May 12 is International Women in Maths Day! The aim of the day is to inspire women in maths all over the world and to celebrate their achievements. The date was chosen to coincide with the birthday of the Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani. She was the first woman to ever win a prestigious Fields Medal, a very high honour in maths, but died tragically at the age of 40.
Maryam Mirzakhani: Counting curves — To find out more about some of Mirzakhani's work, read this article. We produced it when she won her Fields Medal in 2014.
In reporting on current mathematical research we work with women mathematicians all the time, hearing about their stories as well as the amazing maths they do — see here for a long list of examples. For this year's Women in Mathematics Day we thought we'd celebrate four women who are not only brilliant at doing the maths, but also at communicating it to wider audiences. We hope you enjoy the podcasts and videos below!
Hannah Fry: Mathematics for the people — We are very happy that Hannah has joined us at Cambridge as the University's first Professor for the Public Understanding of Mathematics! In this podcast Hannah tells us about her own mathematical research, why she thinks mathematicians have a duty to engage the public, and shares one of her favourite mathematical moments. You can see an article version of our interview with Hannah here.
On the mathematical frontline: Julia Gog — Julia Gog is an infectious disease modeller who made a significant contribution to the UK response to COVID-19. She is also amazing at talking about her work to audiences who aren't experts in the field. In this podcast she tells us about her journey through the pandemic and what it's like to be on the mathematical frontline.
We have also produced a series of videos and interactivities with Julia, which take you through the maths of epidemiology, starting from things you learn at school all the way to cutting edge research.
Sarah Hart: Maths, literature, and life — We are very lucky to have two podcasts with the amazing Sarah Hart, mathematician, author and brilliant communicator! In the first podcast she tells us about her book Once upon a prime and explores some intriguing connections between maths and literature.
And in the second podcast she tells us about the many things she has done in here career: from research in pure mathematics and heading up a maths department, to being the first woman Gresham Professor of Geometry and President of the British Society for the History of Mathematics. She tells us how they all fit together, and gives some advice for budding mathematicians of all ages.
Mathematical moments with Katie Steckles — Katie is a mathematician and an amazing communicator who talks about maths in schools and universities, at science and music festivals, on BBC radio and TV, as part of theatre shows, in books and on the internet. In this video from 2016 she tells us about her favourite mathematical moments and why imagination is everything in mathematics.