Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures enable anyone with an interest in the subject to see the best mathematicians in action and to share their pleasure (and occasional pain). They are aimed at the General Public, schools and anyone who just wants to come along and hear a bit more about what maths is really about. For booking please email external-relations@maths.ox.ac.uk. Please note the lectures on 9 October (City of London Sinfonia) and 30 October (London Lecture) are not yet open for booking.
If you can't be here in person you can always view online. All our lectures are now broadcast live on our Facebook page and they are also subsequently available via our YouTube page.
Jump down to Public Lectures and interviews online.
You can view and download posters from previous events.
The World population is growing at about 80 million per year. As time goes by, there is necessarily less space per person. Perhaps this is why the scientific community seems to be obsessed with folding things. In this lecture Dick James presents a mathematical approach to “rigid folding” inspired by the way atomistic structures form naturally - their features at a molecular level imply desirable features for macroscopic structures as well, especially 4D structures. Origami structures even suggest an unusual way to look at the Periodic Table.
Richard D. James is Distinguished McKnight University Professor at the University of Minnesota.
Please email external-relations@maths.ox.ac.uk to register.
The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
In this lecture Persi Diaconis will take a look at some of our most primitive images of chance - flipping a coin, rolling a roulette wheel and shuffling cards - and via a little bit of mathematics (and a smidgen of physics) show that sometimes things are not very random at all. Indeed chance is sometimes confused with frequency and this confusion caries over to a confusion between chance and evidence. All of which explains our wild misuse of probability and statistical models.
Persi Diaconis is world-renowned for his study of mathematical problems involving randomness and randomisation. He is the co-author of 'Ten Great Ideas about Chance (2017) and is the Mary V. Sunseri Professor of Statistics and Mathematics at Stanford University.
Please email external-relations@maths.ox.ac.uk to register.
The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
Roger Penrose's work has ranged across many aspects of mathematics and its applications from his influential work on gravitational collapse to his work in quantum gravity via twistor theory.
However, Roger has long had an interest in and influence on the visual arts and its connections with mathematics, most notably in his relationship with Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher. In this lecture he will use Escher's work to introduce and connect mathematics to a wider public.
Oxford Mathematics is pleased to host this lecture in partnership with the Clay Mathematics Institute during their Annual Conference. After the lecture Roger will be presented with the Clay Award for the Dissemination of Mathematical Knowledge.
Please email external-relations@maths.ox.ac.uk to register.
The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
Johann Sebastian Bach was the most mathematical of composers. Oxford Mathematician and Cambridge organ scholar James Sparks will explain just how mathematicial and the City of London Sinfonia will elaborate with a special performance of the Goldberg Variations.
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James Sparks - Bach and the Cosmos (30 minutes)
City of London Sinfonia - J S Bach arr. Sitkovetsky, Goldberg Variations (70 minutes)
Alexandra Wood Director/Violin
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Please email external-relations@maths.ox.ac.uk to register
The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
Roger Penrose is the ultimate scientific all-rounder He started out in algebraic geometry but within a few years had laid the foundations of the modern theory of black holes with his celebrated paper on gravitational collapse. His exploration of foundational questions in relativistic quantum field theory and quantum gravity, based on his twistor theory, had a huge impact on differential geometry. His work has influenced both scientists and artists, notably Dutch graphic artist M. C. Escher.
Roger Penrose is one of the great ambassadors for science. In this lecture and in conversation with mathematician and broadcaster Hannah Fry he will talk about work and career.
The lecture will take place at the Science Museum in London. Booking is not yet open. More details will follow.
The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
Sir Michael Berry is a mathematical physicist at the University of Bristol specialising in semiclassical physics. His interests span a wide range of areas and, in his own words, a particular "source of delight is uncovering down-to-earth or dramatic and sometimes beautiful examples of abstract mathematical ideas: the arcane in the mundane.
More details to follow.
Please email external-relations@maths.ox.ac.uk to register.
The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
Dr Hannah Fry is a lecturer in the Mathematics of Cities at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at UCL. She works alongside a unique mix of physicists, mathematicians, computer scientists, architects and geographers to study the patterns in human behaviour - particularly in an urban setting. Her research applies to a wide range of social problems and questions, from shopping and transport to urban crime, riots and terrorism.
