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Hannah Fry Wins the Leelavati Prize in 2026 for Mathematics Outreach
- vaylian 2mo agoWell deserved. She is an excellent science communicator.
- rvz 2mo agoAgreed. A gifted communicator of over-looked topics in science and mathematics and is well deserved of this prize.
- seanhunter 2mo agoCompletely agree. I’d recommend her book “Hello world: How to be human in the age of the machine” to anyone who isn’t familiar. It’s one of those books where even if you know about programming, AI etc it’s worth reading because she hasn’t dumbed down the content even though she’s made it accessible to folks who don’t. Fun fact: I heard an interview with her and she said she got into maths because her family are all crazy about Formula One racing and she thought working on the aerodynamics etc would be interesting. She eventually got her “dream job” working on aerodynamics of F1 cars and found it really boring because she didn’t really get to do maths, all she did was write python simulations, leave them to run overnight and read the results in the morning, so she phoned her supervisor (who had worked his personal contacts to introduce her for the F1 job) and went back to working in his lab.
- hnlmorg 2mo agoI met her when she gave a lecture in London about algorithms as part of a promotional tour for the book. We chatted about Ada Lovelace (a topic she also did a documentary about for the BBC) and she was exactly the same in person as her personality is on the TV / Radio / Podcasts. That was definitely a highlight of that year for me.
- skybrian 2mo agoAny online writing that you'd recommend?
- KaiserPro 2mo agovery much https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001qw8x/episodes/downloads https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001qw8x/episodes/downloads Is really rather good, its a long form version of her corporate speeches https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07dx75g/episodes/downloads?page=2 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07dx75g/episodes/downloads... Curious cases with Adam rutherford was most excellent. They appeared to be great friends and spent a lot of the time taking the piss out of each other and doing great explanations. The ones with Dara are ok, but not as good.
- vgivanovic 2mo agoWhat I love most is that Hannah Fry didn't get into the Cambridge undergraduate(?) math program (maths programme for you Brits) but became a math professor at Cambridge. Go Hannah!
- adw 2mo agoShe went to UCL which is also a tier one university, though.
- mi_lk 2mo agoSeems to happen to most top universities, or is there some context I'm missing?
- rwmj 2mo agoOxford & Cambridge are very selective and entry is very competitive. Unusually for UK universities they hold a separate entrance exam for all courses. (Information about the extra admissions tests done by some universities and some courses: https://www.ucas.com/applying/before-you-apply/what-and-where-to-study/entry-requirements/admissions-tests https://www.ucas.com/applying/before-you-apply/what-and-wher....) Fun fact: When I applied to Cambridge I was interviewed by Mary Beard.
- nephihaha 2mo agoEntry is to Oxford and Cambridge is by interview. A lot hinges on that.
- jvvw 2mo agoIn maths, if you do well enough in the exam, you have to really mess up the interview to not get in though I would say. If you're borderline, the interview is important though - the interviews will usually be 95% maths questions so it's more like doing an oral exam where you have to explain your thinking process and answers.
- tomfakes 2mo agoI’m a big fan of her current podcast - The Rest Is Science. Informative and entertaining as well as being easy to listen to (I’m not a fan of many audio-only shows, so listenability is a big factor for me)
- nhinck3 2mo agoIt's also on youtube, so you can watch if you are so inclined.
- cush 2mo agoIt’s my favorite podcast right now!
- banditelol 2mo agoYesssss The video version is also a lot of fun to watch while doing dishes
- DStiego 2mo agoEspecially the (slightly frightening) animations they show!
- Novosell 2mo agoI really like her, but man I find Michael unbearable. It also just feels too fake to me. I know they already knew the info they just had a strong reaction to, but they're reacting strongly on purpose for the sake of being engaging. I didn't find it annoying to start with, but it got more grating as I tried more episodes. I recall in one episode she says "That's amazing" or something to that effect, to a fact regarding fluid dynamics. She has a PhD in fluid dynamics. She already knew whatever that fact was.
