Marcus du Sautoy

Du Sautoy was born in London to Bernard du Sautoy, employed in the computer industry, and Jennifer ({{nee}} Deason) du Sautoy, who left the Foreign Office to raise her children. He grew up in Henley-on-Thames. His grandfather, Peter du Sautoy, was chairman of the publisher Faber and Faber, and managed the estates of James Joyce and Samuel Beckett.{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituarypeter-du-sautoy-1592147.html|title=OBITUARY:Peter du Sautoy|website=Independent.co.uk|date=23 October 2011}}{{Cite ODNB|doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/59125|year = 2004|title=Du Sautoy, Peter Francis (1912–1995)}}

Du Sautoy was educated at Gillotts Comprehensive School and King James's Sixth Form College (now Henley College) and Wadham College, Oxford, where he was awarded a first class honours degree in mathematics. In 1991 he completed a doctorate in mathematics on discrete groups, analytic groups and Poincaré series, supervised by Dan Segal.{{cite thesis|degree=DPhil|publisher=University of Oxford|title=Discrete groups, analytic groups and Poincaré series|first= Marcus Peter Francis|last=Du Sautoy|date=1989|

url=http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/OXVU1:LSCOP_OX:oxfaleph015161621|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.236109}}|website=bodleian.ox.ac.uk|oclc=48598310}}

File:Sautoy2 cropped.JPG

Du Sautoy's research "uses classical tools from number theory to explore the mathematics of symmetry". Du Sautoy's academic work concerns mainly group theory and number theory.{{Cite journal | last1 = Sautoy | first1 = M. | doi = 10.1007/BF02698914 | title =Counting {{mvar|p}}-groups and nilpotent groups | journal = Publications Mathématiques de l'Institut des Hautes Scientifiques | volume = 92 | pages = 63–112| year = 2000 | issue=1| s2cid = 53584050 | url = http://www.numdam.org/item/PMIHES_2000__92__63_0/ }}

Du Sautoy is known for his work popularising mathematics, and has been named by The Independent on Sunday as one of the UK's leading scientists. He has also served on the advisory board of

[https://www.mangahigh.com Mangahigh.com], an online maths game website. He is a regular contributor to the BBC Radio 4's In Our Time programme and has written for The Times and The Guardian. He has written numerous academic articles and books on mathematics, the most recent being an exploration of the current state of creativity in artificial intelligence, The Creativity Code.{{cite web

|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/mar/12/the-creativity-code-marcus-du-sautoy-review

|title=The Creativity Code by Marcus du Sautoy – review

|last=Wolf

|first=Jonnie

|date=12 March 2019

|work=The Guardian

|access-date=1 September 2019

}}

He is co-director of PRiSM, the [https://www.rncm.ac.uk/research/research-activity/research-centres-rncm/prism/ Centre for Practice & Research in Science & Music] at the Royal Northern College of Music, which he co-founded with composer Emily Howard.{{Cite web |title=The PRiSM Team - Royal Northern College of Music |url=https://www.rncm.ac.uk/research/research-activity/research-centres-rncm/prism/prism-team/prism-team/ |access-date=2024-01-28 |website=RNCM |language=en-GB}}

In a 2006 article published in Seed magazine, du Sautoy discussed the Hilbert-Pólya conjecture, a way for advances in quantum physics to provide insight into the Riemann hypothesis.{{cite magazine

|title=Prime Numbers Get Hitched

|last=du Sautoy

|first=Marcus

|date=27 March 2006

|publisher=Seed

| magazine = Seed.com

}}{{cite web | last=Thomas | first=Kelly Devine | title=From Prime Numbers to Nuclear Physics and Beyond | website=Institute for Advanced Study | date=2013-05-02 | url=https://www.ias.edu/ideas/2013/primes-random-matrices | access-date=2024-01-25}}

His popular mathematics and popular science books include:

