor Tillmann noted that “the deficiencies in the government’s strategy highlighted in a Lords report are only the start”. However, the report “barely mentions mathematics… Without a greater focus on the mathematical sciences, the nation is in danger of setting off on a marathon without any footwear,” she wrote.

Noting again the Government’s unfulfilled promise to deliver £300m in additional funding for the mathematical sciences, Professor Tillmann noted that “it is maths that illuminated the path out of the Covid crisis via its use in modelling the pandemic, underpinning the science behind the vaccines and informing the rollout of those vital medicines.”

Read the full letter in The Guardian here.