- preuceian 2mo agoI feel like they're pretty self-aware about it. I dont mind it, it keeps the episodes engaging and family friendly.
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- dofm 2mo agoShe really is an extraordinary communicator. She has an actor's control of her countenance, which allows her control over that mischievous, slightly conspiratorial tone she uses when she wants you to know something really fun, or be excited by some knowledge. I love to recommend this charming little clip from a fun sort of "science of Christmas" short film for kids she appeared in with the brilliant Lenny Rush: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MMZ_FCIgEEo https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MMZ_FCIgEEo
- arlattimore 2mo agoI really love Hannah, great communicator and keeps it interesting. If you're interested, I'd also recommend Brian Cox as a similarly fantastic representative for maths & science.
- sc970 2mo agoLook forward to seeing her on Celebrity Traitors UK later this year.
- rwmj 2mo agoIt's quite an interesting line-up: https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2026/the-celebrity-traitors-series-2-contestants https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2026/the-celebrity-traitor...
- hnlmorg 2mo agoI normally can’t stand the show but the previous celebrity one was superb! This line up looks great too.
- kitd 2mo agoWell deserved. Her most memorable program for me was her 2018 program "Contagion" which modelled a virus outbreak among volunteers in the town of Haslemere, UK, using an app measuring Bluetooth proximity. Guess which town contained the UK's Covid patient zero a year later! Edit: found it here https://youtu.be/yISdMLbO0Wc?is=T-Tq9LwzLgbusuoe https://youtu.be/yISdMLbO0Wc?is=T-Tq9LwzLgbusuoe
- pmg101 2mo agoAnd didn't the NHS app use Bluetooth proximity to alert you if you'd been in contact with a COVID case early in the pandemic? A nice case of life imitating art.
- kitd 2mo agoYeah, just watching the first few minutes of the program, it's astonishing how prophetic it was.
- rustyhancock 2mo agoIt's not prophetic. Prophetic means it predicts the future, this is epidimlogical science being applied as intended. It didn't predict the future it designed it because we applied it. Contagion used GPS logging to predict who was where an applied a random transmission risk based on that. The actual origin of the Bluetooth proximity and duration tracking was from FluPhone back in 2010 or so[0] Human contact networks, and epidemiology is a long standing science COVID just made that apparent for the lay public. Quarantines have existed for centuries, contact tracing is Victorian (smallpox mostly),social distancing, It was all application of research that largely already existed. [0] https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/srg/netos/projects/archive/fluphone2/ https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/srg/netos/projects/archive...
- thegabriele 2mo agoSince you seems well versed in the matter...Did we learn something new from the whole covid experience?
- bambax 2mo agoShe's really nice, fun and engaging. She has a recent video about AI agents selling mugshots that's well made and clear.
- chews 2mo agoHer tiktok channel is one of my favorites. Her ability to tell a maths story in such a clever way has always given me pause to watch. Congratulations to such a gifted communicator!
- urba_ 2mo agoTruly worth the prize! Sometimes I feel that she is punished by the algorithm, but great content nevertheless
- nephihaha 2mo agoI get recommended her videos all the time despite not really watching many of them. Her and Jimmy Carr in the UK.
- rramadass 2mo agoHistory and the meaning behind the name, "Leelavati Prize" (https://www.mathunion.org/imu-awards/leelavati-prize https://www.mathunion.org/imu-awards/leelavati-prize); 1) Leelavati Award - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leelavati_Award https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leelavati_Award The Leelavati Award is an award for outstanding contribution to public outreach in mathematics. It is named after the 12th-century mathematical treatise "Lilavati" devoted to arithmetic, algebra, and the decimal system written by the Indian mathematician Bhāskara II, also known as Bhaskara Achārya. In the book the author posed, in verse form, a series of problems in (elementary) arithmetic to one Leelavati (perhaps his daughter) and followed them up with hints to solutions. This work appears to have been the main source of learning arithmetic and algebra in medieval India. The work was also translated into Persian and was influential in West Asia 2) Līlāvatī (the work itself) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C4%ABl%C4%81vat%C4%AB https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C4%ABl%C4%81vat%C4%AB
- orsenthil 2mo agoI heard it first through the the book Leelavati's daugthers (2019). India's celebration of women in science.
