Living Proof: the Isaac Newton Institute podcast
byIsaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences
ScienceMathematics
The Isaac Newton Institute is the world's foremost mathematical research centre. Living Proof aims to highlight the diverse people and interconnected topics linked to its many activities. Interviewees range from visiting academics and lecturers to mathematicians, other scientists, musicians, artists, students, and prominent figures within the University of Cambridge and beyond. The podcast typically involves mathematical themes, but is specifically aimed at a general audience. The focus is on the subjects being interviewed and the social stories they have to tell, not just on the significance and details of the research they may be undertaking. We hope there is interest...
Episodes(40 episodes)
Season 1 - Episode 63
#58 Linking Cambridge with Africa: how to co-host an international research workshop
Send us Fan MailFrom 8-12 January 2024, the "Equivariant methods in geometry" took place in INI's main seminar room in Cambridge, UK. So far, so routine procedure. However, this workshop had the unique twist of being run in parallel with a team at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Linked by audio-visual streaming connections, the two events were remotely connected and operated as one throughout the week.Following successful interactions across continents (on top of the usual collaborations taking place at the Cambridge base), Dan Aspel caught up with organisers and participants: <...
Published: Mar 7, 2024Duration: 22m 22s
Season 1 - Episode 62
#57 Cambridge Festival | Prof Ben Allanach previews his talk: "The Force Awakens: Quantum Collisions"
Send us Fan MailIn this short episode, Dan Aspel speaks to Professor Ben Allanach (Cambridge, CERN) about his talk "The Force Awakens: Quantum Collisions" which he'll be delivering in INI's main seminar room for this year's Cambridge Festival. Taking place on Saturday 23 March at 11:00, the talk is in fact now sold out. However, if you'd like to join the waiting list for any cancelled tickets you can do so here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-force-awakens-quantum-collisions-tickets-810293639087... and remember that even if you aren't able to attend in...
Published: Feb 14, 2024Duration: 9m 59s
Season 1 - Episode 61
#56 Voices from Ukraine: Olena Domanska of the Solidarity for Mathematicians programme
Send us Fan MailEpisode published 30/01/24 In February 2022, Olena Domanska and her family left their home in Ukraine. The ongoing Russian invasion has meant that they are yet to return to the world they left behind. However, through her engagement with INI's Solidarity for mathematicians programme, she and her family are currently based near the University of Manchester where she is continuing her work on neural networks "at the intercept of artificial intelligence and differential equations". In this podcast, Olena - mother to five children, including an eight-month-old daughter - t...
Published: Jan 30, 2024Duration: 19m 44s
Season 1 - Episode 10
“Meet the…Simons Postdoctoral Fellows” mini series #10 Dr Samuel Stark
Send us Fan MailEpisode published: 20/11/23 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, Dan Aspel speak to Dr Samuel Stark to learn about his journey through mathematics so far, and to find out what being awarded this Fellowship – which involves spending six months on an INI resea...
Published: Nov 20, 2023Duration: 4m 40s
Season 1 - Episode 9
“Meet the…Simons Postdoctoral Fellows” mini series #9 Dr Zhao-He Watse Sybesma
Send us Fan MailEpisode published: 10/10/23 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, Dan Aspel speak to Dr Zhao-He Watse Sybesma to learn about his journey through mathematics so far, and to find out what being awarded this Fellowship – which involves spending six months on an INI research...
Published: Oct 10, 2023Duration: 10m 30s
Season 1 - Episode 8
“Meet the…Simons Postdoctoral Fellows” mini series #8 Dr Paul Pruzina
Send us Fan MailEpisode 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, Dan Aspel speak to Dr Paul Pruzina to learn about his journey through mathematics so far, and to find out what being awarded this Fellowship – which involves spending six months on an INI research pro...
Published: Oct 9, 2023Duration: 5m 29s
Season 1 - Episode 57
#55 Marbles, pint glasses and the Kepler conjecture: an overview of the 2023 GeomPack programme, with organisers Simon Cox and Adil Mughal
Send us Fan MailIn 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 fascinating research which has seen them and the participants tackle "some of the knottiest problems in mathematics for centuries”.PMV programme: https://ww...
Published: Sep 8, 2023Duration: 28m 8s
Season 1 - Episode 56
#54 Discussing "The Irrational Diary of Clara Valentine", an interview with Coralie Colmez
Send us Fan MailEpisode recorded: 17/07/23In 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 mystery - with the Chalkdust review highlighting that "the explanations of the solutions to these puzzles are blended into the story expertly". In this interview, Coralie explains further about the books...
