International Mathematical Olympiad 1971

Reunion in Cambridge 2020


This is the website for the Cambridge 2020 reunion of the participants in the International Mathematical Olympiad in 1971 in Žilina, Czechoslovakia.

Coronavirus

The coronavirus pandemic has progressed rapidly over the past few weeks, and more and more people have pulled out of the reunion. Over the past few days, nearly all the places we were planning to visit have closed, and everyone has pulled out. So, unfortunately, the Cambridge reunion has been cancelled. As one of you said: "We all recognise exponential functions when we see them." We hope to hold the reunion later this year, or next year.

We can reflect on the fact that when Cambridge University closed in 1665 because of the Great Plague, Isaac Newton went back to his birthplace at Woolsthorpe and developed his theories of calculus, gravity, and optics.


Introduction

We are inviting you to the 2020 reunion for IMO 1971 contestants, to be held from Thursday 2nd to Sunday 5th April in Cambridge. As usual, the invitation is going out to absolutely all the people we have email contacts for - 78 in number!

There have been reunion meetings for contestants from countries in the 1971 International Mathematical Olympiad every year since 2016. (If you have come to one of the reunions in previous years you already know this - and if you haven't come before then anyway you probably know this already from invitations sent out in previous years.)

There have been very enjoyable meetings in Vienna + Bratislava, Dresden, Groningen, and Stockholm, and this time the meeting will be in Cambridge, organised by the UK team. The programme is, as usual, a mixture of things of mathematical and general interest. It is not just for former team members - several spouses and partners have attended each year.

(In case you haven't been to one of these before, I should say that they are not 'conferences': the host country team organises the events, but people attending have to organise their own accommodation and travel to and from Cambridge, and will need to pay for their own entrance tickets where appropriate, and meals; but the host team will always be glad to give information and advice.)

Programme

Most of the places mentioned below are marked on the map (tap the layers control to show the places for the different days).

The planned programme for 2020 is as follows:

Other Attractions

For anyone being in Cambridge before or after the planned programme, there are other attractions within the city that may be of interest:

And of course there are those items listed above for Sunday, if you don't do them on that day.

Website and later communications

This website (chrishills.org.uk/ChrisHills/IMO) contains the current information for the reunion. It will be updated as details and times become more certain. We will only occasionally send out emails - and then only to those who have said they are coming, or who have come in the past and haven't said they can't come this time.

Transport to Cambridge

Accommodation in Cambridge

For places to stay in Cambridge there are various hotels, and it may well be useful for you to look at 'Bed & Breakfast' (B&B) or Airbnb accommodation.

But it can also be worthwhile to consider staying in one of the colleges that offer accommodation during university holiday times (which is when April 2nd to 5th is). The website universityrooms.com/en-GB/city/cambridge/home is excellent for this. If you use this site, do check carefully that you would be getting exactly what you want, such as: shared bathroom or ensuite bathroom; single, twin or double beds; breakfast included or not; in a historic or a new building; near the centre of the city or a little outside. The colleges that came up when I tried the site for the dates in question were:

Communicating with us

If you already know that you plan to come, then it would be very helpful to us - in order to have an idea of numbers - if you can tell us as soon as you can, and how many would be coming. (This would not commit you at all!)

Please use the email address cv.1971imo@gmail.com to write to us. This is not our usual email address and it will help to keep all the one subject in one place.

Please do contact us at any time if you have questions or suggestions.

Pictures and links:



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