Marianne Freiberger is Editor of Plus. She joined Plus in 2005 after doing a PhD and then a three year postdoc at Queen Mary, University of London. As a researcher she worked in complex dynamics, the area of pure maths that has given us the Mandelbrot set. In the world of maths communication she has been Editor-in-Chief of the Mathscareers website, given presentations to mathematicians about how to communicate their work to a wider audience, and to journalists about how to deal with maths in the media. She has been a TEDx speaker and an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 2010.
Together with Rachel Thomas, Marianne has co-authored several popular maths books including Numericon: A journey through the hidden lives of numbers and Understanding numbers, and were editors on the book 50: visions of mathematics. They were Science Editors for the Discovery+ documentary series Universe Unravelled about the work of the Stephen Hawking Centre for Theoretical Cosmology.
In October 2022 Marianne and Rachel received a SPI-M-O Award for Modelling and Data Support (SAMDS) from the UK's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies. This award recognised their work with the JUNIPER modelling consortium to provide a wide audience (including public, press, policy makers and government) with clear and accessible explanations of some of the maths that was vital in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When you pluck a guitar string it vibrates at many resonant frequencies at once. What might that look like? Find out with our animation.
The Laplacian operator turns up all over maths. Here's a reasonably light-touch introduction and a look at why it forms part of the wave equation.
If you sprinkle sand on a vibrating plate it forms the most beautiful patterns. We explore why that happens, what it has to do with mathematical pioneer Sophie Germain, and how the question opens up a huge range of maths.
The sound of a plucked string depends on how long it is, so you can hear the length of a string. But can you hear the shape of a drum?
On September 8th, 2026, OpenAI announced that one of its systems had solved the Navier-Stokes Millennium Problem. But has the problem really been solved? What exactly was the contribution of AI? And what does the advance of AI on mathematics mean for the field?
AI has recently solved some very hard maths problems. Did AI really do this on its own? What does it mean for the future of mathematics? And how should the maths community respond?
There's an equation which describes the flow of heat. We have a look at where it comes from.
Ranganathan won a prestigious Whitehead Prize for shattering geometric shapes and then putting them back together again.
Hot weather, cold air conditioning, and fantastic mathematics — we report on our experience at this year's International Congress of Mathematicians.
We talk to the team behind the Glasgow and Dublin bid about their plans for the 2030 International Congress of Mathematicians.
The new IMU President tells us why it's important to have an International Congress of Mathematicians and about the role of the IMU.
Segal has won a Chern Medal for his "visionary mathematical insights that have had an enduring influence in a wide range of fields."