- rramadass 2mo agoExcellent, didn't know of the book; thanks for the pointer. Wikipedia has the details; Lilavati's Daughters: The Women Scientists of India - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilavati%27s_Daughters https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilavati%27s_Daughters From "Indian Academy of Sciences" - https://www.ias.ac.in/Initiatives/Women_in_Science/Lilavatis_Daughters?lang=English https://www.ias.ac.in/Initiatives/Women_in_Science/Lilavatis... Ebook available from internet archive - https://archive.org/details/A0560IASLeelavathisDaughterFullBook https://archive.org/details/A0560IASLeelavathisDaughterFullB... Everybody should buy a copy for their children, especially young girls. I still remember the "Rocket Women of India" behind ISRO's Chandrayaan/Mangalyaan missions and how inspiring it was to learn about them. There can be no better role models; extremely intelligent, humble and all-round achievers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZNhtZ8Ufy0&t=1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZNhtZ8Ufy0&t=1s and https://rocket-women.com/2023/08/the-rocket-women-of-chandrayaan-3/ https://rocket-women.com/2023/08/the-rocket-women-of-chandra... and https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/women-scientists-in-successful-chandrayaan-3-india-lunar-mission-1692952149-1 https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/women-scientist... PS: In this context, see also the 2-vol The Mind of an Engineer, a series from Scientists/Researchers/Engineers of India - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46365415 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46365415
- sudo_cowsay 2mo agoMade some of my favorite videos on YouTube. Wonderful!
- primitivesuave 2mo agoMost well deserved. For the uninitiated, highly recommend her 2019 Christmas lectures which are excellent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q4DrUHKC0Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q4DrUHKC0Q
- ErrantX 2mo agoCongrats Hannah. I'll pile on with my own anecdote; I've run an internal conference at work for several years and we always book an external speaker. She remains my (close) second favourite[1], with a choose your own adventure talk about algorithms. It was genuinely great, and warm, and thoughtful (a lot of it was about the risks of algorithms, which is very relevant for us). This was... 2021 so mid COVID (yep it was remote) and so just before she became really big. We've worked with a lot of external speakers since, many of them very good or very slick, but she was the only one that was clearly both brilliant at her topic(s) and also an exceptional communicator. [1] For the record my favourite is Clifford Agius who is some guy I saw at a local conference who in his spare time from being a commercial pilot builds fully robotic arms for kids - he even lets them give the finger. Great guy and refused to charge us more than a few hundred quid.
- yreg 2mo agoShe was one of my favourite respondents in the old Numberphile videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rudzYPHuewc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rudzYPHuewc
- xchip 2mo ago[flagged]
- Jtarii 2mo agoBrady has enough awards.
- rwmj 2mo agoThey'd all be deserving, but only one person can win every 4 years. You can read about how the prize is awarded on the website: https://www.mathunion.org/imu-awards/leelavati-prize https://www.mathunion.org/imu-awards/leelavati-prize
- felooboolooomba 2mo agoAgree. 3Blue1Brown is a personal favorite and an astonishing teacher. May his pillow forever be fresh and cold on on both sides.
- amazingamazing 2mo agointerestingly you are starting to see a similar emphasis on outreach in tech these days with "forward deployed engineers" and "ai developer relations". Good to know people realize outreach is important. cheers and celebrations to professor fry!
- nephihaha 2mo agoWell, I'm continually getting her videos suggested to me on YouTube. I'll just say that she has a very BBC manner to her.