• The Music of the PrimesThe Music of the Primes Fourth Estate, 2003; {{ISBN|9780062064011}}
• Finding MoonshineFinding Moonshine UK title, Fourth Estate, 2007; {{ISBN|9780007380879}}
• Symmetry: A Journey into the Patterns of NatureSymmetry: A Journey into the Patterns of Nature US title, 2008; {{ISBN|9780060789411}}
• The Num8er My5teries: A Mathematical Odyssey Through Everyday LifeThe Num8er My5teries Fourth Estate, 2010; {{ISBN|9780007362561}}
• What We Cannot KnowWhat We Cannot Know Fourth Estate, 2016; {{ISBN|9780007576593}}
• The Great Unknown: Seven Journeys to the Frontiers of Science The Great Unknown: Seven Journeys to the Frontiers of Science Viking, 2017; {{ISBN|9780007576579}}{{cite web|title=Review of The Great Unknown|website=Kirkus Reviews|date=22 February 2017|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/marcus-du-sautoy/great-unknown/}}
• The Creativity Code: How AI Is Learning to Write, Paint and Think The Creativity Code: How AI Is Learning to Write, Paint and Think Harper Colin Publishers Australia, 2019; {{ISBN|9780008296346}}{{cite web|author=Olszewski, Peter|title=Review of The Creativity Code|date=October 20, 2019|website=MAA Reviews, Mathematical Association of America|url=https://www.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/the-creativity-code}}
• Thinking Better: The Art of the ShortcutThinking Better: The Art of the Shortcut HarperCollins UK, 2021; {{ISBN|9780008393939}}{{cite web|url=https://freakonomics.com/podcast/whats-wrong-with-shortcuts/|publisher=Freakonomics Radio|website=freakonomics.com|title=EPISODE 483: What's Wrong With Shortcuts?|first=Stephen |last=Dubner|year=2021|quote=being aware of what your thought process is, is already enough to short-circuit the algorithm which was always sending you into depression. You're sort of stuck inside the system of the way you’re thinking}}
• Around the World in 80 Games: A mathematician unlocks the secrets of the greatest gamesAround the World in 80 Games: A mathematician unlocks the secrets of the greatest games HarperCollins UK, 2023; {{ISBN|978-0008525910}}
• Blueprints: How mathematics shapes creativityBlueprints: How mathematics shapes creativity Fourth Estate, 2025; {{ISBN|978-0008684990}}

Among many other programmes,{{IMDb name|nm1798854}} Du Sautoy presented the BBC Four television programme Mind Games and co-hosted the TV series School of Hard Sums with Dara Ó Briain. On the latter show, he posed mathematical questions with real-world applications. Ó Briain and a guest then tried to solve the problems, using rigorous and experimental methods, respectively.

In December 2006, du Sautoy delivered the 2006 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures under the collective title The Num8er My5teries. This was only the third time the subject of the lectures had been mathematics – on the first occasion, in 1978, when the lecture was delivered by Erik Christopher Zeeman, du Sautoy had been a schoolboy in the audience. Other television work includes:{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

• Mindgames (BBC Four, 2004–5). Presented 20 episodes of puzzle gameshow with regular guests Kathy Sykes and Michael Rosen.
• The Music of the Primes (BBC Four, 2005, BBC 2 2007). One-hour documentary based on his book.
• Painting with Numbers (Teachers TV 2006). Four fifteen-minute programmes covering numerous topics from risk and probability to concepts of infinity, from codes and cryptography to flowers and football.
• The Num8er My5teries: Royal Institution Christmas Lectures (Channel 5, 2006),{{cite web

|url=https://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures/watch/2006/the-num8er-my5teries

|title=The Num8er My5teries

|website=rigb.org

|date=December 2006

|publisher=Royal Institution

|access-date=17 November 2021}} five lectures about the great unsolved problems of mathematics.

• The Story of Maths (BBC Four, 2008){{cite web

|url=http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/maths-and-me-the-presenters-story

|title=Maths and me: The presenter's story

|publisher=OpenLearn

|date= 8 April 2008

|access-date=12 March 2014}} is a four-part series first broadcast on BBC Four. In this series he discovers techniques and theories from different times and cultures.

