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Hannah Fry

Hannah Fry
HonFREng FIMA FIET
Hannah Fry in front of a laptop, 2017
Fry in 2017
Born (1984-02-21) 21 February 1984 (age 41)
Harlow, Essex, England
Alma materUniversity College London (BA, MA, PhD)
Occupation(s)Mathematician, author, broadcaster
Children2
Awards
Scientific career
Institutions
ThesisA Study of Droplet Deformation (2011)
Doctoral advisorFrank T. Smith[1][2]
Websiteiris.ucl.ac.uk/iris/browse/profile?upi=HMFRY30 Edit this at Wikidata

Hannah Fry (born 21 February 1984) is a British mathematician, author and broadcaster. She 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. She was previously a professor at University College London.

Her 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 scientific explanations of modern appliances. She has had a particular focus on helping the public to improve their mathematical skills. Fry gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures in 2019 and has presented several television and radio programmes for the BBC, including The Secret Genius of Modern Life. She has received several awards for her work in mathematics, including the Asimov Prize and David Attenborough Award.

Early life and education

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Hannah Fry was born in Essex, England, on 21 February 1984, the middle one of three sisters, and raised in Hoddesdon and Ware, Hertfordshire. She is of English and Irish heritage: her father was an English factory worker making hydraulic lifts for lorries and her mother stayed at home.[3][4][5] One summer, aged about 11, her mother made her solve a page of problems in a mathematics textbook each day of the summer holiday, putting her ahead of her fellow students in the next school year.[6][7] She attended Presdales School in Ware,[8] where a teacher inspired her to study mathematics.[9] She graduated from University College London (UCL) with a degree in mathematics.[10] In 2011, she completed her thesis under the supervision of Frank T. Smith and was awarded a PhD from UCL for research on fluid dynamics and the Navier–Stokes equations.[1][11]

Career and research

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Hannah Fry publicly speaking at a conference, 2014
Fry at the re:publica conference in 2014

Fry was appointed as a lecturer at University College London in 2012, working at the UCL Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis. She was later appointed senior lecturer, then professor in the Mathematics of Cities.[12][13] In September 2022, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.[14] In 2024, she became president of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.[15] She joined the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Cambridge in January 2025 as the university's first Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics.[16]

Fry has attempted to overturn the stereotype that mathematics is "boring" and not worth studying. Although she acknowledges the subject is difficult, she believes it is possible to frame it in manner that people can identify with.[9]

Radio and television

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Hannah Fry speaking at a conference, 2017
Fry at the Data of Tomorrow conference in 2017

Fry began performing stand-up comedy in 2015, leading to a TED Talk and television work.[17] Since then, she has regularly appeared on mainstream media in the UK, including regular appearances in The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry, with Adam Rutherford, on BBC Radio 4.[18] From series 22, in September 2024, Dara Ó Briain took over from Rutherford as co-presenter of Curious Cases.[19]

In 2015, she presented a BBC Four film biography of computing pioneer Ada Lovelace.[20] The following year, she co-presented Trainspotting Live with Peter Snow, a three-part series about trains and trainspotting, for the same channel.[21] In the BBC Two series City in the Sky Fry studied the logistics of aviation.[22] She hosted The Joy of Data on BBC Four, which examines the history and human impact of data.[23] A further credit for 2016 was her co-hosting an episode of the BBC Two Horizon series with Dr Xand van Tulleken, titled How to Find Love Online.[24][25]

In 2018, Fry presented Contagion! The BBC Four Pandemic, about the possible impact of a flu pandemic,[26][27] in which she said "we are about to simulate the outbreak of a fatal contagion throughout the UK ... if I can succeed this will save lives when, not if, a real pandemic hits."[28] The programme used Haslemere, Surrey, as the site of the first simulated infection, and coincidentally in February 2020 the town saw the first recorded case of a person contracting COVID-19 from within the UK.[28] She later hosted a one-off 90-minute special of the BBC science programme Tomorrow's World alongside four of the show's previous presenters: Maggie Philbin, Howard Stableford, Judith Hann and Peter Snow.[29]

In 2019, 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.[30] She 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, being only the fourth ever mathematician to deliver the lectures. They were broadcast on BBC Four.[31][32]

Fry co-presented 2020's The Great British Intelligence Test on BBC Two.[33] She has presented further programmes for the BBC explaining the mathematics behind COVID-19 and other pandemics.[34][7] She was the guest interviewee on The Life Scientific on BBC Radio 4 in 2021,[35] and has appeared on Have I Got News for You.[36]

In July 2022, she presented the BBC Two documentary Unvaccinated, in which she investigated why a portion of the British population remained unvaccinated against COVID-19.[37] Reviewing in The Daily Telegraph, Anita Singh described the show as patronising, commenting that Fry's attempt to explain statistics using "jelly-bean roulette" treated the unvaccinated people who chose to appear in the show like "six-year-olds".[38] Jack Seale for The Guardian wrote that "Fry needs some reward for ... a documentary that requires a near-saintly level of tolerance just to watch, never mind present".[37]