Published: Jul 18, 2023Duration: 16m 43s
Season 1 - Episode 55
#53 Disproving Ravenel's "telescope conjecture": an interview with Tomer Schlank and Jeremy Hahn
Send us Fan MailEpisode recorded: 07/07/23In 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 theory". Here, they explain why this was such a significant announcement, and what effect it has had on the field of homotopy theory.2018 INI programme: https://w...
Published: Jul 7, 2023Duration: 23m 59s
Season 1 - Episode 54
Thirty years of proof: celebrating Andrew Wiles on the anniversary of Fermat's Last Theorem
Send us Fan MailThe 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. To mark this happy occasion, we - together with our colleagues at Plus magazine and the Maths on...
Published: Jun 22, 2023Duration: 26m 42s
Season 1 - Episode 53
#51 Celebrating the Newton Gateway's 10th anniversary, an interview with Clare Merritt
Send us Fan MailThis 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 industry, businesses, the public sector and other scientific disciplines. To mark this happy occasion - and to look back at the past, and ahead to the future - Dan Aspel is joined by Newton Gateway manager <...
Published: Mar 17, 2023Duration: 15m 36s
Season 1 - Episode 52
#50 Why should we bother communicating INI research? An interview with Rachel Thomas and Marianne Freiberger
Send us Fan MailIn 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 - Introduction00:44 - Welcome, discussing “Communicating Mathematics for the Public”, the importance of trustworthiness05:30 - Who you’re speaking to vs what you’re saying0...
Published: Mar 2, 2023Duration: 31m 57s
Season 1 - Episode 51
#49 How to make maths funny, an interview with Timandra Harkness
Send us Fan MailIn 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 timandraharkness.com or find Timandra on Twitter @TimandraHarknes00:00 - Introduction00:44 - Welcome, discussing “Communicating Mathematics fo...
Published: Feb 22, 2023Duration: 28m 1s
Season 1 - Episode 50
Making data accessible: an interview with Hannah Thomas of Government Analysis Function
Send us Fan MailEpisode published 15/02/23In 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 make data accessible.This conversation was inspired by the Newton Gateway event "Communicating Mathematics for the Public" at which Hannah delivered the talk "Data Visualisation and Digital Accessibility: What We C...
Published: Feb 15, 2023Duration: 31m 23s
Season 1 - Episode 7
“Meet the…Simons Postdoctoral Fellows” mini series #7 Dr Nicolas Boulle
Send us Fan MailThanks 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 Boulle to learn about his journey through mathematics so far, and to find out what being awarded this Fellowship – which involves spending six months on an INI research programme and six months working at Cambridg...
Published: Oct 31, 2022Duration: 7m 49s
Season 1 - Episode 6
“Meet the…Simons Postdoctoral Fellows” mini series #6 Dr Patrick Sprenger
Send us Fan MailThanks 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 his journey through mathematics so far, and to find out what being awarded this Fellowship – which involves spending six months on an INI research programme and six months working at Cambridge University’s Faculty of Maths – means...
Published: Oct 31, 2022Duration: 10m 54s
Season 1 - Episode 47
Voices from Ukraine: Yuriy Semenov of the Solidarity for Mathematicians programme
Send us Fan MailForced 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's story in his own words.00:00 - Introduction00:43 - Welcome01:20 - Discovering the Solidarity for mathematicians programme, career history05:20 - Leaving Ukraine...
Published: Oct 21, 2022Duration: 20m 8s
Season 1 - Episode 46
Voices from Ukraine: Nataliya Vaisfel'd of the Solidarity for Mathematicians programme
Send us Fan MailProfessor 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 and their dogs, eventually finding sanctuary in Britain in part thanks to INI’s "Solidarity for mathematicians" programme.This podcast tells Nataliya’s story in her own words.00:00<...
Published: Oct 21, 2022Duration: 24m 47s
Season 1 - Episode 45
#45 Making maths fascinating, an interview with Ben Sparks and Katie Steckles
Send us Fan MailEpisode published 20/09/22In 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 mathematician and communicator who lectures at Sheffield Hallam University and is regularly found presenting entertaining and insightful talks everywhere from science festivals to schools and theatres...
Published: Sep 20, 2022Duration: 57m 1s
Season 1 - Episode 44
#44 Travel, enthusiasm and history: an interview with Don and Silke Zagier
Send us Fan MailEpisode published 31/08/22In 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 cycles and motivic homotopy theory and New connections in number theory and physics. Silke, meanwhile, is an experienced administrator and historian of mathematics. Topics covered include...
Published: Aug 31, 2022Duration: 31m 27s