• Horizon: Alan and Marcus Go Forth and Multiply (BBC 2, 2009). Alan Davies embarks on a maths odyssey with the help of mathematician Marcus du Sautoy.
• Horizon: The Secret You (BBC 2, 2009). Marcus du Sautoy investigates self-awareness.
• Horizon: How Long is a Piece of String? (BBC 2, 2009). Alan Davies attempts to answer the proverbial question: How long is a piece of string? Featuring Marcus du Sautoy.
• Horizon: What Makes a Genius? (BBC 2, 2010). Marcus du Sautoy asks if geniuses' brains are fundamentally different from his.
• The Beauty of Diagrams (BBC Four, 2010). Produced by Michael Waterhouse and directed by Steven Clarke, Marcus du Sautoy discusses influential scientific diagrams, starting with Vitruvian Man, Leonardo da Vinci's iconic anatomical drawing which follows the geometrical ideas of the Roman architect Vitruvius.
• The Code (BBC 2, 2011). A three-part documentary series which began broadcasting on 27 July 2011.
• Faster Than the Speed of Light? (BBC 2, 2011). Marcus du Sautoy discusses a recent discovery, the faster-than-light neutrino anomaly, that neutrinos may travel faster than light. First broadcast on 19 October 2011.
• Horizon: The Hunt for AI (BBC 2, 2012). Marcus Du Sautoy asks how close mankind is to creating computers or robots that can think for themselves – artificial intelligence, AI. First broadcast on 3 April 2012.
• Dara Ó Briain's School of Hard Sums (Dave, 2012). Co-host with Dara Ó Briain. Dara and guests attempt to solve problems posed by Marcus Du Sautoy with mathematics or through trial and error. First broadcast on 16 April 2012.
• Precision: The Measure of All Things (BBC Four, 2013). Professor Marcus du Sautoy explores why we are driven to measure and quantify the world around us and why we have reduced the universe to just a handful of fundamental units of measurement. First broadcast on 10 June 2013.
• The Secret Rules of Modern Living: Algorithms (BBC Four, 2015). Mathematician Professor Marcus du Sautoy demystifies the hidden world of algorithms. First broadcast on 24 September 2015.

Du Sautoy was awarded the Berwick Prize in 2001 by the London Mathematical Society for the publication of outstanding mathematical research. In 2009 he won the Michael Faraday Prize from the Royal Society of London for "excellence in communicating science to UK audiences".{{cite web | title=Marcus Du Sautoy | website=Royal Society | url=https://royalsociety.org/people/marcus-du-sautoy-12861/ | access-date=2024-01-25}} Du Sautoy was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours "for services to Science".{{London Gazette |issue=59282 |date=31 December 2009 |page=9 |supp=y}} He was elected a fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2012[https://www.ams.org/profession/fellows-list List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society]. Retrieved 10 November 2012. and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2016.

Du Sautoy lives in London with his family and plays football (No 17 for Recreativo Hackney FC) and the trumpet. He met his wife Shani while a postdoctoral researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. They have three children, who are being raised Jewish.{{cite news|url=https://www.thejc.com/how-jewish-is-marcus-du-sautoy-1.6087?highlight=How+Jewish+is+Marcus+du+Sautoy|title=How Jewish is Marcus Du Sautoy?|date= 2008|website=thejc.com|publisher=The Jewish Chronicle|access-date=31 October 2017|author=Anon}}

Du Sautoy is an atheist but has stated that as holder of the Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science his focus is going to be "very much on the science and less on religion", perhaps suggesting a difference of emphasis compared with his predecessor in the post, Richard Dawkins.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/audio/2008/oct/28/marcus-du-sautoy-richard-dawkins|title=Science Extra: Marcus du Sautoy steps into Dawkins' boots|date=28 October 2008|work=The Guardian|access-date=29 October 2008|location=London|first=Alok|last=Jha}} He has described his own religion as being "Arsenal – football", as he sees religion as wanting to belong to a community.{{cite interview|last=du Sautoy|first=Marcus|title=Desert Island Discs: Marcus du Sautoy|interviewer=Kirsty Young|date=12 December 2008|work=BBC Radio 4 |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00frmml|access-date=31 October 2017|at=Quote comes from minute 31:08}}

Du Sautoy is a supporter of Common Hope, an organisation that helps people in Guatemala.{{Cite news|title=How to sell science to the Big Brother generation: Interview with Marcus du Sautoy|publisher=New Scientist|website=newscientist.com|date=2008|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026842.000-how-to-sell-science-to-the-big-brother-generation.html?full=true|first=Paul|last=Parsons|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413052340/https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026842-000-how-to-sell-science-to-the-big-brother-generation/|archivedate=2016-04-13}}

He is the grandson of Peter du Sautoy and his godmother was Valerie Eliot, the wife and widow of T.S Eliot.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/sep/12/my-family-values-marcus-du-sautoy|website=The Guardian|first=Juliet|last=Dix|year=2009|title=My family values: Marcus du Sautoy, mathematician|location=London}}

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Category:1965 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from Henley-on-Thames

Category:Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford

Category:20th-century British mathematicians

Category:21st-century British mathematicians

Category:English atheists

Category:Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford

Category:Fellows of the American Mathematical Society

Category:Fellows of New College, Oxford

Category:Fellows of Wadham College, Oxford

Category:Group theorists

Category:British number theorists

Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire

Category:Simonyi Professors for the Public Understanding of Science

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society

Category:Mathematics popularizers

Category:People educated at Gillotts School