The Life Scientific

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The Life Scientific: Nira Chamberlain on how mathematics can solve real-world problems

25/05/2021

Nira Chamberlain on how mathematics can solve real-world problems

BBC Radio 4 - The Life Scientific, Nira Chamberlain on how mathematics can solve real-world problems

Jim Al-Khalili asks Nira Chamberlain how he uses maths to solve real-world problems.

Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to Dr Nira Chamberlain about creating mathematical models to solve real-world problems.

When does a crowd of people become unsafe? How well will Aston Villa do next season? When is it cost-effective to replace a kitchen?

The answers may seem arbitrary but, to Nira Chamberlain, they lie in mathematics. You can use maths to model virtually anything.

Dr Nira Chamberlain is President of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, and Principal Mathematical Modeller for the multinational engineering company SNC-Lavalin Atkins.

He specialises in complex engineering and industrial problems, creating mathematical models to describe a particular feature or process, and then running simulations to better understand it, and predict its behaviour.

Nira is one of just a handful of esteemed mathematicians, and the first black mathematician. to be featured in ‘Who’s Who’, Britain’s book of prominent people.

Since 2018, he’s made the Black Power List, which celebrates the UK’s top 100 most influential people of African or African-Caribbean heritage, ranking higher than Stormzy and Lewis Hamilton when he was first listed. Proof, he says, that maths really is for everyone.

PRODUCER: Beth Eastwood

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