Communicating mathematics in Europe

Abstract

This paper is the fourth in a series that has as its central topic the communication of mathematics in Europe. This fourth interview takes place Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti in Venice and features one of the most famous scientific communicators in the world: Simon Singh. The value of mathematics and science for today’s society, how to communicate that in a documentary or a book, the differences between the television language and the narrative language, what is meant by “good popular science”, who should communicate, what and how to communicate and to whom are just some of the topics discussed with Simon Singh during the interview: a careful reflection on mathematics, on the quality of the message to be communicated and on how to package mathematical ideas in an essay that is both captivating and rigorous, following the footsteps of an important and well-known popular writer, able to combine a deep knowledge of the discipline with that of the means used to convey the content. A journey that starts from the love for numbers in childhood and goes to interesting future projects on the communication of mathematics.

Appendix: Simon Singh

Simon Lehna Singh (Fig. 5) was born on 19 September 1964 in Wellington, England. He attended St. John’s Primary School and at 9, inspired by the scientists appearing in the TV shows of the early 1970s, he said he wanted to become a nuclear physicist. He completed his studies at the Wellington School, obtaining an advanced diploma in mathematics, physics and chemistry, which allowed him to enroll in the undergraduate course in physics at the Imperial College London. Before starting the university, he spent a year at the GEC Hirst Research Centre in Wembley, dealing with gallium arsenide monolithic microwave integrated circuits. During his university years, he wrote occasional articles for student magazines and was one of the editors of a couple of university newsletters: Schrödinger’s Cat for the Physics Department and Otto for his student residence. This experience proved to be very valuable later, when his career would undergo a sudden change of direction. He graduated in physics with honours and lived for 2 months in India to teach in Doon School in Dehradun. Upon returning from the Indian experience, he moved to Cambridge University where he obtained a PhD in particle physics, spending most of his 3 years at CERN in Geneva.

In 1990, he began working at the BBC’s scientific division as a producer and director for such shows as Tomorrow’s World and Horizon. In 1996, together with John Lynch, he directed the documentary Fermat’s Last Theorem, winning the following year a BAFTA Award, considered by many to be the British equivalent of the Academy Awards. After being broadcast in the United States under the title The Proof, it was also nominated for an Emmy Award. In 1997 the topic of the documentary becomes the inspiration for his first book, which has the same title as the documentary. Fermat’s Last Theorem [6] is the first popular mathematics book to reach the top slot on the best-sellers list in the United Kingdom. In 1999, he published his second book, The Code Book [7], tracing the history of cryptography from its beginnings to the present day. The next year, Singh produced a series of five episodes for British television Channel 4, entitled The Science of Secrecy, inspired by the book. In 2001, the documentary series won a Vega Award for best radio and television science production. Singh continued to produce other television programmes, including one about the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphics in the nineteenth century and a BBC4 show about puzzles, called Mind Games.

In 2003, he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his achievements in the field of education and scientific communication. The same year, he received an honoris causa degree in Literature from the Loughborough University and in Mathematics from the University of Southampton. In 2004 he published Big Bang, his third book, which tells the history of the Universe [8] and, 4 years later, his fourth book, entitled Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial [9], written with the physician and professor in complementary medicine Edzard Ernst. The same year, he was personally involved in the “Libel Reform Campaign” for the enactment of a fairer law on defamation (Fig. 6). In 2012 he founded the non-profit organization Good Thinking Society, which promotes and funds projects of scientific skepticism. In 2013, he published his latest book, entitled The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets [10], which presents and explains the mathematical themes present in the most famous sitcom in the world, with the direct involvement of some of the authors of the series. In the same year, he took part as a guest and author in some well-known shows, including Theatre of Science with Richard Wiseman, Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People with Robin Ince and the 2011 edition of Uncaged Monkeys Tour with Brian Cox, Ben Goldacre and Robin Ince. He currently devotes much of his time to the activities promoted by the Good Thinking Society and personally follows educational projects such as “UAS”, which encourages the scientific departments of universities to a closer collaboration with schools, “Enigma Project”, which organises workshops on mathematics and cryptography in schools with the use of a real Enigma machine (Fig. 7), and “Parallel”, which weekly proposes to students selected by their teachers 30 min of interesting, entertaining and stimulating online material that is outside of the usual curriculum. For more information on Simon Singh and his projects, visit his website http://www.simonsingh.net.

Translated from the Italian by Daniele A. Gewurz.