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The Secrets of Mathematics
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A series of talks and lectures from Oxford Mathematicians exploring the power and beauty of their subject. These talks would appeal to anyone interested in mathematics and its ever-growing range of applications from medicine to economics and beyond.
| # | Episode Title | Description | People | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures - Numbers are Serious but they are also Fun - Michael Atiyah | Archimedes, who famously jumped out of his bath shouting "Eureka", also 'invented' the number pi. Euler invented e and had fun with his formula e^(2 pi i) = 1. The world is full of important numbers waiting to be invented. Why not have a go? | Michael Atiyah | 23 May 2018 | |
| 2 | Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures - Can Mathematics Understand the Brain?' - Alain Goriely | The human brain is the object of the ultimate intellectual egocentrism. It is also a source of endless scientific problems and an organ of such complexity that it is not clear that a mathematical approach is even possible, despite many attempts. | Alain Goriely | 16 Mar 2018 | |
| 3 | Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures - Euler’s pioneering equation: "the most beautiful theorem in mathematics" - Robin Wilson | Euler’s equation, the ‘most beautiful equation in mathematics’, startlingly connects the five most important constants in the subject: 1, 0, π, e and i. Central to both mathematics and physics. So what is this equation – and why is it pioneering? | Robin Wilson | 07 Mar 2018 | |
| 4 | Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures - Scaling the Maths of Life - Michael Bonsall | Michael Bonsall explores how we can use mathematics to link between scales of organisation in biology, delving in to developmental biology, ecology and neurosciences. | Michael Bonsall | 12 Feb 2018 | |
| 5 | Can Yule Solve My Problems? - Alex Bellos | In our Oxford Mathematics Christmas Lecture Alex Bellos challenges you with some festive brainteasers as he tells the story of mathematical puzzles from the middle ages to modern day. | Alex Bellos | 13 Dec 2017 | |
| 6 | Oxford Mathematics London Public Lecture - Andrew Wiles | In the first Oxford Mathematics London Public Lecture, in partnership with the Science Museum, world-renowned mathematician Andrew Wiles lectured on his current work around Elliptic Curves followed by conversation with Hannah Fry. | Andrew Wiles, Martin Bridson, Mary Archer | 06 Dec 2017 | |
| 7 | The Seduction of Curves: The Lines of Beauty That Connect Mathematics, Art and The Nude - Allan McRobie | Allan McRobie explains how the key to understanding the language of curves is René Thom’s Catastrophe Theory, and how – remarkably – the best place to learn that language is perhaps in the life drawing class. | Allan McRobie | 16 Nov 2017 | |
| 8 | Maths v Disease - Julia Gog | Can mathematics really help us in our fight against infectious disease? Join Julia Gog as we explore exciting current research areas where mathematics is being used to study pandemics, viruses and everything in between. | Julia Gog | 13 Nov 2017 | |
| 9 | Closing the Gap: the quest to understand prime numbers - Vicky Neale | Prime numbers have intrigued, inspired and infuriated mathematicians for millennia and yet mathematicians' difficulty with answering simple questions about them reveals their depth and subtlety. | Vicky Neale | 24 Oct 2017 | |
| 10 | The Law of the Few | The study of networks offers a fruitful approach to understanding human behaviour. Sanjeev Goyal is one of its pioneers. In this lecture Sanjeev presents a puzzle: | Sanjeev Goyal | 04 Jul 2017 | |
| 11 | The Sound of Symmetry | Symmetry has played a role both for composers and in the creation of musical instruments. Marcus shows how composers have used this symmetry and demonstrates how Ernst Chladni revealed extraordinary symmetrical shapes in the vibrations of a metal Plate. | Marcus du Sautoy | 24 May 2017 | |
| 12 | The Butterfly Effect - What Does it Really Signify? | Tim Palmer discusses Ed Lorenz the man and his work, and compares and contrasts the meaning of the “Butterfly Effect" as most people understand it today, and as Lorenz himself intended it to mean. | Tim Palmer | 18 May 2017 | |
| 13 | Statistics: Why the Truth Matters Tim Harford | Tim Harford, Financial Times columnist and presenter of Radio 4's "More or Less", argues that politicians, businesses and even charities have been poisoning the value of statistics and data. | Tim Harford | 14 Feb 2017 | |
| 14 | Creative Commons | The Mathematics of Visual Illusions | Puzzling things happen in human perception when ambiguous or incomplete information is presented to the eyes. In this lecture Ian Stewart demonstrates how these phenomena provide clues about the workings of the visual system. | Ian Stewart | 05 Jan 2017 |
| 15 | How can we understand our complex economy? | We are getting better at predicting things about our environment - the impact of climate change for example. But what about predicting our collective effect on ourselves? | J Doyne Farmer | 10 Nov 2016 | |
