The Pythagoras Prize 2012

Each year St John’s College awards the Pythagoras Prize to a first year undergraduate student coming to study Mathematics at the College. The prize of £9000 is awarded as a one off prize at the beginning of the student’s first term in Cambridge. This is the second year the prize has been awarded after being started in 2011.

This year the Prize has been awarded to Adam Gleave. Adam joins St John’s from Budmouth College in Weymouth, Dorset where he studied for A-levels in Economics, Physics, Mathematics, Further Mathematics and Further Mathematics (Additional). In addition to high achievement at A-level high achievement in STEP (Sixth Term Examination Papers) is essential preparation for the Mathematics Tripos in Cambridge. In June 2012 the College held a STEP Preparation Workshop weekend which Adam and other potential students attended. Over the weekend current students ran a series of STEP revision and guidance workshops for attendees. This summer, Adam performed within the very top worldwide in both his STEP II and STEP III papers.

The Prize was awarded by the Master, Professor Christopher Dobson, in a ceremony on Friday 28th September with the Senior Tutor, Directors of Studies, the donors, the previous prizewinners and Adam’s family in attendance. Both the Master and Senior Tutor were delighted to welcome Adam to the College. 

Now in its second year the Pythagoras Prize demonstrates St John’s commitment to seeking out and rewarding the pursuit of excellence. We hope to see similar successes in the future and hope that outstanding Mathematicians will strongly consider making applications to study at St John’s.