Fry began a six-part series in 2022 on BBC Two, The Secret Genius Of Modern Life, in which she investigates topics such as how credit cards came into being, their manufacture and how they work, and potential future developments.[39] The BBC commissioned a second six-part series, again presented by Fry and first broadcast in November 2023. One episode showed secrets of producing the British passport, including a factory where they are produced, and criticised electronic gates at airports.[40] She presented multiple episodes of The Future With Hannah Fry on Bloomberg Originals, beginning in March 2023.[41] Later that year, Radio Four started to broadcast Uncharted with Hannah Fry, a series of 15 minute documentaries about graphs.[42]

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. She correctly predicted the Labour Party would win, but cautioned the party that they should "dampen their expectations".[43]

Publications

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Fry has authored or co-authored four books. The first, The Mathematics of Love: Patterns, Proofs, and the Search for the Ultimate Equation (2015), includes the "37% rule", a form of the secretary problem according to which roughly the first third of any potential partners should be rejected.[44] The second, The Indisputable Existence of Santa Claus (2015), discusses various Christmas-related topics and how mathematics can be involved in them, including a fair Secret Santa, decoration of Christmas trees, winning at Monopoly, and comparing the vocabulary of the Queen's Christmas message to that of the lyrics of Snoop Dogg.[11][45] Her third book is Hello World: How to be Human in the Age of the Machine (2018), which looks at the impact of algorithms that affect lives.[46] In 2021, she wrote Rutherford & Fry's Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything (Abridged) with Adam Rutherford.[47]

Awards and honours

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Personal life

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Fry lives in South London.[52] She co-parents two daughters with her husband, from whom she is separated.[5]

Aged 36, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer and underwent a radical hysterectomy.[53] She wrote and presented the documentary "Making Sense of Cancer with Hannah Fry" for BBC Two's Horizon about her treatment and its long-term effects (which included lymphoedema, a chronic swelling condition). The film explores the statistics around disease screening and decision-making by patients and doctors.[54][55][56] Fry subsequently had lymphaticovenular anastomosis, a reconstructive surgery.[52] She later wrote of the cancer treatment "we took a very risk-averse route that we didn't need to", and that she regretted she could not have a third child.[55][57]

