Marcus du Sautoy

Marcus du Sautoy OBE is Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science – a post previously held by Richard Dawkins – and a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford.

Currently a Fellow of New College, Marcus was previously President of the Mathematical Association (2012-13), EPSRC Senior Media Fellow and a Royal Society University Research Fellow.

A well-known populariser of mathematics, winning the 2009 Michael Faraday Prize from the Royal Society of London for “excellence in communicating science to UK audiences”, he writes for The Times, Independent, and The Guardian and has appeared several times on BBC Radio 4 and on television. He presented the BBC mini-series “The Story of Maths,” which explores fascinating mathematical theories and techniques from throughout history and across cultures.

His presentations on mathematics, which include “Why Beckham chose the 23 shirt”, have played to a wide range of audiences: from theatre directors to bankers, from diplomats to prison inmates.

Marcus is also an acclaimed author of 7 books, including “The Num8er My5teries: A Mathematical Odyssey Through Everyday Life” (Fourth Estate, 2010), and perhaps his better known “Symmetry: A Journey into the Patterns of Nature” (HarperCollins, 2008), which looks at various kinds of mathematical and aesthetic symmetry, including a massive, mysterious object called “the Monster” that exists in 196,883 dimensions.

In 2019, “The Creativity Code” was released and became an instant best-seller. it explores the impact that new AI and machine learning is having on the creative arts and mathematics.

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