Frames of Mind

These are extracts from the film 鈥淭hinking Space鈥.

How do mathematicians think? This 60 minute documentary film features nine UK-based mathematicians offering insights into their mathematical thinking across a broad range of mathematical research fields.

Through explorations of their various thought processes, the film portrays mathematicians who are grappling with advanced mathematical ideas. We are presented with the concepts of imagination, intuition, and wonder, as well as rigorous mathematical deduction.

The film features Kevin Buzzard, Peter Donnelly, Tim Gowers, Martin Hairer, Roger Penrose, Caroline Series, Richard Thomas, Reidun Twarock, and Karen Vogtmann.

The film was commissioned by The London Mathematical Society, as part of its 150th Anniversary Celebrations. The full length version of the film is available . 

(Please click on the images to view the extracts.)


Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, University of Warwick
Hyperbolic geometry
Caroline talks about the contraction mapping theorem and fractals
 

Professor of Pure Mathematics, University of Warwick
Geometric group theory
Karen talks about cohomology

Professor of Pure Mathematics, Imperial College London
鈥ˋlgebraic Number Theory
Kevin talks about the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture

Regius Professor of Mathematics, University of Warwick
Fields Medal 2014
Stochastic analysis
Martin talks about the challenge of a hard problem

 

Professor of Statistical Science, University of Oxford
Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics
Peter talks about a genetic map of the UK

Professor of Mathematics, University of York
Mathematical biology
Reidun talks about non-crystallographic symmetry in viruses

Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics, University of Oxford
Mathematical physics
Roger talks about the idea of a trapped surface
 

Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics, University of Oxford
Mathematical physics
Roger talks about his non-periodic tilings

Professor of Pure Mathematics, Imperial College London
Algebraic geometry
Richard talks about the G枚ttsche conjecture

Royal Society Research Professor, University of Cambridge
Fields Medal 1998
Combinatorics
Tim talks about quasi-randomness in combinatorics