Marcus appears regularly on the radio to discuss mathematics and science. He is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time and Today programme, BBC Radio Five Live late night show, BBC Radio 3 and BBC World Service News. In addition he has written and presented several of his own radio series. A selection of his radio work can be found on his SoundCloud. Below is a small selection of radio projects.
Five Shapes
BBC Radio 4, September 2004
Series of 15 minute programmes for BBC Radio 4 broadcast in September 2004 about shapes. From the cube to the sphere, the Bagel to the Blob, Marcus explored the extraordinary influence these mathematical shapes have had on our world.
Music and Maths: the Essay
BBC Radio 3, October 2007
Marcus wrote and presented 4 fifteen minute programmes first broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in October 2007 exploring the connection between mathematics and music.
From Ecstasy to Infinity
BBC Radio 3, March 2009
In March 2009 he wrote and presented the Sunday Feature for BBC radio 3 on the art and science of the baroque. From Bernini’s architecture and sculpture in Rome, the playful gardens at Versailles, to the grand dome of St Paul’s Cathedral and the music of Monteverdi and Bach, Marcus explained how new ideas about perspective, capturing movement with the calculus and the infinite all play a part in the baroque vision.
A Brief History of Mathematics
BBC Radio 4, June 2010
Wrote and presented 10 fifteen minute programmes profiling 10 famous mathematicians illustrating how their work was the driving force of modern science. Broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010. Available for download and on CD.
The Secret Mathematician
BBC Radio 3, February 2016
A series of 5×15 programmes for BBC Radio 3’s Essay exploring how artists use mathematics in their work. Broadcast in 2016. From Music to the visual arts, from architecture to literature Marcus illustrates how artists are drawn to the same structures that excite him as a mathematician. The series concludes with an essay exploring the hidden art in doing mathematics.
In Our Time
BBC Radio 4, 2006-present
Marcus is a regular guest on BBC Radio 4’s long running programme In Our Time. Indeed he has appeared so regularly that a spoof comedy series Melvyn’s In Our Time Machine described Marcus as like catnip to Melvyn Bragg. He has discussed themes from prime numbers to the Poincare Conjecture, from Godel to Fermat. One of his appearances on Imaginary Numbers inspired a New Yorker Cartoon depicting a listener on his balcony in Manhattan listening to a radio with mathematical formulae pouring out of the speaker.
More of Marcus’ radio programmes
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In Our Time, BBC Radio 4, 2006-present
BBC Radio 4’s long running series In Our Time explores big ideas in science and mathematics.
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The Secret Mathematician, BBC Radio 3, February 2016
A series of 5×15 programmes exploring how artists use mathematics in their work. From Music to the visual arts, from architecture to literature Marcus illustrates how artists are drawn to the same structures that excite him as a mathematician.
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A Brief History of Mathematics, BBC Radio 4, June 2010
Wrote and presented 10 fifteen minute programmes profiling 10 famous mathematicians illustrating how their work was the driving force of modern science. Available for download and on CD.
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From Ecstasy to Infinity, BBC Radio 3, March 2009
The art and science of the baroque. Marcus explained how new ideas about perspective, capturing movement with the calculus and the infinite all play a part in the baroque vision.
-
Music and Maths: the Essay, BBC Radio 3, October 2007
Marcus wrote and presented 4 fifteen minute programmes first broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in October 2007 exploring the connection between mathematics and music.
-
Five Shapes, BBC Radio 4, September 2004
Series of 15 minute programmes about shapes. From the cube to the sphere, the Bagel to the Blob, Marcus explored the extraordinary influence these mathematical shapes have had on our world.
