Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to tell you why I love podcasting.

I'm Sasha Johansson. I'm an Assistant Commissioner for the BBC and I work on making podcasts.

My real passion is discovering unbelievable unheard stories. I'm working with the biggest stars

who can really bring those stories to life. I love the whole process of making podcasts

from the spark of an idea to hearing the final edit. There's nothing like it.

What makes BBC podcast special is that we're working for you. So whatever we commission

has to reflect the things that you care about and love, wherever you are in the UK.

So if you like this BBC podcast, there's so much more to discover. Have a listen on BBC Sounds.

This is Discovery from the BBC World Service. I'm Jemal Khalili and in my series The Life

Scientific, I get to talk to some of the extraordinary men and women who are trying to understand

our world and make it a better place. And my guest today likes to solve real world problems.

You can use mathematics to model virtually anything he says. Naira Chamberlain is President

of the Institute of Mathematics and Disapplications and Principal Mathematical Modeler

for Multinational Engineering Company, SNC, Laval in Appkins. He specialises in complex

engineering and industrial problems, creating mathematical models to describe a particular

feature or process, and then running simulations to better understand it and predict its behaviour.

Naira's one of just a handful of esteemed mathematicians featured in Britain's book of

prominent people, who's who, and the first Black mathematician. Since 2018, he's featured on the

Black Power List, celebrating the UK's top 100 most influential people of African or African

Caribbean heritage. When he first made the list, he was particularly proud to rank higher than

Stormsy and Lewis Hamilton, though his motto for life does, in fact, come from his childhood

sporting hero, Muhammad Ali. With a mathematical twist, of course, float like a butterfly,

...