Living Proof: the Isaac Newton Institute podcast

Send us Fan Mail Episode published: 09/10/23   Thanks to the generous support of the Simons Foundation, the INI-Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Mathematics is now in its second year of enabling “exceptional early career researchers in the mathematical sciences” to gain “experience, independence and new connections on their way to a successful academic career”.  In this episode of Living Proof,...

Send us Fan Mail In the latest episode, Dan Aspel speaks to Simon Cox and Adil Mughal - organisers of the 2023 programme " GeomPack: Geometry and packing in material structure and biology ". The second ever INI satellite programme, GeomPack is being held at Aberystwyth University in its 150th year. Simon and Adil explain the joys and challenges of organising such an event, as well as the...

Send us Fan Mail Episode recorded: 17/07/23 In this episode of Living Proof, Dan Aspel speaks to Coralie Colmez , author of the young adult novel " The Irrational Diary of Clara Valentine " - recently chosen as one of Chalkdust magazine 's "books of the year". A Cambridge maths graduate herself, it was Coralie's ambition to write a story rich in both mathematics and m...

Send us Fan Mail Episode recorded: 07/07/23 In this episode of Living Proof, Dan Aspel and Marianne Freiberger are joined by Tomer Schlank (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and Jeremy Hahn (MIT). Working alongside Robert Burklund and Ishan Levy, Tomer and Jeremy's recently announced a disproof of Ravenel's telescope conjecture at the June 2023 INI workshop "A panorama of homotopy the...

Send us Fan Mail The 23rd of June 2023 marks exactly thirty years since Sir Andrew Wiles announced his historic first proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem . He did so at the Isaac Newton Institute, during the culmination of three days of special lectures, delivered as part of the June 1993 L-functions and arithmetic programme - one of the first research meetings to take place at the recently founded INI...

Send us Fan Mail This year, and more specifically during the week of 20 March, the Newton Gateway to Mathematics will be celebrating its 10th anniversary. A "knowledge intermediary for the mathematical sciences" and the "impact initiative" of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, the Gateway has spent the past decade connecting mathematical research with industr...

Send us Fan Mail In this 50th (!) episode of Living Proof, Dan Aspel speaks to Rachel Thomas and Marianne Freiberger of Plus magazine . Plus works closely with INI to help explain, celebrate and publicise the research that happens at the Institute. But what challenges does that present? And why should it happen in the first place? 00:00 - Introduction 00:44 - Welcome, discussing “ Communicating Ma...

Send us Fan Mail In episode #49 of Living Proof, Dan Aspel and Maha Kaouri are joined by presenter, writer and comedian Timandra Harkness . The author of Big Data: Does Size Matter? And Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society speaks about her current projects, how to make maths "funny", and how she came to fall in love with mathematics from an arts and humanities background. > Visit t...

Send us Fan Mail Episode published 15/02/23 In episode #48 of Living Proof, Dan Aspel and Maha Kaouri speak to Hannah Thomas of Government Analysis Function ( analysisfunction.civilservice.gov.uk ). Hannah's role at this "network for civil servants", is that of "Lead Support for Communicating Data, Statistics and Analysis" - making her the perfect person to discuss how to...

Send us Fan Mail Thanks to the generous support of the Simons Foundation, the INI-Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Mathematics are enabling “exceptional early career researchers in the mathematical sciences” to gain “experience, independence and new connections on their way to a successful academic career”.  In this episode of Living Proof, Dan Aspel speak to Dr Patrick Sprenger to learn about h...

Send us Fan Mail Thanks to the generous support of the Simons Foundation, the INI-Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Mathematics is now in its second year of enabling “exceptional early career researchers in the mathematical sciences” to gain “experience, independence and new connections on their way to a successful academic career”.  In this episode of Living Proof, Dan Aspel speak to Dr Nicolas...

Send us Fan Mail Forced to leave Ukraine, and his work at the Institute of Hydromechanics at the National Academy of Sciences, due to the Russian invasion of February 2022, Yuriy Semenov found sanctuary in Britain at the University of East Anglia . This was in part thanks to support from INI's " Solidarity for mathematicians " programme. This episode of the podcast tells Yuriy'...

Send us Fan Mail Professor Nataliya Vaisfel’d was until recently Head of the Chair of methods of mathematical physics at Odesa I. I. Mechnykov National University . She is currently a Senior Lecturer at King’s College London . Forced to flee Ukraine after the Russian invasion of her home country in February of this year, Nataliya has since travelled across Europe with her wheelchair-bound mother a...

Send us Fan Mail Episode published 20/09/22 In episode #45 of Living Proof, Dan Aspel and Christie Marr are thrilled to meet Ben Sparks and Katie Steckles . Ben is a mathematician, musician and speaker based at the University of Bath who works with groups as diverse as the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme and the hugely popular Numberphile YouTube channel. Katie, meanwhile, is a mathematicia...

Send us Fan Mail Episode published 31/08/22 In episode #44 of Living Proof, Dan Aspel and Christie Marr speak to both Don Zagier and Silke Zagier . Don is a widely respected number theorist and currently and currently "Retired Scientific Member and Director" of the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn. This summer he has been involved in two INI programmes: K-theory, algebraic cy...

Send us Fan Mail Episode published 06/07/22 In episode #43 of Living Proof, Maha Kaouri and Christie Marr speak to Tom Whipple , Science Editor at The Times . Tom read Maths at Cambridge and has been covering science for the Times since 2011. He was recently involved in a Newton Gateway/V-KEMS/RAMP Virtual Study Group on The Public Perception of Science, where he presented a challenge on Communica...

Send us Fan Mail In episode #42 of Living Proof, Dan Aspel and Christie Marr speak to Prof Parimala Raman of Emory University. Parimala, the Kirk Distinguished Visiting Fellow for K-theory, algebraic cycles and motivic homotopy theory programme, has extensive experience of research in her home country of India, where she represents a significant role model for younger women beginning their careers...

Send us Fan Mail Dan Aspel speaks to Prof Herbert Gangl to learn about his unique mathematical jewellery the "Gems of Hypolytos".

Send us Fan Mail Dan Aspel and Christie Marr speak to Prof Rama Govindarajan of the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences in Bengaluru.

Send us Fan Mail Dan Aspel and Plus magazine’s Dr Marianne Freiberger are joined by the irrepressible Prof Anita Layton of the University of Waterloo.

Send us Fan Mail Dan Aspel catches up with Antoine Gagnebin, an INI workshop participant who's made the exciting decision to travel from Amsterdam to Cambridge by bicycle. Find out the "how" and the "why" of his forthcoming adventure in this short episode.

Send us Fan Mail Professor Hoffmann has spent much of the past decade working with the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, its Quantum Leap Africa initiative, and a host of other groups and NGOs across the African continent, all focused on the support and pursuit of higher mathematics. And yet, in her own words, she’s still “very junior” at her home institution herself. How is this possib...

Send us Fan Mail In episode #36 of Living Proof, Dan Aspel and Christie Marr speak to Dr Nira Chamberlain, not only the “5th most influential black person in the UK”, but possibly “the world’s most interesting mathematician”.

Send us Fan Mail Dan Aspel speaks to Dr Anagha Madhusudanan, one of the first three recipients of the new Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Mathematics.

Send us Fan Mail Dan Aspel speaks to Dr Antoine Remond-Tiedrez, one of the first five recipients of the new Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Mathematics.