Professor Marcus Peter Francis du Sautoy D.Phil. (Oxon), O.B.E.
Born	(1965-08-26) 26 August 1965 (age 46)[1][2] London, England
Citizenship	British
Fields	Mathematics, Science Communication
Institutions	University of Oxford
Alma mater	Wadham College, Oxford (DPhil)
Doctoral advisor	Daniel Segal
Known for	The Music of the Primes
Notable awards	Berwick Prize (2001), OBE (2010)

Marcus Peter Francis du Sautoy OBE (born in London, 26 August 1965)^[3] is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. Formerly a Fellow of All Souls College, and Wadham College, he is now a Fellow of New College. He is President of the Mathematical Association. He was previously an EPSRC Senior Media Fellow and a Royal Society University Research Fellow. His academic work concerns mainly group theory and number theory. In October 2008, he was appointed to the Simonyi Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science, succeeding the inaugural holder Richard Dawkins.^[4] His surname is pronounced  /dʉˈsoʊtɔɪ/ (doo-SOH-toy).^[5]

Biography[link]

He grew up in Henley-on-Thames and was educated at local comprehensives Gillott's School and King James's College (VI Form, now Henley College) and Wadham College, Oxford where he obtained first class honours in Mathematics, although he "messed up" his first year, only attaining a second class grade. He went on to complete his DPhil in mathematics. He currently lives in London with his wife and three children. He plays football and the trumpet.

In March 2006, his article Prime Numbers Get Hitched was published on Seed Magazine's website.^[6] In it he explained how the number 42, mentioned in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as the answer to everything, is related to the Riemann zeta function. He has also published an article in the scientific magazine New Scientist.

In December 2006 du Sautoy delivered the 2006 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures under the collective title The Num8er My5teries. This was only the third time the subject of the lectures had been mathematics — on the first occasion in 1978, when the lecture was delivered by Erik Christopher Zeeman, du Sautoy had been a schoolboy in the audience. The venue for the 2006 Christmas Lectures was the Institution of Engineering and Technology's headquarters at Savoy Place, London.

Wikinews has related news: Wikinews interviews English mathematician Marcus du Sautoy

Du Sautoy is an atheist, but has stated that as holder of the Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science his focus is going to be "very much on the science and less on religion."^[7] He has described his own religion as being "Arsenal - football."^[8] Du Sautoy is a supporter of Common Hope, an organisation that helps people in Guatemala.^[9]

Popularisation of mathematics[link]

He is known for his work popularising mathematics. He has been named by The Independent on Sunday as one of the UK's leading scientists. In 2001 he won the Berwick Prize of the London Mathematical Society, which is awarded every two years to reward the best mathematical research by a mathematician under forty. He writes for The Times and The Guardian and has appeared several times on BBC Radio 4 and on television. He presented the television programme, Mind Games, on BBC Four. He has also written numerous academic articles and books on mathematics, the most recent being The Num8er My5teries. Du Sautoy is also on the advisory board of Mangahigh.com - an online maths game website and has appeared on Channel 4 News and on BBC Radio 4's Today programme promoting the service. He is a regular contributor to Radio 4 programme "In Our Time" where he routinely bends Melvyn Bragg's mind. He also appears on the TV series School of Hard Sums with Dara Ó Briain, where he sets three mathematical questions with a real world application, for Dara O'Briain and a guest to solve, using mathematical and experimentation methods respectively.

Honours[link]

Du Sautoy was awarded the Berwick Prize in 2001 by the London Mathematical Society for the publication of outstanding mathematical research. In 2009 he won the Michael Faraday Prize from the Royal Society of London for "excellence in communicating science to UK audiences". Du Sautoy was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours.^[10]

Popular publications[link]

Books[link]

• The Music of the Primes (Fourth Estate 2003)
• Finding Moonshine (UK title, Fourth Estate 2007)
• Symmetry: A Journey into the Patterns of Nature (US title, 2008)
• The Num8er My5teries: A Mathematical Odyssey Through Everyday Life (Fourth Estate 2010)

Television[link]

• Mindgames (UK TV series) (BBC 4, 2004-5). Presented 20 episodes of puzzle gameshow with regular guests Kathy Sykes and Michael Rosen.

• The Music of the Primes (BBC 4, 2005, BBC 2 2007). One hour documentary based on his book.

• Painting with Number (Teachers TV 2006). Four fifteen minute programmes covering numerous topics from risk and probability to concepts of infinity, from codes and cryptography to flowers and football.

• The Number Mysteries: Royal Institution Christmas Lectures (Channel 5, 2006). 5 Lectures about the great unsolved problems of mathematics.

• The Story of Maths (BBC Four, 2008)^[11] is a four part series first broadcast on BBC Four. In this series he discovers techniques and theories from different times and cultures.

• Horizon: Alan and Marcus Go Forth and Multiply (BBC 2, 2009). Alan Davies embarks on a maths odyssey with the help of mathematician Marcus du Sautoy.

• Horizon: The Secret You (BBC 2, 2009). Marcus du Sautoy investigates self-awareness.

• Horizon: How Long is a Piece of String? (BBC 2, 2009). Alan Davies attempts to answer the proverbial question: how long is a piece of string? Featuring Marcus du Sautoy.

• Horizon: What Makes a Genius? (BBC 2, 2010). Marcus du Sautoy asks if geniuses' brains are fundamentally different from his.

• The Beauty of Diagrams (BBC Four, 2010). Produced by Michael Waterhouse and directed by Steven Clarke, Marcus du Sautoy discusses influential scientific diagrams, starting with Vitruvian Man, Leonardo da Vinci's iconic anatomical drawing which follows the geometrical ideas of the Roman architect Vitruvius.

• The Code (BBC 2, 2011). A three-part documentary series. This programme began being broadcast on July 27, 2011.

• Faster Than the Speed of Light? (BBC 2, 2011). Marcus du Sautoy discusses the recent discovery, the faster-than-light neutrino anomaly, that neutrinos may travel faster than light. First broadcast on October 19, 2011.

• Horizon: The Hunt for AI (BBC 2, 2012). Marcus Du Sautoy asks how close mankind is to creating computers or robots that can think for themselves - artificial intelligence, AI. First broadcast on April 3, 2012.

Radio[link]

• On the relationship of music and maths Marcus du Sautoy speaks on BBC The Forum
• The Museum of Curiosity, "Meeting Five", BBC Radio 4, 2008.
• A Brief History of Mathematics (BBC Radio 4, 2010). du Sautoy presented a ten-part series profiling famous mathematicians.

Articles[link]

• Prime Numbers Get Hitched, Seed, 27 March, 2006

Personal Life[link]

Du Sautoy was a post-doc at the Hebrew University. It was there he met his Israeli wife Shani. They have three children, a son called Tomer and adopted twin daughters Magaly and Ina who are being raised Jewish.^[12]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Marcus du Sautoy

Wikinews has related news: Wikinews interviews English mathematician Marcus du Sautoy

• University of Oxford - Dr Marcus du Sautoy
• Marcus du Sautoy's mathematical site
• Marcus du Sautoy on Twitter
• The Music of the Primes website
• Music of the Primes lecture, at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, April 27, 2007
• Marcus du Sautoy at the Internet Movie Database
• Dr Marcus Du Sautoy - Keynote Speaking
• Marcus du Sautoy's Fundraising Page
• Marcus du Sautoy: Symmetry, reality's riddle talk given at TED_(conference) (since October 29, 2009 on Youtube)
• Finding Moonshine Pulse Project Podcast: Finding Moonshine (18 Jun 2008, Oxford)
• A Brief History of Mathematics podcast
• The Mathematical Association