Mathematics Christmas Lecture with Johnny Ball

Middlesex University is delighted to announce that Johnny Ball is giving this year's Maths Christmas Lecture.

In this year’s lecture Johnny will talk about how maths and mathematicians have influenced the world around us for centuries. Johnny will recount being shown Russian Multiplication when he was 7 years old in a pub, and explains how it links directly to ancient Egyptian Maths and the Binary System which empowers all our communications devices today.

He will mention Aristotle, Hippocrates (but not the Medic) who has been totally missed by a whole swathe of Maths academics, but who was more important than Euclid.

The lecture will feature maths from Central America, China and India where empowering calculation ideas were born, but are usually missed or ignored in education today. He will also talk about Columbus, Brunelleschi, Da Vinci and Galileo, and finish with Newton and his legacy.

About Johnny Ball

Johnny Ball has been promoting mathematics, science and technology to people of all ages since the 1970s. Back in 1977 when he suggested doing a children’s TV show based on Maths his TV producers were amazed. They said OK and Think of a Number was born and immediately won BAFTA as Best Children’s Factual Show 1978. Johnny went on to write and present 20 series of factual information shows, winning awards around the world. He also wrote and produced 5 educational Stage Musicals which toured major UK theatres between 1993 and 2003. In 2018 he published “Wonders Beyond Numbers - A Brief History of All Thing Mathematical” and this talk coincides with the paperback release this February, 2019.

Attendance

This event will be held at Middlesex University's Hendon campus. It is important to note that although some public parking is available, it is limited, and you are encouraged to use public transport to arrive at campus. We are however located a short distance from Hendon Central tube station and a number of bus routes as well as Hendon Rail Station that services routes north of London.

For group bookings please contact the organiser who will be able to provide parking for coaches or minibusses on campus.