Hannah Fry facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Hannah Fry
FIMA FIET
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Hannah Fry in 2017
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| Born | 21 February 1984 Harlow, Essex, England
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| Alma mater | University College London (BA, MA, PhD) |
| Occupation | Mathematician, author, broadcaster |
| Spouse(s) |
Phil Lythell
(m. 2013–2022) |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Royal Institution Christmas Lectures (2019) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | A Study of Droplet Deformation (2011) |
| Doctoral advisor | Frank T. Smith |
Hannah Fry (born 21 February 1984) is a British mathematician, writer, and TV presenter. She is a Professor at the University of Cambridge. Her job is to help everyone understand mathematics better. She is also the president of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA).
Hannah Fry studies how math can explain human behavior, like relationships and dating. She also looks at the math behind big events like pandemics. She wants to make math interesting and easy to understand for everyone. In 2019, she gave the famous Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. She has also presented many TV and radio shows for the BBC.
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Early Life and Learning
Hannah Fry has both English and Irish family. When she was young, her mother made her solve all the problems in a math textbook one summer. This helped her get ahead in school. She went to Presdales School in England. A teacher there inspired her to study mathematics.
Later, she went to University College London (UCL). In 2011, she earned her PhD in Mathematics from UCL. Her research was about how droplets change shape.
Career and Research
Hannah Fry started working at University College London in 2012. She became a professor there in 2021, focusing on the "Mathematics of Cities." This means she studied how math can help us understand cities. In 2025, she moved to the University of Cambridge. There, she became the first Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics. Her goal is to make math exciting for everyone.
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Sharing Math with the World
In 2015, Hannah Fry decided to say "yes" to new opportunities. This led her to try stand-up comedy and give a TED Talk. She also started working on television.
On March 30, 2014, she gave a TED talk called The Mathematics of Love. Millions of people have watched it online. She later wrote a book based on this talk. It's called The Mathematics of Love: Patterns, Proofs, and the Search for the Ultimate Equation.
Hannah Fry has also appeared in many videos for Numberphile. This is a popular YouTube channel about mathematics. She has also been a guest on The Numberphile Podcast.
On TV and Radio
Hannah Fry often appears on TV and radio in the UK. She has co-hosted a show called The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry with Adam Rutherford. This show explores interesting science topics.
She has presented many BBC television shows. In 2015, she presented a film about Ada Lovelace, a famous mathematician. In 2016, she co-presented Trainspotting Live. This show was about trains and trainspotting. She also explored the logistics of aviation in City in the Sky.
Hannah Fry hosted The Joy of Data, which looked at the history and impact of data. She also co-hosted an episode of Horizon called How to Find Love Online. In 2017, she presented another Horizon episode about the future.
In 2018, Fry presented Contagion! The BBC Four Pandemic. This program simulated a flu pandemic in the UK. She explained how understanding math could save lives during a real pandemic. She also presented Size Matters and Magic Numbers, which explored mathematical ideas.
In 2019, Hannah Fry presented A Day in the Life of Earth. This show explored how Earth changes every day. She also co-presented The Honest Supermarket. This episode looked at food waste and how food affects the environment. Later that year, she gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. These lectures were about the hidden numbers and patterns in our daily lives.
In 2020, she co-presented The Great British Intelligence Test. She also presented programs explaining the math behind COVID-19 and other pandemics. She started a podcast called DeepMind about artificial intelligence.
Hannah Fry has been a guest on BBC Radio 4's The Life Scientific. She has also appeared on the comedy news show Have I Got News for You.
In 2022, she presented a documentary called Unvaccinated. In this show, she looked at why some people chose not to get vaccinated against COVID-19. She tried to explain statistics in a way that everyone could understand.
Starting in November 2022, Fry presented The Secret Genius Of Modern Life. This series explored how everyday things work, like credit cards and food delivery apps. She even showed how British passports are made and their security features. She also presents The Future With Hannah Fry on Bloomberg Originals. In 2024, she helped Channel 4 analyze election results.
Books and Writings
Hannah Fry has written or co-written four books. Her first book, The Mathematics of Love, talks about how math can help with dating. It includes the "37% rule" for finding a partner.
Her second book, The Indisputable Existence of Santa Claus, uses math to explore Christmas topics. These include how to have a fair Secret Santa and how to decorate Christmas trees.
Her third book is Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms. This book looks at how algorithms affect our lives. Algorithms are like step-by-step instructions that computers follow.
In 2021, she wrote Rutherford & Fry’s Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything (Abridged) with Adam Rutherford.
Hannah Fry wants to show that math is not boring. She believes that even though math can be hard, it can be explained through stories that people can understand.
Awards and Honors
In January 2024, Hannah Fry became the President of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA). In 2013, she won an award from UCL for sharing her work with the public.
In 2018, she won the Christopher Zeeman Medal. This award is given for helping the public understand math and science.
In 2020, Fry won the Asimov Prize for her book Hello World. She also received an award from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
In 2024, she won the David Attenborough Award from the Royal Society. This award recognized her amazing work in making math and physics fun for young people.
Personal Life
Hannah Fry has two daughters. She lives in South London.
In 2022, she presented a Horizon documentary called Making Sense of Cancer with Hannah Fry. In this program, she shared her own health experiences. She explored how statistics help people make important medical decisions. She wanted to help others understand complex health information.
