Talk:Marcus du Sautoy

Accent

Does anyone know why he has a semi-Australian accent? He doesn't pronounce 'mathematics' in a typical English way. Coop 19:49, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

No idea. I met him about 18 months ago, when we were both on Puzzle Panel, and he didn't really strike me as having an odd accent. Mind you, I don't recall him saying "mathematics" at all in the recording studio. I can vouch, however, for him having a thoroughly devious mind when it comes to setting and solving puzzles, and also that he is a very nice personStephenBuxton 12:36, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't think he does personally. Having spoken to him on many occasions, he has a perfectly normal accent... 129.67.122.110 (talk) 01:29, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

He speaks fairly standard southern English, not unlike Nick Hornby who is a Cambridge graduate (and Arsenal supporter) of about the same age and from the same part of the country. Millbanks (talk) 17:17, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

He is on the radio this morning (28.12.10 9.30am BBC Radio 4) and does sound vaguely Australian.

on an episode of hard sums w/ dara o'briain he sounded downright kiwi — Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.91.132.167 (talk) 01:53, 14 May 2012 (UTC)

Bibliography

The book "Symmetry: A Journey into the Patterns of Nature" is just the US title for "Finding Moonshine". May be of interest to know also the Italian title: "Il disordine perfetto" (the perfect disorder). Me, 14:46, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

I tried to fix it in this way. --Jaqen (talk) 17:00, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

Spam

A book said to be about to be published in 2009 is mentioned. 2009 is in the future, at the moment. This is spamming.

I wouldn't say it is spamming, it is subject to WP:CRYSTAL certainly, but mentioning a book that may be released is not spamming. Had it advertised where you can get it from and how much it costs, that would be spamming. StephenBuxton (talk) 17:23, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

Incorrect College

Now that he has taken up his Chair, he is now at New College (as of one week ago, 1 Dec 2008), as you can seen from his webpage: http://people.maths.ox.ac.uk/~dusautoy/newdetails.htm So, the second sentence of his entry (which currently reads: Formerly a Fellow of All Souls College, he is now a Fellow of Wadham College) should now read: Formerly a Fellow of All Souls College and Wadham College, he is now a Fellow of New College. (and of course New College should be linked to the wikipedia page on New College). Since I don't know how to do this (in particular the link), perhaps someone else could do this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.67.110.34 (talk) 22:01, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

Done, thank you! :-) --Jaqen (talk) 09:10, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

That's great - but I note that you've linked New College to the wikipedia page on New College School (whereas it should be linked to the wikipedia page on New College, Oxford). So, the wording in the article is fine, but the link should be changed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.67.110.34 (talk) 03:14, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

I've had a go at fixing that link (my first attempt at a link!)- seems o.k. now. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.67.108.182 (talk) 21:02, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

Religion

Du Sautoy is classified as "Atheist", which he is, but on Desert Island Discs this morning he told Kirsty Young that his religion was "Arsenal - football". I've tried to put something in the article about this but I'm having problems. Millbanks (talk) 17:21, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Article now fixed - thanks. Another interesting comparator with Nick Hornby, see Accent, above. Millbanks (talk) 17:44, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Marcus du Sautoy is an atheist (he has announced this on television) but I hardly think he would qualify as a militant atheist, along with names like Richard Dawkins, Anthony Grayling, Polly Toynbee, Christopher Hitchens, Jonathan Miller or other names in the category headed "Atheism activists". On the programme where he said he was an atheist, he also said that he used to sing in a church choir - he did say, however, that he was not religious, he just liked singing. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 19:37, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

Field of study - group theory and number theory or symmetry?

The article currently says "His academic work concerns mainly group theory and number theory", but in the New Scientist interview du Sautoy says "My own research is in the area of symmetry". Mitch Ames (talk) 12:43, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

Group theory and number theory both have vast areas of scope for symmetry (symmetric groups for instance) Gamma2delta (talk) 21:55, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

New series about history of mathematics

Du Sautoy has just started to present a new series about the history of mathematics on BBC Four - the first series tonight (July 12 2011) discussed mathematics in ancient Egypt. If no one beats me to it, I may add some details about the programme to the article. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 19:40, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

I have a feeling that it is the same series as the one already mentioned in the article - the Radio Times has an "S" (for subtitles) after it - but I feel that it should have been an "r" for repeat. Perhaps this is a different series - I remember that he was recently on The One Show talking about a programme which he will be broadcasting. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 23:02, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

I think that the new series is going to come out in the week of typing (week beginning July 25 2011). ACEOREVIVED (talk) 15:46, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

The programme is called "The Code" - it was mentioned on Today on July 27 - and I see that some one has now added it to the article. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 10:39, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

Karl Gauss

In his series on the history of mathematics, he said that he thought the greatest mathematician of all time was Karl Friedrich Gauss. Perhaps his admiration for Gauss merits mention in the article. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 10:41, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

I agree. Most artists have influences in their 'early years' sections, and most biographies list menial things that the person likes or whatever because they said it in some interview. So lets include that line. Unfortunately I'm too lazy, and I don't know how to properly reference it (given that he stated it in a TV programme). Night night! Colt .55 (talk) 00:14, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Pronunciation

I've brought the pronunciation of his last name up to speed. That is, I've given an IPA transcription and I've linked the respelling to the standard Wikipedia respelling key. I've based the IPA transcription on an assumption that the previous respelling was based on this, but can't be sure, particularly as the reference is a particular book I don't have to hand, and which presumably uses its own respelling system, which may be what's been represented in this article (this is a great example of why the IPA is such an important tool and why everyone should use it and learn it at school!).

So can anyone confirm that the vowel of "du" is tense, rather than lax (that is, that it rhymes with "doom", not with "took"), or isn't a schwa (as in the first syllable of "decision"), and that the first vowel of Sautoy rhymes with "so", and not with "soar"? garik (talk) 03:20, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

This, at least, suggests that the Wikipedia respelling key is pretty much the same as the BBC one. garik (talk) 00:21, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Television series

I think that he recently presented a programme on whether anything can go faster than light, which could go in the article. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 23:03, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

Player of the trumpet

When he was being interviewed on the BBC Radio Four programme The Life Scientific, he said that he plays the trumpet. If this were to go in the article, it would add further weight to the well-worn suggestion that people brilliant at mathematics often have strong musical ability, for instance, Albert Einstein was an accomplished violinist.Vorbee (talk) 15:50, 18 June 2016 (UTC)

Presenter of prize on University Challenge

I think this article should also point out that du Sautoy was the presenter of the prize to the winning team on the 2016 edition of University Challenge.Vorbee (talk) 15:54, 18 June 2016 (UTC)