Du Sautoy's research "uses classical tools from number theory to explore the mathematics of symmetry". Du Sautoy is known for his work
popularising mathematics, and has been named by
The Independent on Sunday as one of the UK's leading scientists. He has also served on the advisory board of Mangahigh.com, an online maths game website. He is a regular contributor to the BBC Radio 4's
In Our Time programme and has written for
The Times and
The Guardian. He has written numerous academic articles and books on mathematics, the most recent being an exploration of the current state of creativity in artificial intelligence,
The Creativity Code. He is co-director of PRiSM, the Centre for Practice & Research in Science & Music at the
Royal Northern College of Music, which he co-founded with composer
Emily Howard. In a 2006 article published in
Seed magazine, du Sautoy discussed the
Hilbert-Pólya conjecture, a way for advances in quantum physics to provide insight into the
Riemann hypothesis.
Books His
popular mathematics and
popular science books include: •
The Music of the Primes •
Finding Moonshine •
Symmetry: A Journey into the Patterns of Nature •
The Num8er My5teries: A Mathematical Odyssey Through Everyday Life •
What We Cannot Know •
The Great Unknown: Seven Journeys to the Frontiers of Science •
The Creativity Code: How AI Is Learning to Write, Paint and Think •
Thinking Better: The Art of the Shortcut •
Around the World in 80 Games: A mathematician unlocks the secrets of the greatest games •
Blueprints: How mathematics shapes creativity Television Among many other programmes, Du Sautoy presented the
BBC Four television programme
Mind Games and co-hosted the TV series
School of Hard Sums with
Dara Ó Briain. On the latter show, he posed mathematical questions with real-world applications. Ó Briain and a guest then tried to solve the problems, using rigorous and experimental methods, respectively. In December 2006, du Sautoy delivered the 2006
Royal Institution Christmas Lectures under the collective title
The Num8er My5teries. five lectures about the great unsolved problems of mathematics. •
The Story of Maths (BBC Four, 2008) 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 which began broadcasting on 27 July 2011. •
Faster Than the Speed of Light? (BBC 2, 2011). Marcus du Sautoy discusses a recent discovery, the
faster-than-light neutrino anomaly, that neutrinos may travel faster than light. First broadcast on 19 October 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 3 April 2012. • ''
Dara Ó Briain's School of Hard Sums'' (
Dave, 2012). Co-host with
Dara Ó Briain. Dara and guests attempt to solve problems posed by Marcus Du Sautoy with mathematics or through trial and error. First broadcast on 16 April 2012. •
Precision: The Measure of All Things (
BBC Four, 2013). Professor Marcus du Sautoy explores why we are driven to measure and quantify the world around us and why we have reduced the universe to just a handful of fundamental units of measurement. First broadcast on 10 June 2013. •
The Secret Rules of Modern Living: Algorithms (
BBC Four, 2015). Mathematician Professor Marcus du Sautoy demystifies the hidden world of algorithms. First broadcast on 24 September 2015.
Awards and honours 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 "for services to Science". The
University of Bath awarded du Satoy an
Honorary Doctorate in 2010. He was elected a fellow of the
American Mathematical Society in 2012 and a
Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2016. == Personal life ==