Hi team,

How is it going? Hope everything is great with you and you are looking forward to a newsletter of maths.

Because, HUGE MATHS NEWS: Karen Uhlenbeck has won the Abel Prize, one of the it seems several prizes with a claim on "the Nobel Prize of Maths" and she is the first woman to do so. She's produced "some of the most dramatic advances in mathematics in the last 40 years". And I love the way mathematicians talk about what they do:

“All in all, I have found great delight and pleasure in the pursuit of mathematics […] Along the way I have made great friends and worked with a number of creative and interesting people. I have been saved from boredom, dourness, and self-absorption. One cannot ask for more.”

https://www.quantamagazine.org/karen-uhlenbeck-uniter-of-geometry-and-analysis-wins-abel-prize-20190319/

Next, we all talk a big game about the area of circles, but who among us are actually doing anything about it? Emma Haruka Iwao, that's who, she has calculated pi to 31trn digits (a world record number of digits). Here's a faq that Emma did on her twitter, which is short but answers my two main questions:

https://twitter.com/Yuryu/status/1106534983383089152

And here is a very sweet quotation:

The 34-year-old software engineer explained that she has been intrigued by pi […] from the age of 12, when she downloaded a program to calculate the figure on her computer. “My computer wasn’t very powerful back then, so I didn’t get far,” added Iwao, “which is why [my] accomplishment is so exciting—it’s been a long time coming.”

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/03/18/google-queer-female-pi-tech-record-breaker-inspire-lgbt-community/

Finally, you guys I almost NEVER rep Ted talks, and there is a reason for that, but here's a charming seventeen minutes from mathematician Hannah Fry. And it's about love! You'll enjoy this I am quite sure:

https://www.ted.com/talks/hannah_fry_the_mathematics_of_love#t-178252

Enjoy your weekends lovely people,

Alex.

PS: pi fans can wordcount this email for a special easter egg