| 16 | Autism and Minds Wired for Science | Simon Baron-Cohen, Professor of Developmental Psychopathology, Cambridge, and Director of the Autism Research Centre, gives the 2016 Charles Simonyi Lecture on new research into autism. | Simon Baron-Cohen, Marcus du Sautoy | 31 Oct 2016 | |
| 17 | As he retires from the the Savilian Chair of Geometry, Oxford Mathematician Nigel Hitchin reflects | From early mathematical inspiration at school in Duffield, Derbyshire, Nigel recalls his often unplanned progress via Jesus College, Oxford, Princeton, Cambridge and Warwick, before his final return to Oxford. | Nigel Hitching, Martin Bridson | 19 Oct 2016 | |
| 18 | Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe | What can fashionable ideas, blind faith, or pure fantasy have to do with the scientific quest to understand the universe? Surely, scientists are immune to trends, dogmatic beliefs, or flights of fancy? | Roger Penrose | 19 Oct 2016 | |
| 19 | Roger Heath-Brown a Life in Mathematics | Roger Heath-Brown is one of Oxford's foremost mathematicians. In this interview with fellow Oxford Mathematician Ben Green, Roger reflects on his influences, his achievements and the pleasures that the subject of mathematics has given him.. | Roger Heath-Brown, Ben Green | 17 Sep 2016 | |
| 20 | Modelling genes: the backwards and forwards of mathematical population genetics | In this lecture Professor Alison Etheridge explores some of the simple mathematical caricatures that underpin our understanding of modern genetic data. | Alison Etheridge | 06 Jul 2016 | |
| 21 | The Prime Number Theorem | Oxford Students discuss the Prime Number Theorem. | Aled Walker, Simon Myerson, Sofia Lindqvist, Jamie Beacom | 15 Jun 2016 | |
| 22 | What We Cannot Know | Science is giving us unprecedented insight into the big questions that have challenged humanity. Where did we come from? What is the ultimate destiny of the universe? What are the building blocks of the physical world? What is consciousness? | Marcus du Sautoy | 16 May 2016 | |
| 23 | Creative Commons | The Travelling Santa Problem and Other Seasonal Challenges | The Oxford Mathematics Christmas Public Lecture 2015 examined an aspect of Christmas not often considered: the mathematics. Delivered by Marcus du Sautoy, Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science. | Marcus du Sautoy | 18 Dec 2015 |
| 24 | Creative Commons | Symmetry, Spaces and Undecidability | The understanding of the possible geometries in dimension 3 is one of the triumphs of 20th century mathematics. In this talk Martin Bridson explains why such an understanding is impossible in higher dimensions. | Martin Bridson | 07 Dec 2015 |
| 25 | Putting the Higgs Boson in its Place | Professor Melissa Franklin talks about her experiences working towards the discovery of the Higgs Boson and her work today at the Large Hadron Collider | Melissa Franklin, Marcus du Sautoy | 16 Nov 2015 | |
| 26 | M. C. Escher - Artist, Mathematician, Man | M.C. Escher is known as the mathematician's (and hippie's) favourite artist. But why? And was Escher, a man who claimed he knew no mathematics, really a mathematical genius? | Roger Penrose, Jon Chapman, Alain Goriely, Clem Hitchcock | 28 Oct 2015 | |
| 27 | The Gömböc, the Turtle and the Evolution of Shape | Gábor Domokos gives a talk on his mathematical journey that led to the creation of the Gomboc, the shape which has just one stable and one unstable point of equilibrium. | Gábor Domokos | 01 Jul 2015 | |
| 28 | Creative Commons | Birth of an Idea: A Mathematical Adventure | What goes on inside the mind of a mathematician? Where does inspiration come from? Cédric Villani, winner of the most prestigious prize in mathematics, the Fields Medal, explains the process. Inaugural Titchmarsh Lecture 2015. | Cedric Villani | 12 Mar 2015 |
| 29 | Why climate change action is difficult and how we can make a difference | 2014 Charles Simonyi Lecture with David MacKay. David discusses how the laws of physics constrain our energy options, and describes what happened when his reflections on energy arithmetic propelled him into a senior civil service role. | David MacKay | 04 Dec 2014 | |
| 30 | Forbidden Crystal Symmetry: Mathematics and architecture | World-renowned mathematician Sir Roger Penrose, Oxford University, describes how crystalline symmetries are necessarily 2-fold, 3-fold, 4-fold, or 6-fold. | Roger Penrose | 04 Dec 2014 | |
| 31 | What Maths Really Does: From modelling the brain to modelling the climate | How has mathematics emerged over recent decades as the engine behind 21st century science? Alain Goriely looks at this question and more. | Alain Goriely | 04 Dec 2014 | |
| 32 | The History of Mathematics in 300 Stamps | The entire history of mathematics in one hour, as illustrated by around 300 postage stamps featuring mathematics and mathematicians from across the world. | Robin Wilson | 03 Dec 2014 | |
