The Adams Society has had a quiet but successful year. The unavoidable impact of the pandemic meant that unfortunately we weren’t able to do many of our normal activities, such as the Garden Party or the Annual Dinner. However, the society managed to remain one of the most active subject societies in college by hosting regular talks and social events, albeit online.

Michaelmas term kicked off with the only in-person event of the year, as we welcomed the new Johnian mathematicians at the Freshers Squash meet & greet. The term also offered some interesting talks, including one in honour of the late Johnian, John Conway, given by Dr. Jessica Fintzen, and a talk from Dr. Dhruv Ranganathan about ‘Algebra and Geometry in the Tropics’. Lent term began with yet another lockdown, but nonetheless we kept spirits high as we hosted an online pizza and games evening. Later in the term we had talks from Dr. Jonny Evans on ‘Morse Theory’, Prof. Michael Potter on ‘Truth’, and a highly topical talk from Dr. Jordan Skittrall on the maths behind testing strategies for pandemic control, titled ‘How (not) to test your way out of a pandemic’.

A sincere thank you is due to the committee for their hard work and ingenuity in tackling the challenges that this year posed. We leave the society in capable hands and know that it will go from strength to strength, in what will hopefully be a year much closer to normality!

          Nic Janisch, President 2020-2021

You can view other Presidents’ reports here.