- chakintosh 2mo agoShe makes a great duo with Michael from V Sauce
- ryangittins 2mo agoIt's been fun to see her steady rise since she first appeared on Numberphile more than ten years ago. She's a really excellent communicator of math and science. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rudzYPHuewc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rudzYPHuewc
- matsemann 2mo agoYeah, her enthusiasm is contagious.
- balls187 2mo agoHer ted talk about the math of love is so great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFVXsjVdvmY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFVXsjVdvmY And when she straight laughs in Michael Steven's face about the price of a pencil. https://youtu.be/SfY2JACiDGU?si=fKSkb3zpjZUQqUTx&t=1629 https://youtu.be/SfY2JACiDGU?si=fKSkb3zpjZUQqUTx&t=1629
- AFF87 2mo agoReally well deserved! And to think her whole life's trajectory changed because of her year of saying "yes" to everything
- chris_st 2mo agoI really liked her "Uncharted with Hannah Fry" podcast, sorry it ended.
- card_zero 2mo agoHa, this prize comes with a million rupees cash, which makes it worth about $8 more than a Fields medal. Correction: $292 less than the Fields, I went through too many layers of currency conversion. Still, it's nearly the same.
- comprev 2mo agoAnyone else here still follow her advice about how to quickly evict all the hot air in your car on a summer's day?
- edanm 2mo agoNo, but now I really want to know what the advice is! Can you share it?
- gregdaniels421 2mo agoRoll down an opposite side window and flap a single open door on the other side
- dredmorbius 2mo ago"Cooling down a hot car - with science" <https://invidious.nerdvpn.de/watch?v=oKRcbRGDC6U https://invidious.nerdvpn.de/watch?v=oKRcbRGDC6U>
- kitd 2mo agoYup. And using it a lot recently ... !
- malshe 2mo agoYep, it was a game changer in this Texas heat!
- frythrowaway 2mo agoI went to grab lunch then other day at work* and she was just randomly sitting in the canteen like a normal person. I did like a quadruple-take then totally non-covertly took a photo to add their life-essence to my celebrity collection. * Google DeepMind in LON
- pknerd 2mo agoHer Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@fryrsquared https://www.youtube.com/@fryrsquared
- gamedna 2mo agoCongrats Hannah! Been following since the TED talk, and her videos have always been a welcome addition to my day!
- fumeux_fume 2mo ago> As Fry says, the limit to someone's understanding is never their ability to understand. The limit is always in their motivation to care. And she sees her role as being to provide that motivation. > "I think what you need to do," she says about the key to connecting with a wide audience, "is to create a hole in people’s imagination. If I can create just a moment where you want to know the next bit – you know exactly the size and shape it needs to be to fulfill your craving for that exact piece of information – then everybody's in." I wish we had more teachers that thought like this.
- ricardo81 2mo agoSeems like great advice. Beyond what we think are intellectual curiosities, passion tends to be the main driver.
- ndsipa_pomu 2mo agoI'd love to see her do a modern version of James Burke's Connections series. I think she's got a similar type of dry wit to Burke.
- rorylawless 2mo agoShe gave a talk at my then employer during the pandemic, I think that was my first time listening to her. Well deserved.
- aquir 2mo agoShe is one of my favourite humans. Clever, witty, funny, hot and on the top I love the (timbre of) her voice. I listen to it on the podcast that she does with Michael Steven (The Rest is Science).
- czottmann 2mo agoI really liked her 2024 Bloomberg series, "The Future with Hannah Fry". https://www.youtube.com/show/VLPLqq4LnWs3olV_z1ZXBSDTbcXEBNOB-MHF?sbp=KgtfQ29nOUhSQlpsWUAB https://www.youtube.com/show/VLPLqq4LnWs3olV_z1ZXBSDTbcXEBNO...
- agnishom 2mo agoI hope to see Grant Sanderson win it in 2030
- nektro 2mo agowell deserved :)