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| Photo: Javier Sierra on Unsplash |
Hannah Fry, an associate professor in the mathematics of cities at University College London, has been chosen to present the 2019 Royal Institution’s Christmas lectures. Fry is undoubtedly a good choice to present such an abstruse subject to a lay audience. She’s one of the few mathematicians who is known outside the mathematics tower, having appeared on many BBC programs and YouTube videos. She has written three popular books in addition to the ten professional papers on her résumé. The Institution’s annual science lectures stretch back to 1825, and Fry’s talk will be only the fourth that deals with mathematical issues.
A Mathematical Doctor's Oath
What’s rather odd is that Fry’s lectures seem geared more to warn people about mathematics rather than celebrate it, or at least her subject is being pitched that way...
Female Mathematicians
These included Maria Agnesi (1718-1799), an Italian philosopher and mathematician who was the first female to be appointed as a mathematics professor; Sophie Germain (1776-1831), whose paper on elasticity theory made her the first woman to be awarded by the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1816; and Emmy Noether (1882-1935), a German mathematician who worked on non-commutative algebras, hyper-complex numbers, and commutative rings and was awarded the Ackermann-Teuber Memorial Award in 1932. Considering high mathematical ability is always rare, the fact that these women’s work was recognized centuries ago suggests that the bias narrative is at least somewhat exaggerated.
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Source: Foundation for Economic Education
