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"When Maryam Mirzakhani became the first
woman in history to win a Fields Medal last month, the mathematical
equivalent of the Nobel Prize, her feat was hailed as a milestone in
efforts to undermine the corrosive stereotype that maths is not for
girls. But, just as inspiring as the real life triumph of Mirzakhani,
are the dogged efforts of fictional Lisa Simpson, who has been a cartoon
role model for rational thinking for more than a quarter of a century." continues Newsweek.
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| Photo: Newsweek |
In
an event at the Science Museum in London on 26th September, Simon
Singh, author of The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets, will
explain how the Fox animated sitcom is the most
mathematically-sophisticated show in the history of prime time
broadcasting, and that Lisa is a critical ingredient. “When I talk to
school kids about the mathematics hidden in The Simpsons, I always
stress Lisa’s character, because she is such a great role model for
girls who might be budding geeks or nascent nerds,” he says.
Joining Singh in the museum will be two renowned Simpsons writers: David
X Cohen, who has a degree in computer science at the University of
California, Berkeley (and is also the creative force behind Futurama);
and Al Jean, who worked on the first series and is now executive
producer, and who went to Harvard University to study mathematics at the
age of 16.
Among the many other Simpsons writers, Ken
Keeler has a doctorate in applied mathematics and J. Stewart Burns a
bachelor's degree in mathematics, both from Harvard University; Jeff
Westbrook a PhD in computer science from Princeton who held a faculty
position in Yale.
No wonder the The Simpsons show has been
peppered with mathematical references since the first proper episode of
the series in 1989 (which included a joke about calculus). These arcane
flourishes include appearances by the French mathematician Blaise Pascal
and the Cambridge theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, various jokes
about pi, and much more. In “The PTA Disbands”, Lisa gets so bored by a
lack of schooling she builds a perpetual motion machine, prompting Homer
to declare: “Lisa, in this house we OBEY the laws of thermodynamics.”
“We love to infuse The Simpsons with as much subliminal knowledge as
possible,” says Jean. “Maths, art and even recipes for lentil soup,
which we put into Paul McCartney’s performance of ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’.”
Among the cast, Lisa stands out as a beacon of rational thinking. The
perpetual eight-year-old took her Little League baseball team to the
championship with the help of statistics, delivered a paper at the 12th
Annual Big Science Thing (“Airborne Pheromones and Aggression in
Bullies”) and used maths to improve brother Bart’s golf. When benches
fall on her in one episode, Principal Skinner cries out: “She’s been
crushed . . . so have the hopes of our mathletics team!”
Source: Newsweek
