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MMP wins Queen's Anniversary Prize

The Queen presents the Prize medal to Professor John Barrow and the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Professor Alison RichardOn 16th February 2006 the University of Cambridge's Millennium Mathematics Project was presented with the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education by Her Majesty the Queen at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

The prizes honour “outstanding achievement and excellence” in universities and colleges across the United Kingdom. Recipients of the prestigious awards must also demonstrate they benefit not only the institution, but the wider community. The Awards Council look in particular for “initiative, innovation and originality”.

The Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, Professor Alison Richard, said:

“Cambridge has for many years worked with schools through a wide range of activities, and the University is strongly committed to supporting learning in the wider educational community. The choice of the Millennium Mathematics Project as Cambridge’s entry for the Queen’s Anniversary Prizes reflects the importance that the University attaches to this type of outreach activity, and I congratulate the project on this recognition of its achievement.”

Professor John D Barrow FRS, the Director of the Millennium Mathematics Project, said: Professor John Barrow, MMP Director, explains Roadshow activities to the Queen

“I am delighted that the Millennium Mathematics Project has been awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize. This is a tribute to the vision of those in the University who initiated this project, those in the outside world who added their support for it, and all the members of our dedicated Project team who have made such a wide-ranging impact in schools and amongst the general public. This Prize is also a welcome confirmation of the vital importance of mathematics to the United Kingdom.”

In June 2005 the Queen saw some MMP activities for herself, during a visit to Cambridge to formally open the Centre for Mathematical Sciences building. This is the third Queen’s Anniversary Prize to be awarded to Cambridge: prizes have previously been awarded in 2002 to the Charles Darwin Correspondence Project and in 1998 to the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences.

Link: Royal Anniversary Trust