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Posted by agnishom 16 hours ago

Hannah Fry Wins the Leelavati Prize in 2026 for Mathematics Outreach(www.maths.cam.ac.uk)
495 points | 83 commentspage 2
vaylian 13 hours ago|
Well deserved. She is an excellent science communicator.
seanhunter 13 hours ago||
Completely agree. I’d recommend her book “Hello world: How to be human in the age of the machine” to anyone who isn’t familiar. It’s one of those books where even if you know about programming, AI etc it’s worth reading because she hasn’t dumbed down the content even though she’s made it accessible to folks who don’t.

Fun fact: I heard an interview with her and she said she got into maths because her family are all crazy about Formula One racing and she thought working on the aerodynamics etc would be interesting. She eventually got her “dream job” working on aerodynamics of F1 cars and found it really boring because she didn’t really get to do maths, all she did was write python simulations, leave them to run overnight and read the results in the morning, so she phoned her supervisor (who had worked his personal contacts to introduce her for the F1 job) and went back to working in his lab.

hnlmorg 10 hours ago||
I met her when she gave a lecture in London about algorithms as part of a promotional tour for the book.

We chatted about Ada Lovelace (a topic she also did a documentary about for the BBC) and she was exactly the same in person as her personality is on the TV / Radio / Podcasts.

That was definitely a highlight of that year for me.

KaiserPro 9 hours ago|||
very much

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001qw8x/episodes/downloads Is really rather good, its a long form version of her corporate speeches

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07dx75g/episodes/downloads...

Curious cases with Adam rutherford was most excellent. They appeared to be great friends and spent a lot of the time taking the piss out of each other and doing great explanations. The ones with Dara are ok, but not as good.

skybrian 13 hours ago|||
Any online writing that you'd recommend?
rvz 13 hours ago||
Agreed. A gifted communicator of over-looked topics in science and mathematics and is well deserved of this prize.
primitivesuave 10 hours ago||
Most well deserved. For the uninitiated, highly recommend her 2019 Christmas lectures which are excellent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q4DrUHKC0Q

gamedna 2 hours ago||
Congrats Hannah! Been following since the TED talk, and her videos have always been a welcome addition to my day!
dofm 13 hours ago||
She really is an extraordinary communicator.

She has an actor's control of her countenance, which allows her control over that mischievous, slightly conspiratorial tone she uses when she wants you to know something really fun, or be excited by some knowledge.

I love to recommend this charming little clip from a fun sort of "science of Christmas" short film for kids she appeared in with the brilliant Lenny Rush:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MMZ_FCIgEEo

pknerd 2 hours ago||
Her Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@fryrsquared
AFF87 5 hours ago||
Really well deserved! And to think her whole life's trajectory changed because of her year of saying "yes" to everything
frythrowaway 2 hours ago||
I went to grab lunch then other day at work* and she was just randomly sitting in the canteen like a normal person.

I did like a quadruple-take then totally non-covertly took a photo to add their life-essence to my celebrity collection.

* Google DeepMind in LON

rramadass 10 hours ago||
History and the meaning behind the name, "Leelavati Prize" (https://www.mathunion.org/imu-awards/leelavati-prize);

1) Leelavati Award - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leelavati_Award

The Leelavati Award is an award for outstanding contribution to public outreach in mathematics. It is named after the 12th-century mathematical treatise "Lilavati" devoted to arithmetic, algebra, and the decimal system written by the Indian mathematician Bhāskara II, also known as Bhaskara Achārya. In the book the author posed, in verse form, a series of problems in (elementary) arithmetic to one Leelavati (perhaps his daughter) and followed them up with hints to solutions. This work appears to have been the main source of learning arithmetic and algebra in medieval India. The work was also translated into Persian and was influential in West Asia

2) Līlāvatī (the work itself) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C4%ABl%C4%81vat%C4%AB

chakintosh 5 hours ago||
She makes a great duo with Michael from V Sauce
bambax 10 hours ago|
She's really nice, fun and engaging. She has a recent video about AI agents selling mugshots that's well made and clear.
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