UK Maths Museum initiative launched

An initiative to follow in the footsteps of the Mathematikum in Giessen and MoMath in New York has been launched in the UK. The website for Mathematics World UK describes the goal as "a building dedicated to mathematical discovery and celebrating our mathematical heritage".

The vision for the centre gives some detail:

Our Centre will present mathematical objects and mathematical thinking... presenting in attractive and exciting ways the geniuses and discoverers, the discoveries and their applications, the lives of the mathematicians, and the culture, arts, fashion and politics of their time. All aspects of maths will be represented, from the playful abstract aspect of maths as experienced in games to the serious significance of maths in every aspect of our lives from huge engineering projects to helping fight cancer.

A fundraising campaign has now been launched. Geoff Wain, campaign organiser, said,

Apart from the indispensible and indisputable usefulness of mathematics in society it is also supremely important in the history of civilisation. Mathematics as a body of knowledge, painstakingly built over millennia, ranks as one of the great creative achievements of the human race. And we hope this new initiative will capture the public imagination.

Source: Mathematics World UK - Press release (26th January 2012).