Sarah Hart is Professor of Mathematics at Birkbeck, University of London. In 2020 she was appointed the 33rd Gresham Professorship of Geometry, the oldest mathematics chair in the UK dating back to 1597. She is the first woman ever to hold the position. She is also President of the British Society for the History of Mathematics, the oldest such society in Europe.

She is passionate about communicating mathematics and is a sought-after public speaker with over two decades of lecturing experience. She is particularly interested in the links between mathematics, culture and creativity: many of her public lectures are on these topics. Her book “Once Upon a Prime”, about mathematics and literature, will be published in April 2023.

Sarah’s talk

The beautiful connections between mathematics and literature

Mathematics is often called the language of the universe, because mathematics is the best tool we have to understand the hidden structures and patterns of nature. But human beings are part of the universe too, and so it is natural, even inevitable, that our forms of creative expression will also have inherently beautiful pattern and structure.

For too long, mathematics has been perceived as relevant only to science. It’s time to put it in its rightful place, along with literature, art, and music, in the pantheon of the creative arts. In this talk Sarah will focus on the compelling and profound links between mathematics and literature. She will show you the hidden structures in everything from poetry to novels. It’ll give you a whole new way to appreciate literature.