Maths on the Move

We are very lucky to be based at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge. To start our latest podcast season we bring you a series of conversations with our mathematician colleagues, part of the podcast we produce for the Maths Faculty here. In our first podcast we meet Richard Samworth , Professor of Statistical Science and Director of the Statistical Laboratory. We sp...

Imagine if your doctor had a digital model of your heart, personalised to you and updated with your latest medical information. This isn't science fiction – this revolutionary healthcare is being tested now. In this podcast we speak to  Steven Niederer , who leads the  CVDNet  project developing and testing these ideas, and his colleague  Richard Wilkinson , from the University of Nottingham. Rich...

"I have learnt that even if you are not a master in mathematics and science you are still able to grasp the essence." This is Céline Broeckaert talking, believe it or not, about the famously difficult theory of quantum mechanics. Céline knows what she's talking about. She's not a physicist, in fact she's a Romance languages scholar, author and playwright. Yet she's written a book about quantum mec...

You are blue, and are surrounded by other blue people: swirling together in a dot, identical and indistinguishable. From somewhere above you hear the ticking of a clock, and suddenly find yourself and some of your fellows pulled upwards, sucked through a tube arcing high above... Intrigued? That is a description of one of  Jess Enright's  adventures in her mathematical models. This is an exciting...

There's been a lot of talk recently about whether artificial intelligence is becoming just as good as maths as humans are. But quietly in the background there's been another development regarding the use of computers in maths. It involves proof assistants: computer programmes that can check whether a mathematical proof is correct; whether it can be derived from a set of basic axioms of mathematics...

In this episode of the Living Proof podcast we're delighted to meet  Moustapha Fall . Moustapha is the Center President of the  African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in Senegal  and winner of a prestigious  Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians from Developing Countries . He also plays an important role on the international stage as Member-at-Large of the Executive Committee of the...

Earlier this year the the  anomalous mathematical patterns sci-art competition  attracted some  jaw-dropping entries . The competition was held in connection to the  Stochastic systems for anomalous diffusion  research programme which took place at the  Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences  (INI) in Cambridge last year.  In this episode of Maths on the Move we talk to  Codina Cotar , w...

The mathematical area of topology is all about figuring out what truly defines a shape. Famously, topologists consider a coffee cup to be the same as a doughnut because one can be turned into the other without cutting or gluing — what defines and relates these two shapes for a topologist is that they have a single hole. As you might imagine, if you have ever tried to drink coffee out of a doughnut...

Welcome to the new season of the Maths on the Move podcast!  We start the season with theoretical physicist  David Tong  of the University of Cambridge looking at an important milestone in the history of physics: the 100th birthday of quantum mechanics which we celebrate this year. David tells us why a new theory was needed, which of the many strange aspects of quantum mechanics is, in his opinion...

We may not notice it, but mathematics impacts our lives on a daily basis.  Mathematical models  inform policy decisions around the economy and  public health . They are used to understand  climate change  and how to respond to it. They are vital in the design of  public buildings  and spaces. They are even used to try and  prevent crime .  It seems reasonable, then, that the mathematical models sh...

On May 30th 2024 seminar goers at Princeton University witnessed a thrilling moment. The mathematician  Zhouli Xu  of the University of California, LA, announced that, together with colleagues he had sorted out the 126th dimension. Not in general, but in regards to a problem that has taunted mathematicians since the 1960s. The problem involves strange shapes and is called the Kervaire invariant pr...

The capabilities of artificial intelligence may appear to be galloping ahead, but there are still many challenges that need to be solved. Last month we joined members of the Maths4DL  research project for a hackathon — an intensive two-day brainstorming session designed to figure out how one might teach machine learning techniques for solving differential equations and how best to test those techn...

Imagine we could have a digital version of our entire body which could help us, and our doctors, decide what life style is good for us, predict which diseases we might get, and how to best treat them? In short, what if we could all have our very own digital twin? The idea isn't quite as sci-fi as it sounds. A gigantic scientific effort called the Physiome Project  is about piecing together a mathe...

In this podcast we hope to give you some interesting information.  This information is encoded in terms of 0s and 1s – the classical bits in your computer or phone.  But what if instead we were using a quantum computer?  Then we'd be dealing with quantum bits, or qubits, opening up exciting new possibilities.  And quantum information theory is the area of mathematics that explores how we can do th...

From sunny parks to banquets in castles – come with us on an exciting adventure in Oslo as we join the celebrations for the  2025 Abel Prize !  We meet  Masaki Kashiwara , winner of this year's prize, who tells us about the importance of collaborations and creating new things.   Ragni Piene , previous chair of the Abel Prize Committee, gives us a look behind the scenes.  And  Andrea D'Agnolo , one...

Sarah Hart is a mathematician who is interested, not just in the maths itself, but also its connections to other areas of culture and art. She's done an amazing number of things throughout her 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 . ...

One thing we all have in common is that we did maths at school. Those of us from the English speaking world most likely also did Shakespeare at school. Do these two things have anything in common? It turns out that they do! Our friend  Rob Eastaway , author and Director of the amazing  Maths Inspiration  project, has written a book called  Much Ado About Numbers: Shakespeare's mathematical life an...

Every now and again, and more often than you'd think, the work of mathematics overlaps with the world of theatre and film. This happened again recently when the  Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences  (INI) organised a staging of the play Diving into math with Emmy Noether. Noether was a pure mathematician whose results made waves far beyond her field. Albert Einstein called her a "crea...

Last Wednesday, March 26, 2025, this year's  Abel Prize  was awarded to the Japanese mathematician  Masaki Kashiwara.  The Abel Prize is one of the most prestigious honours in mathematics. It is awarded every year by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and comes with a prize money of over £550,000. In this episode of Maths on the Move we talk to  Helge Holden , Chair of the Abel Prize Com...

The UK government has recently pledged to put around £14 billion into supporting the development of artificial intelligence over the next few years.  But because AI comes with perils as well as promises, careful policy decision are going to be crucial. In order to make such decision in an informed way, politicians need to interact with the mathematicians and scientist who develop AI. In this episo...

We kick off our latest series of podcasts with an episode of Living proof, produced jointly with the  Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences  (INI). This episode is all about the communication of mathematics to the wider world, which is becoming ever more recognised as a priority within the maths community. We talk to Sara Khan, Communications Manager at the INI, about how this renowned...

Last summer we were lucky enough to attend the  European Congress of Mathematics  (ECM) in Seville, Spain. The Congress sees the award of  several prestigious prizes , including the Otto Neugebauer Prize for the History of Mathematics. In this episode of Maths on the Move we talk to this year's winner of the Otto Neugebauer Prize,  Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze , who has worked on and written about m...

What is as hypnotising as a beautiful goldfish circling its bowl, but can help you understand the way a virus can spread? The answer is one of the beautiful interactive simulations produced by  VisualPDE  ! In this podcast we talk to  Benjamin Walker  from University College London, and to  Adam Townsend  and  Andrew Krause  from Durham University, who together created this online solver of  parti...

Are you thinking of doing a Masters or PhD in maths or another STEM subject but are worried about funding? Then the  Martingale Foundation  might be for you. The Foundation's mission is "to enable and nurture talented individuals from low-socioeconomic backgrounds to thrive within world-leading postgraduate study and become STEM leaders" by providing full scholarships as well as a development prog...

As a PhD student working with the  Maths4DL  research project, Yolanne Lee works on the mathematics that powers artificial intelligence. In this podcast she tells us about what she thinks AI will be able to do in the near future, what it has to do with cats and dogs, and how music provided her first experience of science. We also get to hear her play the piano! To find out more about the topics di...