Ian Stewart
The Life Scientific
BBC
4.6 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 17 September 2013
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ian Stewart, Professor of Maths at Warwick University, has had a dual career as a research mathematician and as a populariser. He wrote his first book for a general audience - on chaos theory - over thirty years. He's also the author of short stories and novels of science fiction, and of the Science of Discworld series.
Ian Stewart talks to Jim al-Khalili about his life, including his research into applying mathematics to problems of biology and how he communicates the ideas of number and maths to the general public.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Once you've wrapped up this podcast, how about trying a very British cult? |
| 0:06.0 | What happens if the person you trust with your future isn't what you think they are? |
| 0:10.0 | I did feel the whole time he was watching me Yeti. I saw a footprint and that really gave me gusmas. |
| 0:16.4 | Or people who knew me. Emme, I remember every secret, every lie. I'm the only one who knows the truth. |
| 0:23.0 | Discover more of our biggest podcast from 2003. |
| 0:27.0 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:29.0 | Mathematician Ian Stewart is a man who lives in many dimensions. |
| 0:34.6 | He's been a researcher at Warwick University for over 45 years |
| 0:38.4 | where he now applies math's two problems in biology. |
| 0:42.0 | He's been telling the public about his subject for decades. |
| 0:45.0 | He's remembered for his Royal Institution Christmas Lectures in 1997 called The Magical Maze |
| 0:51.0 | in which he shared the spotlight with a real tiger. |
| 0:54.0 | And in Stewart has had a parallel life as a prolific author. |
| 0:58.0 | He's written factual books that explain mathematics to the general public |
| 1:02.0 | from Does God Play Dice the New Mathematics of Chaos, |
| 1:05.0 | to 17 equations that changed the world. |
| 1:08.0 | And he's an author of science fiction. |
| 1:11.0 | He's even brought science to the disc world of Terry Pratchett, |
| 1:14.8 | a place that runs on magic rather than the rational behavior of matter. |
| 1:19.3 | For his collaboration, Terry Pratchett has made him an honorary wizard of the unseen university. |
| 1:25.0 | Ian, welcome to the Life Scientific. |
| 1:27.0 | I do. |
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