Colva Roney-Dougal
Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of St Andrews
12 episodes
Appears in multiple episodes with: Timothy Gowers, Marcus du Sautoy
Covers topics in categories such as:
Paul Erdős
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of the highly prolific, itinerant 20th century Hungarian mathematician, who enjoyed an unrivalled reputation for problem-solving.
23 February 2023
Also featuring: Timothy Gowers, Andrew Treglown
ScienceForeign associates of the National Academy of SciencesSet theoristsJewish atheistsInstitute for Advanced Study visiting scholarsForeign members of the Royal SocietyMembers of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and SciencesJewish agnosticsAcademics of the Victoria University of ManchesterMental calculatorsPrinceton University faculty20th centuryPierre-Simon Laplace
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great French mathematician who tackled questions on the stability of the Solar System and planet rotation and devised the basis for metrication
8 April 2021
Also featuring: Marcus du Sautoy, Timothy Gowers
HistoryMembers of the Royal Swedish Academy of SciencesMembers of the Académie FrançaiseFrench physicistsGrand Officers of the Legion of HonourDeterministsLinear algebraists18th-century French mathematiciansMembers of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and SciencesFrench fluid dynamicists, French mathematicians, French probability theoristsMembers of the French Academy of SciencesFellows of the American Academy of Arts and SciencesFrench deistsFellows of the Royal SocietyFrench agnostics18th centuryFranceMathematicsEmmy Noether
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas and achievements of one of the great 20th-century mathematicians.
24 January 2019
Also featuring: David Berman, Elizabeth Mansfield
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas of Gauss, 'prince of mathematicians', including those on number theory, geometry, probability theory, astronomy and electromagnetism.
30 November 2017
Also featuring: Marcus du Sautoy, Nick Evans
ScienceRecipients of the Copley MedalMembers of the Royal Swedish Academy of SciencesUniversity of Göttingen alumniMembers of the Bavarian Academy of SciencesAcademic staff of the University of GöttingenHonorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences18th-century German astronomersMembers of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and SciencesGerman LutheransMembers of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and HumanitiesCorresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of SciencesOptical physicistsRecipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and SciencesMental calculatorsFellows of the Royal SocietyLinear algebraists18th centuryAstronomyMathematicsMaths in the Early Islamic World
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how mathematicians in the Islamic world, from C8th-C15th, developed new ideas and synthesised ideas from Greek and Indian maths.
16 February 2017
Also featuring: Peter Pormann, Jim Al-Khalili
P v NP
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss P versus NP, an unsolved problem in maths that asks if the answers to all problems can be found as easily as they can be checked.
5 November 2015
Also featuring: Timothy Gowers, Leslie Ann Goldberg
e
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Euler's number, also known as e, one of the most important and interesting numbers in mathematics.
25 September 2014
Also featuring: June Barrow-Green, Vicky Neale
Random and Pseudorandom
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss mathematical randomness and pseudorandomness, ideas important to cryptography, statistics and weather forecasting.
13 January 2011
Also featuring: Marcus du Sautoy, Timothy Gowers
The Unintended Consequences of Mathematics
Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the unintended consequences of mathematical discoveries, from alternating current to predicting the path of asteroids.
11 February 2010
Also featuring: John D. Barrow, Marcus du Sautoy
Probability
Melvyn Bragg discusses the strange mathematics of probability from renaissance gambling to chaos theory.
29 May 2008
Also featuring: Marcus du Sautoy, Ian Stewart
Indian Mathematics
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 5000 year long contribution Indian mathematicians have made to our understanding of the subject.
14 December 2006
Also featuring: George Gheverghese Joseph, Dennis Almeida
Negative numbers
Melvyn Bragg discusses the history of negative numbers, from the trailblazing Chinese to the suspicious Europeans.
9 March 2006
Also featuring: Ian Stewart, Raymond Flood