References

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  1. ^ a b Fry, Hannah M. (2011). A study of droplet deformation. ucl.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University College London. OCLC 829959172. S2CID 110868043. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.565231. Free access icon
  2. ^ Hannah Fry at the Mathematics Genealogy Project Edit this at Wikidata
  3. ^ "Birthdays today". The Times. 21 February 2025. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  4. ^ Carpenter, Louise (13 May 2022). "Prof Hannah Fry on calculating the risks of cancer treatment: 'I would have paid any price'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  5. ^ a b Nicholson, Rebecca (17 April 2023). "Hannah Fry: 'Mum wasn't focused on cooking. She'd boil sardines'". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  6. ^ Fry, Hannah (1 January 2017). "MY STORY". Elle UK. Retrieved 3 June 2022 – via PressReader.
  7. ^ a b Hunt, Elle (26 October 2022). "'A celebrity? Only if you like niche maths videos on the internet': Hannah Fry on cancer, Covid and the science of love". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  8. ^ "Mathematics Department Speaker – Dr Hannah Fry". Presdales School & Sixth Form. Archived from the original on 5 September 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  9. ^ a b Civinini, Claudia (6 December 2019). "Dr Fry, or how to stop pupils worrying and love maths". TES. Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  10. ^ Lambert, Anna (24 March 2015). "In conversation with Hannah Fry". Chalkdust. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  11. ^ a b Buchan, Kit (19 June 2016). "Hannah Fry: 'There's a mathematical angle to almost anything'". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  12. ^ Fry, Hannah (29 December 2016). "Dr Hannah Fry". Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, UCL. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
  13. ^ "Hannah Fry announced as Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics | Features: Faculty Insights". www.maths.cam.ac.uk.
  14. ^ "UCL academics named as Royal Academy of Engineering Fellows". UCL News. 21 September 2022.
  15. ^ "New IMA President 2024–25, Hannah Fry". IMA. January 2024.
  16. ^ "Award-winning broadcaster Hannah Fry joins Cambridge as Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics". University of Cambridge. 22 November 2024. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  17. ^ Kelly, Guy (13 October 2020). "Mathematician Hannah Fry on Covid briefings: 'By focusing on numbers we can lose sight of people'". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  18. ^ Sawyer, Miranda (3 June 2018). "The week in podcasts: Any Stupid Questions?; How Syria Changed the World; The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
  19. ^ "BBC Radio 4 – Curious Cases – Available now". BBC.
  20. ^ Davis, Nicola (12 October 2015). "Ada Lovelace, trailblazer of science, brought to life in exhibition". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 May 2025.
  21. ^ Moss, Chris (11 July 2016). "Meet the stars of new TV show Trainspotting Live". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  22. ^ Doran, Sarah (19 June 2016). "Who is Dr Hannah Fry?". Radio Times. Retrieved 8 May 2025.
  23. ^ Ramaswamy, Chitra (21 July 2016). "The Joy of Data review – who knew data could seem so magical, so sexy?". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 May 2025.
  24. ^ "How to Find Love Online, 2016, Horizon". BBC Two. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  25. ^ "Monday's best TV: Game of Thrones; How to Find Love Online; Flowers". The Guardian. 25 April 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
  26. ^ Daniel, Ellen (6 March 2020). "Hannah Fry: Data could help control UK coronavirus outbreak". Verdict. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
  27. ^ Sturges, Fiona (17 March 2018). "Contagion! The viral hit that'll have you reaching for the hand sanitiser". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 May 2025.
  28. ^ a b Boyd, Alex (2 March 2020). "BBC programme faked virus 'pandemic' in Haslemere two years ago". SurreyLive. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  29. ^ Conlan, Tara (3 November 2018). "BBC to reboot Tomorrow's World for one-off live special". The Guardian.
  30. ^ "A Day in the Life of Earth, review: a fascinating film that lingered long in the mind". The Independent. 31 December 2018. Retrieved 8 May 2025.
  31. ^ "Christmas Lectures 2019: Secrets and lies". Royal Institution. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  32. ^ "Hannah Fry: How much of our lives is secretly underpinned by maths?". BBC Science Focus. 26 December 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2025.
  33. ^ Dowell, Ben (4 May 2020). "The Great British Intelligence Test review — IQ levels are declining (and this show proves it)". The Times. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
  34. ^ "Can maths help us to beat the coronavirus?". BBC World Service. 6 March 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  35. ^ "Hannah Fry on the power and perils of big data". The Life Scientific. Episode 243. 7 September 2021. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  36. ^ "Have I Got News For You – Series 66, Episode 7". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  37. ^ a b Seale, Jack (20 July 2022). "Unvaccinated review – the most infuriating TV show of the year so far". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  38. ^ Singh, Anita (20 July 2022). "Unvaccinated, review: painfully patronising documentary treated vaccine sceptics as idiots". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
  39. ^ Nicholson, Rebecca (10 November 2022). "The Secret Genius of Modern Life review – irresistibly contagious TV". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
  40. ^ "TV tonight: the brilliant Prof Hannah Fry is back with her fascinating series". The Guardian. 8 November 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
  41. ^ "The Future With Hannah Fry". Bloomberg. 16 February 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  42. ^ "Uncharted with Hannah Fry: how numbers, graphs, maths and data are the secret sauce behind some of the biggest scandals". Irish Times. 30 September 2024. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
  43. ^ Allfree, Claire (2 July 2024). "Mathematician Hannah Fry: 'Even though Labour will win, they should dampen their expectations'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  44. ^ Davis, Nicola (2 February 2015). "Dr Hannah Fry: the mathematical models that underpin our sexual success". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
  45. ^ "She's Done The Sums On Santa, And The Math Checks Out". NPR. 24 December 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
  46. ^ Guest, Katy (29 September 2018). "Hello World by Hannah Fry – AI and why we over-trust what we don't understand". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
  47. ^ "Rutherford and Fry's Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything audiobook review – easygoing education". The Guardian. 22 October 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
  48. ^ "Hannah Fry is awarded 2018 Christopher Zeeman Medal". IMA. 8 August 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  49. ^ "Quinta edizione – premio Asimov" (in Italian). Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  50. ^ "IET announces 16 Honorary Fellows to mark 150th year" (Press release). IET. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  51. ^ Anon (2024). "Medals and Awards: Royal Society David Attenborough Award and Lecture". royalsociety.org. Royal Society. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
  52. ^ a b Swerling, Hannah (8 July 2023). "Hannah Fry on her cervical cancer, divorce and Haribo for lunch". The Times. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  53. ^ Lewis, Isobel (2 June 2022). "Hannah Fry on making a Horizon documentary about her cancer". The Independent. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
  54. ^ "Curious Films preps BBC2 Hannah Fry documentary". Televisual. 26 April 2022. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
  55. ^ a b Medeiros, Joao. "When Not to Treat Cancer". Wired. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  56. ^ "BBC Two – Horizon, 2022, Making Sense of Cancer with Hannah Fry". BBC. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
  57. ^ Ferguson, Donna (21 October 2023). "Hannah Fry: 'I've become more optimistic as I've got older'". The Guardian.
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