Since 1982, the London Mathematical Society has hosted its annual free Popular Lectures to inspire interest in mathematics. A full list of speakers and the lecture titles is below.
2018
Maths's Greatest Unsolved Puzzles - Katie Steckles
Risky Business - Dr Jennifer Rogers
2017
Adventures in the 7th Dimension - Dr Jason Lotay
The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Physics in Mathematics - Professor David Tong
2016
The Shape of Data in Biology - Dr Heather Harrington
One, Two, Red, Blue - Dr Julia Wolf
2015 - To mark the 150th Anniversary of the LMS, additional Popular Lectures were held.
The Mathematics of Randomness - Professor Martin Hairer, FRS
How Many....? (Estimating Population Sizes) - Professor Ruth King
A good new millinnium for prime numbers - Professor Ben Green, FRS
Patterns in human behaviour - Dr Hannah Fry
Party Hard! The Maths of Connections - Dr Colva Roney-Dougal
The Mathematics of Processing Digital Images - Dr Joan Lasenby
2014
What's in a number - Kevin Buzzard
Epidemics and Viruses: the mathematics of disease - Julia Gog
2013
Mathematics in the Courtroom – Ray Hill
Addictive Number Theory – Vicky Neale
2012
Can Anything be Salvaged from the Wreckage of Hilbert’s Dream? – Tim Gowers
On Attempting to Model the Mathematical Mind – Roger Penrose
2011
Symmetry, Chance & Determinism - Colva Roney-Dougal
How Climate Models Work and Could They Be Better? - Hilary Weller
2010
Modelling the Circle of Life: How Maths Untangles Knotty DNA Questions - Dorothy Buck
(Please email the LMS for details on how to obtain a copy of this video)
Clutching at Random Straws - Matt Parker
2009
Hollywood's Hippest Mathematics: random matrices and Riemann zeros - Dr Nina Snaith
The Scale of Things - Dr Mark Miodownik
2008
Toy models - Dr Tadashi Tokieda
Know your enemy - viruses under the mathematical microscope - Dr Reidun Twarock
2007
Chaos and Crochet - Dr Hinke Osinga
Knots - Dr Stephen Huggett
2006
From Magic Squares to Sudoku - Dr Emma McCoy
How likely is that? - Dr John Haigh
2005
The Mathematics of Shrek - Dr Joan Lasenby
What Computers Cannot Do - Dr Alan Slomson
2004
Big Money Mathematics - Professor Ken Binmore
A Spoonful of Maths Helps the Medicine Go Down - Professor Helen Byrne
2003
Mathematics, Magic and the Electric Guitar - Dr David Acheson
The Music of the Primes - Professor Marcus du Sautoy
2002
Our Dynamic Sun - Dr Helen Mason
Geometry Ancient & Modern – Dr John Silvester
2001
Codes - Professor Peter Cameron
Simulating the world - Professor Chris Budd
2000
Simplicity and Complexity - Professor John Barrow
Fractals - the New Geometry - Professor Kenneth Falconer
1999
Floating, Spinning, Tumbling - Dr Frank Berkshire
Tangent Circles – Patterns and Packings - Professor Caroline Series
1998
Giraffe Blood Flow and Pattern Forming Bacteria - Tim Pedley
Marrying, Voting, Choosing - Tom Körner
1997
Staying Ahead of the Opposition – Mike Atkinson
How to Study Random Shapes – John Kent
1996
New Wine in Old Bottles – Peter Hilton
Bubbles and Dinosaurs – Michael Sewell
1995
Measuring the Marigold – Peter Saunders
Wild Geometry – Nigel Ray
1994
Fermat’s Last Theorem – Richard Pinch
Juggling – Colin Wright
1993
How to see Objects in Four Dimensions – S. A. Robertson
Optimisation of Running and Jumping – R. McNeill Alexander
1992
A Breakthrough in Algebra – Peter Neumann
Heads I Win, Tails You Lose – Leslie Mustoe
1991
Four Encounters with Sierpinski’s Gasket – Ian Stewart
Wallpaper Patterns in Different Geometries – Alan Beardon
1990
Designing Experiments with Allowance for Interfering Neighbours – Rosemary Bailey
Geometry and Computers – Peter Giblin
1989
Asymptotic Approximations Simplified – F.G. Leppington
Stamping Through Mathematics – R.J. Wilson
1988
How Should a Mathematician Think About Shape – D.G. Kendall
Chaology – M. V. Berry
1987
Games that Solve Problems – W. A. Hodges
Codes and Ciphers – F. C. Piper
1986
The Rise and Fall of Matrices – W. Lederman
Games Animals Play – J. Maynard Smith
1985
Discovering Mathematics with the Computer – R. J. Churchhouse
Mathematics and the Law – D. V. Lindley
1984
The Fascination of Knots – Ronald Brown
Cosmic Geometry – Roger Penrose
1983
Hopping Mad: the Mathematics of Probability – D Williams
The Discovery of Perspective in the Renaissance – E. C. Zeeman
1982
Infinity: How Big is it? Who Invented it, Can you do Maths With Inifinte Numbers? – Keith Devlin
Mathematics of Weather Forecasting – James Lighthill