Hannah is also a well-respected broadcaster and the author of several books including 'The Mathematics of Love' and, most recently, 'The Indisputable Existence of Santa Claus.'
Please email external-relations@maths.ox.ac.uk to register.
The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
We are delighted to announce our first Oxford Mathematics Midlands Public Lecture to take place at Solihull School on 9th January 2019. Our speaker will be Marcus du Sautoy, eminent mathematician and Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science here in Oxford.
More details will follow but if you wish to book please email external-relations@maths.ox.ac.uk
The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
James Maynard is one of the brightest young stars in world mathematics at the moment, having made dramatic advances in analytic number theory in the years immediately following his 2013 doctorate. These advances have brought him worldwide attention in mathematics and beyond. Just 30, he has already gained many markers of distinction, including the European Mathematical Society Prize, the Ramanujan Prize and the Whitehead Prize.
Please email external-relations@maths.ox.ac.uk to register.
The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
Julia Wolf is a Heilbronn Reader in Combinatorics and Number Theory at the University of Bristol, and the Associate Chair of the Heilbronn Institute for Mathematical Research.
More details will follow. Please email external-relations@maths.ox.ac.uk to register.
The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.
Public Lectures Online
Numbers are Serious but they are also Fun - Michael Atiyah
Can Mathematics Understand the Brain? - Alain Goriely
Euler’s pioneering equation: ‘the most beautiful theorem in mathematics’ - Robin Wilson
Scaling the Maths of Life - Michael Bonsall
Can Yule solve my problems - Alex Bellos
Andrew Wiles London Public Lecture
The Seduction of Curves: The Lines of Beauty that Connect Mathematics, Art and the Nude - Allan McRobie
Maths v Disease - Julia Gog
Closing the Gap: the quest to understand prime numbers - Vicky Neale
The Law of the Few - Sanjeev Goyal
The Sound of Symmetry and the Symmetry of Sound - Marcus du Sautoy
The Butterfly Effect - What Does It Really Signify - Tim Palmer
Why the truth matters - Tim Harford
The Mathematics of Visual Illusions - Ian Stewart
How can we understand our complex economy - Doyne Farmer
Fashion, Faith and Fantasy - Roger Penrose
Modelling genes: the backwards and forwards of mathematical population genetics - Alsion Etheridge
What We Cannot Know - Marcus du Sautoy
The Travelling Santa Problem and Other Seasonal Challenges - Marcus du Sautoy
Symmetry, Spaces and Undecidability - Martin Bridson
M.C. Escher: Artist, Mathematician, Man - Roger Penrose and Jon Chapman
Dancing Vortices - Étienne Ghys
The Gömböc, the Turtle and the Evolution of Shape - Professor Gábor Domokos
Birth of an Idea: A Mathematical Adventure - Professor Cédric Villani
The History of Mathematics in 300 Stamps - Professor Robin Wilson
What Maths Really Does - Professor Alain Goriely
Forbidden Crystal Symmetry - Sir Roger Penrose
Big Data's Big Deal - Professor Viktor Mayer-Schonberger
Love and Math - Professor Edward Frenkel
Why there are no three-headed monsters, resolving some problems with brain tumours, divorce prediction and how to save marriages - Professor James D Murray
The Irrational, the chaotic and incomplete: the mathematical limits of knowledge - Professor Marcus du Sautoy
The Secret Mathematicians: the connections between maths and the arts - Professor Marcus du Sautoy
Symmetry: a talk based on his second book, 'Finding Moonshine' - Professor Marcus du Sautoy
The Music of the Primes: a talk about the Riemann Hypothesis and primes - Professor Marcus du Sautoy
Interviews with Mathematicians
Nigel Hitchin reflects with Martin Bridson
https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/23405
Roger Heath-Brown in conversation with Ben Green
https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/16561
Roger Penrose interviewed by Andrew Hodges – part one
http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/extra-time-professor-sir-roger-penrose-conversation-andrew-hodges-part-one
Roger Penrose interviewed by Andrew Hodges – part two
http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/extra-time-professor-sir-roger-penrose-conversation-andrew-hodges-part-two
Michael Atiyah interviewed by Paul Tod
Jim Murray interviewed by Philip Maini
http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/james-d-murray-reflections-life-academia-conversation-phillip-maini
Bryce McLeod Interviewed by John Ball
http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/bryce-mcleod-life-mathematics-conversation-john-ball