James Grime Popularises Mathematics
Codes are like a sealed box with a message inside. The sender and the receiver hold the key to the box. If the key ends up in the hands of a stranger, he or she must figure out how to open the box.
James Grime giving a talk on mathematics for the University of Turku staff and students
During the Second World War, Germany used the Enigma cipher machine for communication. The machine resembles a typewriter, but it converts the typed letters into others.
– Enigma is the lock and the list of codes is the key, mathematician James Grime told during his lecture that was directed at University students and staff.
Eventually, the English succeeded in breaking the Enigma code. The Bletchley Park Mansion served as an intelligence base for the British. The best mathematicians and code breakers in the country were gathered there to solve the code. Ultimately, the logic of the code was revealed by means of probability theory.
The code was solved by Alan Turing. He was one of the best known mathematicians of the 20th century and a pioneer of information processing science. After the war, he designed one of the first programmable computers in the world.
Math for All
James Grime graduated as a PhD from the University of York with the mathematics of symmetry, coding theory and problem solving with diagrams and pictures as his research field. He has participated in the Millennium Mathematics Project at the University of Cambridge and now he tours the world giving talks and engaging his listeners in mathematics.
Grime gives lectures on mathematics for pupils and makes videos on You Tube. He is particularly interested in codes and secret messages. He wants to make mathematics accessible to all in an easy and entertaining way.
James Grime gave a lecture for the University students and staff on 29 September. The event was organized by the LUMA Centre of Southwestern Finland, the University of Turku and Resurscentret för matematik, naturvetenskaper och teknik i skolan.
Text: Pia-Sofia Yrjölä
Translation: Aino Koivisto