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Hannah Fry Wins the Leelavati Prize in 2026 for Mathematics Outreach

maths.cam.ac.uk

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Re: Hannah Fry Wins the Leelavati Prize in 2026 for Mathematics Outreach

#91

Post by dofm »

seanhunter wrote: post #89
hunnovi wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> She was a professor in the mathematics of cities (applied spatial mathematics) before that — in her early thirties. But, that was not at Cambridge, which is what the original post by vgivanovic claimed, right? It was at University College London. > Public understanding of science has proved to be a valuable field, I never contested that, assuming that it is done responsibly and well. But that field, as well as a la…

I have no idea why you have this weird axe to grind. Yes she has done research https://www.nature.com/articles/srep01303 https://www.thelancet.com/article/S1473-3099(20)30457-6/full... https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03164-7 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.16.20023754v... https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-journal-of-... Etc etc. That’s papers in Nature, The Lancet, The Europe…

Between 2017 and 2021 she also had two children, cervical cancer, a radical hysterectomy, lymphoedema and reconstructive surgery for that.

She is a properly impressive person who warrants no shade, but it never surprises me to see it.

Re: Hannah Fry Wins the Leelavati Prize in 2026 for Mathematics Outreach

#93

Post by hunnovi »

seanhunter wrote: post #89
hunnovi wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> She was a professor in the mathematics of cities (applied spatial mathematics) before that — in her early thirties. But, that was not at Cambridge, which is what the original post by vgivanovic claimed, right? It was at University College London. > Public understanding of science has proved to be a valuable field, I never contested that, assuming that it is done responsibly and well. But that field, as well as a la…

I have no idea why you have this weird axe to grind. Yes she has done research https://www.nature.com/articles/srep01303 https://www.thelancet.com/article/S1473-3099(20)30457-6/full... https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03164-7 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.16.20023754v... https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-journal-of-... Etc etc. That’s papers in Nature, The Lancet, The Europe…

[flagged]

Re: Hannah Fry Wins the Leelavati Prize in 2026 for Mathematics Outreach

#94

Post by hunnovi »

dofm wrote: post #91
seanhunter wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no idea why you have this weird axe to grind. Yes she has done research https://www.nature.com/articles/srep01303 https://www.thelancet.com/article/S1473-3099(20)30457-6/full... https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03164-7 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.16.20023754v... https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-journal-of-... Etc etc. That’s papers in Nature, The Lancet, The Europe…

Between 2017 and 2021 she also had two children, cervical cancer, a radical hysterectomy, lymphoedema and reconstructive surgery for that. She is a properly impressive person who warrants no shade, but it never surprises me to see it.

There are examples like Stephen Hawking, and he did truly impressive work in hardcore science as far as I know, despite the challenges and obstacles that he had in life. Hannah Fry has done a lot of soft work, lots of books and other media, lots of activity, a very hardworking person, and very skilled at popularity work. But that does not change my impression that her focus is not really on hardcore science.

Re: Hannah Fry Wins the Leelavati Prize in 2026 for Mathematics Outreach

#95

Post by nephihaha »

jvvw wrote: post #86
nephihaha wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Entry is to Oxford and Cambridge is by interview. A lot hinges on that.

In maths, if you do well enough in the exam, you have to really mess up the interview to not get in though I would say. If you're borderline, the interview is important though - the interviews will usually be 95% maths questions so it's more like doing an oral exam where you have to explain your thinking process and answers.

I'm sure it probably depends on the discipline (and indeed the college, since some are harder to get into than others). I can see how this would be important in mathematics where it is hard to avoid rules and structure. In other areas, the decisions will be much more subjective.

