*Watch Online/In person*: From the Ancient Greeks onwards, proportion and mathematics has been central to our ideas of form and beauty. This lecture looks at the famous golden ratio, from Greek temples to spiral seashells, discussing where it appears in nature (and why), and how people have tried to pinpoint the 'perfect' proportions of the human body and face. It will also look at why A4 paper is the shape it is and what Mrs Beeton has to do with the Rhind Papyrus.
Speakers
Sarah Hart is the first woman Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, and was appointed in 2020. She is Professor of Mathematics and until recently was Head of Mathematics and Statistics at Birkbeck, University of London. She studied at Oxford and Manchester, gaining her PhD in 2000. Postdoctoral research and teaching followed, including a prestigious Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Fellowship, before she was appointed to a lectureship at Birkbeck in 2004.
Science