The desirability of affording facilities, to mathematical teachers and others, for post-graduate studies in mathematics during the summer vacation, was commented on by the writer in an article in the March, issue of this Gazette. It was there proposed that a “Summer School” should be organized for this purpose by teachers themselves, acting through the Mathematical Association, and after the publication of the article the suggestion was more formally communicated to the Association through the Manchester branch. It proved to be unlikely, however, that the matter could be taken up by the representative body, whose members met rather infrequently, and who were already fully occupied in other business of the Association, in sufficient time to make arrangements for such a School during the present year. The proposal was therefore brought before the Extra-Mural Committee of the University of Manchester, who agreed to the experiment being made under their auspices, and voted a grant for organizing and advertising the project. The Board of Education were next approached, and they agreed to recognize the School and to make a limited grant to cover a possible deficit on the cost of working it. Provisional arrangements were proceeded with meanwhile, and in April and the early part of May circulars announcing the School and inviting students to register were distributed to the heads of the mathematical departments of nearly every secondary, grammar and high school, and many technical schools and colleges, throughout England and Wales. The School was also advertised in various educational journals. The response was satisfactory, thirty-two students being registered, whereas twenty was the number decided upon as the minimum required if the School was to be held.
The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology Summer School in Mass Spectrometry: a History
