Back to www.qedcat.com.

Each year, from 2001 to 2015, we gave a series of public lectures under the auspices of the Mathematical Association of Victoria. Most of these lectures were at the Melbourne Museum, though we also went on a number of tours of rural Victoria. Throughout we were cajoled, assisted, promoted and roadied by the wonderful Simon Pryor, then CEO of the MAV.

These lectures ceased for a number of good reasons, and more than a few are best forgotten. But we believe it was an important-crazy-wearying thing to do, and we remember the lectures fondly. And, if nothing else, the lectures were Burkard's apprenticeship for Mathologer.

The following is a list of all the Melbourne public talks we gave, with links to titles-abstracts, and to a few low res audio and video files. (The MAV website had such links, but the MAV have recently removed all references to the public lectures from their website. Why? You'd have to ask them.)



2015
The Library at The Docks
The Mathematical Magic of the Simpsons, 23 August 2015
Footy Maths, 11 September 2015
Calculus in One Easy Lesson, 11 October 2015
Yin Maths and Yang Maths, 30 October 2015 (podcast)

2014
The Library at The Docks
The Mathematical Magic of 3D Printing, 26 October 2014
Was Pythagoras Chinese?, 23 November 2014
The Futurama of Mathematics, 30 November 2014

2013
The Royal Society
Overcrowding, Zombies and Other Population Problems, 28 July 2013
The Dark Side of the Cube, 11 August 2013 (video)
The Maths of Planet Mars, 1 September 2013 (video)
Strange Tales from the Maths Masters' Files, 15 September 2013 (video)

The Melbourne Writers Festival
Maths goes to the Movies, 25 August 2013
To Infinity and Beyond, 29 August 2013

Festival of Mathematics at Federation Square
Melbourne, the Maths Capital of the World, 8 November 2013 (video)
Maths Goes to the Movies, 15 November 2013
Global Warming in Three Easy Lessons, 22 November 2013
Also watch the "trailer" for the festival, displayed on Fed Square's big screen

Education afternoon at the AustMS conference, 1 October 2013

2012
Melbourne Museum
Melbourne Maths, 29 July 2012
The Mathematical Gardens of Babylon, 12 August 2012 (video)
The Joy of Sports Gambling, 16 September 2012 (video)
Hollywood Maths, 14 October 2012(video)

2011
Melbourne Museum
The Problem with Probability, 12 June 2011 (video)
The Pyramids, the Sphinx and Other Riddles, 26 June 2011
Riemann's Hypothesis, and What it Means for Mankind, 7 August 2011
Supersonic Sudoku, 21 August 2011 (video)


2010
Mathematics education: Australia's very own Titanic, 1 August 2010
Rubik's Cube: Solved, once and for all!, 15 August 2010 (video)
Mathematics and the Magic Box, 12 September 2010
Weapons of Maths Destruction, 17 October 2010 (video)

2009
How to become a human lightning calculator, 21 June 2009
Rocky V, and other Roman contributions to mathematics, 26 July 2009
Rome vs. Mathematics, Sunday, 23 August 2009
Primetime Mathematics, 13 September 2009

2008
Mathematical Trickery
Cheating like a Mathematician: a history
The secret life of soap bubbles (video)
Poker, nuclear war and other fun games

2007
Mathemagician Through the Looking Glass (video)
The Joy of Gambling
Henri Poincaré's Million Dollar Problem
The Dark Art of Number Juggling

2006
Melbourne Museum
The Numbers in NUMB3RS (video)
John Conway: Mathemagician
How Many Mathematicians Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb?
Mathematics vs. God.

2005
Melbourne Museum
Quasimodo's Cipher, July 31 2005. (video)
The DaVinci Code and Other Mathematical Nonsense, 14 August 2005
The Mathematics of Magic and Miracles, 4 September 2005 (video)
Strange Harmonies: the Mathematics of Music, 9 October 2005

2004
Melbourne Museum
Escher and Beyond: Art, Mathematics and Magic, 18 July 2004 (video)
The Maths is Right! How to Win Game Shows, 25 July 2004 (video)
Numerology, by Amateurs and Professionals, 29 August 2004 (video)
Count Count and the Knotty Knots, 11 September 2004 (video)

2003
What is the Best Way to Lace Your Shoes?
Mathematics, Magic and Origami
To Infinity and Beyond
Henri Poincare and the Million Dollar Problem

2002
Melbourne Museum
The Secrets of Soap Bubbles
The Mathematics of a Beautiful Mind
Juggling the Universe, 25 July 2002
Imaginary Numbers and the Magic They Do, 6 August 2002
Shadows from the Fourth Dimension, 27 August 2002
The Joy of Gambling, 14 September 2002

2001
The Joy of Gambling
How and How not to Contact Aliens
Fermat: the Most Difficult Simple Theorem in Mathematics


Copyright 2004-∞ All rights reserved.