Thanks to everybody who showed up for the first SUMS meeting, we had quite a decent turnout. Hopefully we can maintain the attendance rate because the talks are only going to get better! This week we have a talk by Julian Gibbons. He has been kind enough to provide me with an abstract: Knots, Polynomials, and Surgery Knots - that is, tangled loops of string - can be extremely tough to distinguish, and understanding exactly what makes each different knot-type unique is no easy question. But it’s been found that polynomials can provide a powerful invariant for differentiating between them, and so I intend to introduce one such polynomial. What’s more, if time permits, I’ll provide an application of knot theory to something called manifold surgery - albeit without the really gory details. I look forward to seeing you all there! Gareth DATE: Friday, April 4 TIME: 1-2pm LOCATION: Carslaw 451