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Mathematics at TCD 1592-1992

400
years of
MATHEMATICS
by T. D. Spearman

THE DUBLIN
UNIVERSITY
Mathematical
Society

D.U.M.S., the student mathematical society, was established following a meeting held on 12 December 1923 in the Graduate Memorial Building, chaired by Professor C.H. Rowe. The purpose of the Society was to hold meetings at which papers on subjects of mathematical interest would be read, and to establish a library which would serve the needs of the mathematics students. The Board gave official approval to the setting up of the Society, and the Classical Society offered the use of its rooms as a reading room and library. In 1931 D.U.M.S. moved into its own rooms in House No. 7 and later, in 1944 it moved into No. 39 to the room which it occupied until August 1991 when the Society moved, with the Department, to Westland Row.

The Society meets regularly during term and hears papers from student members, from members of staff and from visiting speakers. Each session the inaugural meeting provides an opportunity to invite a distinguished mathematician to come to Dublin to lecture.

The Society now owns a very fine library of mathematical books including some works of considerable historical interest as well as a comprehensive modern collection. C.H. Rowe, who was the first president of the Society, bequeathed his own personal library as well as an endowment which continues to provide an annual income for book purchase. M.W.J. Fry also left his library to the Society, and annual grants from the Central Societies Committee allow for further acquisitions. As well as being a library and reading room the Society room forms a social centre for the students within the Department.

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