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Episode details

Radio 3,07 Dec 2016,45 mins

Maths: Alex Bellos, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Serafina Cuomo, Vicky Neale

Free Thinking

Available for over a year

Anne McElvoy meets David Rooney, curator of the Winton Mathematics gallery at the Science Museum which has been redesigned by Zaha Hadid architects, and explores the way maths skills are increasingly needed for jobs. She discusses the changing attitudes to mathematics in history and the present day with Alex Bellos, writer of maths puzzles, maths historian Serafina Cuomo and maths lecturer Vicky Neale. They are joined by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who is director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History. Alex Bellos is the author of Alex Through the Looking Glass and his latest book called Can You Solve My Problems. Neil deGrasse Tyson is the author of many books including Welcome to the Universe co-written with J Richard Gott and Michael A Strauss. Vicky Neale is Whitehead Lecturer at the Mathematical Institute and Balliol College at Oxford University. Serafina Cuomo is Reader in Roman History at Birkbeck College, University of London. Producer: Harry Parker.

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