Re: Hannah Fry Wins the Leelavati Prize in 2026 for Mathematics Outreach

#96

Post by nephihaha »

thegabriele wrote: post #51
rustyhancock wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not prophetic. Prophetic means it predicts the future, this is epidimlogical science being applied as intended. It didn't predict the future it designed it because we applied it. Contagion used GPS logging to predict who was where an applied a random transmission risk based on that. The actual origin of the Bluetooth proximity and duration tracking was from FluPhone back in 2010 or so[0] Human contact networks,…

Since you seems well versed in the matter...Did we learn something new from the whole covid experience?

Yes: * That you sell a six month lockdown by saying it will take two or three weeks. You can do this several times.

* That censorship is essential.

* That any public disagreement will be responded to with terms of personal abuse.

* That you can use it to introduce/try out all kinds of other long-desired schemes like digital ID (so called passports) or increasing working from home.

Re: Hannah Fry Wins the Leelavati Prize in 2026 for Mathematics Outreach

#97

Post by dofm »

hunnovi wrote: post #93
seanhunter wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no idea why you have this weird axe to grind. Yes she has done research https://www.nature.com/articles/srep01303 https://www.thelancet.com/article/S1473-3099(20)30457-6/full... https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03164-7 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.16.20023754v... https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-journal-of-... Etc etc. That’s papers in Nature, The Lancet, The Europe…

[flagged]

> I actually have a worse impression of her now

You’re not exactly making the best impression here. This is such a bizarre thread. You have nit-picked someone’s choice of words into an extraordinary series of implicit slights against someone who has won a prize for the very thing at which she excels, and you really are inviting a lot of theories as to why; very few of them favourable.

Re: Hannah Fry Wins the Leelavati Prize in 2026 for Mathematics Outreach

#98

Post by hunnovi »

dofm wrote: post #97
hunnovi wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> I actually have a worse impression of her now You’re not exactly making the best impression here. This is such a bizarre thread. You have nit-picked someone’s choice of words into an extraordinary series of implicit slights against someone who has won a prize for the very thing at which she excels, and you really are inviting a lot of theories as to why; very few of them favourable.

[flagged]

Re: Hannah Fry Wins the Leelavati Prize in 2026 for Mathematics Outreach

#99

Post by globular-toast »

dofm wrote: post #91
seanhunter wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no idea why you have this weird axe to grind. Yes she has done research https://www.nature.com/articles/srep01303 https://www.thelancet.com/article/S1473-3099(20)30457-6/full... https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03164-7 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.16.20023754v... https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-journal-of-... Etc etc. That’s papers in Nature, The Lancet, The Europe…

Between 2017 and 2021 she also had two children, cervical cancer, a radical hysterectomy, lymphoedema and reconstructive surgery for that. She is a properly impressive person who warrants no shade, but it never surprises me to see it.

I guess she's no Richard Feynman, just like literally everyone else on the planet...

Re: Hannah Fry Wins the Leelavati Prize in 2026 for Mathematics Outreach

#100

Post by ErrantX »

jvvw wrote: post #85
ErrantX wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any elite selection process has high risk for not selecting the best people. Either due to corruption or, even more likely, institutional biases. Malcolm Gladwell has a few episodes of revisionist history that looks at some US universities who fall into this trap. Even with all that said; the chances of a selection process for 17/18 year olds being able to correctly select the best future adults in their field is ver…

Having interviewed maths applicants for Oxford, I don't think it's just corruption or biases - there are just more really bright students that you have places for and have to reject some people! We all tried really hard not be biased but I don't think there is any way to guarantee that you aren't somehow, however hard you try. It's very hard to predict from a half hour interview precisely who will do well in future,…

No judgement here. And you are right btw; we are biased constantly in everything we do, and it's a better person than you our me that can truly dodge it!

I read a study a while ago (sorry Google didn't find it again) that said a lot of exceptionally gifted people just don't apply to elite universities. Instead, the main characteristic of applicants tends to be that they are extremely driven.

Drive tends to not correlate well to long term success without talent as a companion. Therefore a lot of people at Cambridge (which I think was the example) tend to do no better than the average in later life (notably wasn't true for PPE grads obviously)

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