1. Hannah Fry is Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, a fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge and president of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.
34 Facts About Hannah Fry
1. 2.
Hannah Fry was previously a professor at University College London.
3.
Hannah Fry's work has included studies of patterns of human behaviour, such as interpersonal relationships and dating, and how mathematics can apply to them, the mathematics behind pandemics and an attempt to get the population in general to understand mathematics better.
4.
Hannah M Fry was born in Harlow, Essex, England, on 21 February 1984.
5.
Hannah Fry is of English and Irish heritage: her father was an English factory worker making hydraulic lifts for lorries, and her stay-at-home mother is from Ireland.
6.
Hannah Fry attended Presdales School in Ware, Hertfordshire, England, where a teacher inspired her to study mathematics.
7.
Hannah Fry graduated from University College London with a degree in mathematics.
8.
Hannah Fry was appointed as a lecturer at University College London in 2012.
9.
Hannah Fry joined the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Cambridge in January 2025 as the university's first Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics.
10.
In 2015, Hannah Fry decided to say "yes" to everything, which led to her trying stand-up comedy, a TED Talk, and television work.
11.
On 30 March 2014, Hannah Fry gave a TED talk at TEDxBinghamtonUniversity titled The Mathematics of Love, which as of December 2023 has attracted over 5.74 million views.
12.
Hannah Fry has appeared in several videos for a YouTube mathematics channel, Numberphile, run by Brady Haran.
13.
Hannah Fry has made an appearance on his podcast: The Numberphile Podcast.
14.
Hannah Fry hosted The Joy of Data on BBC Four, which examines the history and human impact of data.
15.
Hannah Fry hosted a one-off 90-minute special of the BBC science programme Tomorrow's World alongside four presenters from the show's original run: Maggie Philbin, Howard Stableford, Judith Hann and Peter Snow.
16.
In 2019, Hannah Fry presented a BBC Four programme titled A Day in the Life of Earth which explored how Earth changes in a single day and how these daily changes are essential to human existence.
17.
Hannah Fry co-presented a Horizon episode titled The Honest Supermarket, which covered a range of issues, including expiry dates and their impact on food waste, microplastics in the human food supply and the impact food consumption has on the environment.
18.
Hannah Fry presented the 2019 edition of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, entitled Secrets and lies, on the hidden numbers, rules and patterns that control daily lives; the three lectures were broadcast on BBC Four.
19.
Hannah Fry has presented further programmes for the BBC explaining the mathematics behind COVID-19 and other pandemics.
20.
Hannah Fry was the guest interviewee on The Life Scientific on BBC Radio 4, and a panellist on Have I Got News for You on 15 April and 28 October 2022 on BBC One.
21.
Hannah Fry has presented the show on 24 November 2023,12 April and 18 October 2024.
22.
Jack Seale for The Guardian wrote that "Hannah Fry needs some reward for Unvaccinated, a documentary that requires a near-saintly level of tolerance just to watch, never mind present".
23.
Hannah Fry presented multiple episodes of The Future With Hannah Fry on Bloomberg Originals, beginning in March 2023.
24.
In July 2024 Hannah Fry acted as the 'chief number cruncher' for Channel 4's coverage of the 2024 United Kingdom general election, analysing results data as it came in overnight.
25.
Hannah Fry has attempted to overturn the stereotype that mathematics is "boring" and not worth studying.
26.
In 2013, Hannah Fry won the UCL Provost's Public Engager of the Year award.
27.
Hannah Fry was nominated for her broad portfolio of public engagement activities.
28.
In 2018, the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications and the London Mathematical Society announced that Hannah Fry had won that year's Christopher Zeeman Medal "for her contributions to the public understanding of the mathematical sciences".
29.
In 2020, Hannah Fry won the Asimov Prize, a literary-scientific award organised by the Italian INFN Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare and GSSI graduate school Gran Sasso Science Institute, for her book Hello World.
30.
In 2020, Hannah Fry was awarded the Honorary Fellowship of the Institution of Engineering and Technology on the 150th anniversary of the institution.
31.
In January 2024, Hannah Fry was appointed President of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.
32.
Hannah Fry was married to Phil Lythell; they have two daughters.
33.
Hannah Fry was commissioned by BBC Two to write and present a Horizon documentary about her treatment and its long-term effects, in which she explores the statistics behind screening and decision-making by patients and doctors.
34.
The 60-minute programme Making Sense of Cancer with Hannah Fry was first shown on 2 June 2022.