Oxford today

surprise for me was that it wasn’t just my
mathematics that was stretching the actors
creatively; the questions posed by the actors in
turn pushed me mathematically, making me see
my own subject in a new light.
As part of the project we developed a series of
workshops for teachers to explore the ideas at the
heart of the play. The drama teachers are all big
fans of Complicite, internationally recognised as
one of the greatest theatre companies in the world.
So when we advertised the workshops they all ran to
sign up immediately. But we made it a condition of
the workshop that each drama teacher had to come
with a maths teacher. For many the common-room
conversation about the workshop was the first time
the drama teacher had ever talked to the maths
teacher. The workshops had the effect of creating a
new bond between two departments in school that
had previously not seen any link.
It is one of many stories that have contributed
to my belief that the best education would be one
where we tore down the walls between classrooms
and taught education in a more holistic way. Of
course in some ways that is what Oxford has been
doing for centuries. The college system has always
been about cross-subject dialogue. As an
undergraduate at Wadham, I sat with my fellow
students talking about Derrida and
deconstructionism, the poetry of Omar Khayyam,
the philosophical ideas of Karl Popper, and into
this mix it was my place to explain mathematics’
important place in this intellectual melting pot.
Part of the reason I was drawn to the Professorship
for the Public Understanding of Science is that I’ve
been practising it ever since I came up to Oxford
as an undergraduate.
‘The best education would be one where we
tore down the walls between classrooms and
taught education in a more holistic way’
One of the many joys of being a professor in New
College is the continuation of those inter-disciplinary
discussions, finding myself sitting next to fellows
from such different disciplines and sharing ideas,
stories, problems. This summer the mathematics
department moves into its beautiful new building
on the Radcliffe Infirmary site. The building aims
to create not just a place to facilitate conversations
between mathematicians, but to invite dialogue
with the many people we hope will pass through
its doors from beyond the world of mathematics.
The building is part of a larger project in the
University – not only to facilitate the chance cup of
tea between researchers within the University in
seemingly unrelated fields, but to create bridges
between the laboratory and the art gallery, the
lecture theatre and the factory, the university library
and the corridors of Westminster. The more we
learn to speak each other’s languages, ask each
other new questions, the more hope there is of
finding the answers to the problems that have
stubbornly eluded previous generations.
Marcus du Sautoy OBE (Wadham, 1983) has been the Simonyi
Professor for the Public Understanding of Science since 2008.
A fellow of New College, and winner of the 2001 Berwick Prize of
the London Mathematical Society, he regularly writes for The
Times, The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph. He
is a member of the University’s Mathematical Institute and is
a Senior Media Fellow of the EPSRC.
The Mathematical
Institute is adjacent
to the Radcliffe
Observatory
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