Cambridge mathematicians win Whitehead Prizes
Every year the London Mathematical Society awards prestigious Whitehead Prizes to mathematicians who are in an early stage of their career. Out of the six Whitehead Prizes awarded in 2020, three went to mathematicians at the University of Cambridge. And since this is also the home of Plus, we took the opportunity to talk to them and find out more about their work.
Maria Bruna: Taming complexity — Maria Bruna won a Whitehead Prize for finding a systematic way of simplifying complex systems. Her methods not only work in biology and medicine, but have also helped the company Dyson improve their vacuum cleaners.
Holly Krieger: Dynamic numbers — Holly Krieger won a Whitehead Prize for work that combines arithmetic and dynamical systems, and leads to beautiful fractal shapes like the Mandelbrot set.
Henry Wilton: Changing perspectives — Henry Wilton won a Whitehead Prize for his work studying the mathematics of symmetry, bringing together geometry and algebra.