Articles

Dodging Doppler: Atomic clocks and laser cooling

Atomic clocks are the best time keepers, but need to be kept incredibly cold. Paradoxically, the cooling is achieved by shining light on them.

Blockchain: Spreading trust

Bitcoin is a digital currency that isn't regulated by any kind of central authority. The structure which allows this decentralisation is called blockchain. But how, and how well, does it work?

What is pharmaceutical statistics?

What do statisticians do in the pharmaceutical industry?

Maths and politics

Mathematicians like to think that their field transcends politics, but as this brief history of the International Congress of Mathematicians shows, international mathematics has always been coloured by world events.

Maths in a minute: Transcendental numbers (and politics)

A quick introduction to transcendental numbers, a famous problem which relates to them, and how the person who solved it became a victim of political tensions.

An interview with Clément Mouhot

Clément Mouhot tells us about his work trying to understand some of the most beautiful structures in mathematics and physics.

An interview with Ivan Smith

We talk to Ivan Smith, invited lecturer at the ICM 2018, about his work and what he likes about the Congress.

The ICM 2022: Bringing nations together

We talk to two of the organisers of the ICM 2022 in Saint Petersburg.

Elusive equilibria

The Nevanlinna prize winner Constantinos Daskalakis explains why equilibrium may be unattainable and why it's good to be constructive.

The Nevanlinna Prize 2018: Constantinos Daskalakis

Daskalakis tells us about the work he is being honoured for, which involves complexity theory, game theory, online dating and traffic jams.

The Fields Medal 2018: Caucher Birkar

Caucher Birkar has been awarded the Fields medal for his contribution to algebraic geometry.

The Fields Medal 2018: Peter Scholze

Peter Scholze has received the Fields medal 2018 for transforming arithmetic algebraic geometry.