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Johnny Ball presents Mathematical challenge to Welsh pupils (01 July 2008)

From Wednesday 25th to Friday 27th June 2008, Johnny Ball - the well known BBC Children's TV presenter and writer of 'funtastic' mathematics - gave the inaugural WIMCS Annual Lectures at four Welsh Universities: Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff and Swansea.  Pupils from years 10, 11 and 12 from schools across Wales attended the lecture entitled Wobbling on the Shoulders of Giants.  The lecture was accompanied by a masterclass and a mathematics challenge competition with prizes ranging from iPod Nanos to book tokens for the winning teams.  Photos of the Swansea event can be found at http://www-maths.swan.ac.uk/challenge.html.


Johnny gave an entertaining insight into how the Egyptians wove beautiful mathematics into the building of their pyramids, how Galileo explored parabolic curves by studying the path of a cannon ball and how Archimedes worked out the volume of a sphere.  With interesting props, audience interaction and musical interludes, Johnny gave a very positive message to young people on the future of science and mathematics and on how anyone with an aptitude could play a part in discovering novel solutions.

The lectures ended somewhat controversially on the subject of climate change - myth or fact? - with Johnny firmly on the side of myth.  A fuller and more balanced exploration of the research on climate change can be found on The Royal Society's website (http://royalsociety.org) where the links for 'Is global warming a swindle?' and 'Climate change controversies: a simple guide' bring together the cutting edge of scientific research on climate change issues.  The Royal Society, the national academy of science in the UK and the Commonwealth, is an independent charitable body.

Many schools entered teams into the mathematics challenge competition and according to Professor Aubrey Truman, Head of Mathematics at Swansea University, the quality of entries was outstanding.  The prizes for this year’s lectures were sponsored by the Admiral Group plc, Blackwell, HBOS plc, and Waterstones.

An interview with Johnny Ball on this year's lectures is available at http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/new/util/content.jsp?id=20954504.

For more information about this year’s Annual Lectures, call Alison Braddock, WIMCS Outreach Coordinator, on 01792 602855, or email: outreachcoordinator@wimcs.ac.uk.