Educators Franklin Lecture
Masters' report on Franklin Lecture, delivered by Chris Budd for the Worshipful Company of Educators
Worshipful Company of Educators
The Franklin Lecture
What have mathematicians done for us?
Intrigued by the title, I readily accepted this lecture invitation and dinner, as a guest of The Educators.
In the event, the lecture from Professor Chris Budd OBE exceeded even that expectation!
In a humorous, light hearted manner, but still packed with technical detail, Prof Budd's talk focussed on the applications of mathematics, not just through history, but also in the modern world, outlining the ways in which mathematics changes the world in which we live (the mobile phone, the internet and even microwave cooking). He also talked with enthusiasm about his work in using mathematics in weather forecasting.
As part of this, he explained how notable mathematicians had furthered the cause of mankind's civilised progress. Examples such as:
- Pythagoras using his mathematics, and number ratios to lay the foundations of our current musical scales and chords
- Maxwell's contribution to the foundation of electromagnetism - with a special mention of SIM's recognition of Faraday - since I had explained my badge earlier to the Professor!
- Most surprisingly, that notable mathematician, Florence Nightingale and her use of statistics in health and medicine
An interesting dichotomy was presented by Professor Budd: people seem so frightened of mathematics that, in a recent event, an aircraft was delayed because someone on it saw a Professor working on a differential equation and alerted the cabin staff out of concern that the individual was up to no good! It helped explain why many large multi-national companies are having difficulty trying to recruit good young mathematicians.
All this with an outstanding dinner, and very sociable company made it a memorable evening!
KJS Feb 2019
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