| 33 | Creative Commons | Big Data's Big Deal | Big Data promises to change all sectors of our economy, and deeply affect our society. But beyond the current hype, what are Big Data's salient qualities, and do they warrant the high hopes? These are some of the questions that this talk addresses. | Viktor Mayer-Schonberger | 20 Nov 2014 |
| 34 | Love and Math | A public lecture given by Edward Frenkel, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, talking around his best-selling book "Love and Math" followed by a conversation with Marcus du Sautoy and Q&A." | Edward Frenkel, Marcus du Sautoy | 12 Jul 2014 | |
| 35 | Extra Time: Professor Sir Roger Penrose in conversation with Andrew Hodges - part one | These two video sessions explore the development of Sir Roger Penrose’s thought over more than 60 years, ending with his most recent theories and predictions. | Roger Penrose, Andrew Hodges | 18 Jun 2014 | |
| 36 | Extra Time: Professor Sir Roger Penrose in conversation with Andrew Hodges - part two | These two video sessions explore the development of Sir Roger Penrose’s thought over more than 60 years, ending with his most recent theories and predictions. | Roger Penrose, Andrew Hodges | 18 Jun 2014 | |
| 37 | Sir Michael Atiyah, a Life in Mathematics In conversation with Paul Tod on the occasion of Sir Michael's 85th birthday conference | A portrait of the contribution that Sir Michael Atiyah has made to mathematics over his career together with his recollections of formative people and events. Interview by Professor Paul Tod. | Paul, Tod, Michael Atiyah | 12 May 2014 | |
| 38 | Creative Commons | James D Murray, Reflections of a life in Academia, in conversation with Phillip Maini | Jim Murray is one of the leading mathematical biologists of our times. In this wide-ranging interview Jim talks about his career, the range of his work, his successes and failures and his hopes and expectations for the future of mathematical biology. | James D Murray, Phillip Maini | 02 Apr 2014 |
| 39 | Why there are no three-headed monsters, resolving some problems with brain tumours, divorce prediction and how to save marriages | Professor James D Murray, Professor Emeritus of Mathematical Biology, University of Oxford & Senior Scholar, Applied and Computational Mathematics, Princeton University, gives the annual Hooke Lecture. | James D Murray | 21 Mar 2014 | |
| 40 | Bryce McLeod, a Life in Mathematics In conversation with John Ball | A portrait of the contribution that Bryce McLeod has made to mathematics over his career together with his recollections of formative people and events. Interview by Professor Sir John Ball FRS, FRSE , Sedleian Professor of Natural Philosophy. | Bryce McLeod, John Ball | 11 Mar 2014 | |
| 41 | Partial Differential Equations: Origins, Developments and Roles in the Changing World | Professor Gui-Qiang G. Chen presents in his inaugural lecture several examples to illustrate the origins, developments, and roles of partial differential equations in our changing world. | Gui-Qiang George Chen | 15 Jan 2014 | |
| 42 | Prime Numbers | Dr Richard Earl of the Mathematical Institute, Oxford presents a talk about prime numbers. What they are and their role in internet security. | Richard Earl | 15 Jan 2014 | |
| 43 | Can robots be made creative enough to invent their own language? | Luc Steels delivers the 2012 Simonyi lecture and asks can machines be creative enough to invent their own language? | Luc Steels, Marcus du Sautoy | 15 Jan 2014 | |
| 44 | Computation and the Future of Mathematics | Stephen Wolfram, creator of Mathematica and Wolfram Alpha, gives a talk about the future of mathematics and computation. | Stephen Wolfram | 15 Jan 2014 | |
| 45 | The Irrational, the chaotic and incomplete: the mathematical limits of knowledge | Professor Marcus du Sautoy (New College), Charles Simonyi Chair in the Public Understanding of Science, author and broadcaster gives a talk about how much we can understand of the world through maths | Marcus du Sautoy | 15 Jan 2014 | |
| 46 | The Secret Mathematicians: the connections between maths and the arts | Professor Marcus du Sautoy (New College), Charles Simonyi Chair in the Public Understanding of Science, author and broadcaster gives a talk about the connections beween art and mathematics | Marcus du Sautoy | 15 Jan 2014 | |
| 47 | Symmetry: a talk based on his second book, 'Finding Moonshine' | Professor Marcus du Sautoy (New College), Charles Simonyi Chair in the Public Understanding of Science, author and broadcaster gives a talk about symmetry and how the rules of symmetry influences our lives and the choices we make. | Marcus du Sautoy | 14 Jan 2014 | |
| 48 | The Music of the Primes: a talk about the Riemann Hypothesis and primes | Professor Marcus du Sautoy (New College), Charles Simonyi Chair in the Public Understanding of Science, author and broadcaster gives a talk on 5th September 2013. | Marcus du Sautoy | 14 Jan 2014 | |
| 49 | Maths in Music: The Secret Mathematicians | Professor Marcus du Sautoy (New College), Charles Simonyi Chair in the Public Understanding of Science, author and broadcaster gives a talk for the 2013 Oxford Alumni Weekend. | Marcus du Sautoy | 14 Jan 2014 |