Adrian Smith on the power of Bayesian statistics

The Life Scientific

BBC

Technology, Personal Journals, Society & Culture, Science

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 7 February 2023

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How a once-derided approach to statistics paved the way for AI. Jim Al-Khalili talks to pioneering mathematician, Professor Sir Adrian Smith. Accused early in his career of ‘trying to destroy the processes of science’, Adrian went on to prove that a branch of statistics (invented by the Reverend Thomas Bayes in 1764) could be used by computers to analyse vast sets of data and to learn from that data. His mathematical proofs showed that Bayesian statistics could be applied to all sorts of real world problems: from improving survival rates for kidney transplant patients to tracking Russian submarines. And paved the way for a dramatic explosion in machine learning and AI. Working as a civil servant (2008-2012) he helped to protect the science budget in 2010, transforming the landscape for scientific research in the UK. And he has been vocal, over many years, about the urgent need to make sure children in the UK leave school more mathematically able. In 2020, he became President of the UK's prestigious national science academy, The Royal Society. Producer: Anna Buckley

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to introduce myself.
0:03.7	My name's Stevie Middleton and I'm a BBC Commissioner for a load of sport podcasts.
0:08.4	I'm lucky to do that at the BBC because I get to work with a leading journalist, experienced
0:12.2	pundits and the biggest sport stars.
0:14.3	Together we bring you untold stories and fascinating insights straight from the players'
0:18.5	mouths.
0:19.5	But the best thing about doing this at the BBC is our unique access to the sport world.
0:25.0	What that means is that we can bring you podcasts that create a real connection to
0:28.8	dedicated sports fans across the UK.
0:31.2	So if you like this podcast, head over to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more.
0:40.9	Welcome to the podcast edition of the Life Scientific, the show where I get to talk to
0:45.1	some of the UK's leading scientists and you get to find out what motivates and inspires
0:49.8	them.
0:50.8	Today I'm talking to one of the most influential people in British science today, Professor
0:55.0	Adrian Smith.
0:56.7	There's so much to admire about Sir Adrian's life and work as a mathematician, civil servant
1:01.8	and now as president of the UK's National Science Academy, the Royal Society.
1:06.1	I hope you enjoy listening to history as much as I did.
1:09.4	Hello, today I'm talking to a pioneering mathematician, a man who proved that a branch
1:14.4	of statistics invented by the Reverend Thomas Bayes in 1764 could be used by computers
1:20.8	to analyse vast sets of data and to learn from that data.
1:25.6	For many years Adrian Smith and a handful of others who were studying Bayesian statistics
	...

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