Eugenia Cheng
Cheng at the Phi Beta Kappa Society (En)Lightning Talks Chicago in 2016
Born
Eugenia Loh-Gene Cheng

Hampshire, England
EducationRoedean School
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge (BA, PhD)
Known forHow to Bake Pi[1]
Scientific career
FieldsCategory theory
Popular mathematics
Institutions
ThesisHigher-dimensional category theory : opetopic foundations (2002)
Doctoral advisorMartin Hyland[2]
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese鄭樂雋[3]
Simplified Chinese郑乐隽
Websiteeugeniacheng.com

Eugenia Loh-Gene Cheng is a British mathematician, educator and concert pianist. Her mathematical interests include higher category theory, and as a pianist she specialises in lieder and art song.[4] She is also known for explaining mathematics to non-mathematicians to combat math phobia, often using analogies with food and baking.[5] Cheng is a scientist-in-residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.[6][7][8]

Early life and education

Cheng was born in Hampshire, England. She moved to Sussex at the age of one.[9] Her family is originally from Hong Kong.[3] Her interest in mathematics stemmed from a young age thanks largely to her mother who made mathematics a part of life.[9][10]

Cheng attended Roedean School.[11] She studied the Mathematical Tripos at the University of Cambridge, where she was a student of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Her postgraduate research was supervised by Martin Hyland.[2][12][13]

Career and research

As of 2020, Cheng is a scientist-in-residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she teaches mathematics to arts students.[6][8] Cheng formerly held academic appointments at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, the University of Sheffield and the University of Chicago.[8]

She has published over a dozen research papers across several journals within her area of category theory.[14] Former doctoral students include Nick Gurski[2] and Thomas Cottrell.[15]

Mathematics and baking

Cheng's research interests are in category theory, which she has written about for a general audience by using analogies from baking. Her vision is to rid the world of mathematics phobia. In How to Bake Pi, published on May 5, 2015,[6] each chapter begins with a recipe for a dessert, to illustrate the commonalities in the methods and principles of mathematics and cooking. The book was well received[9][16][17] and has since been translated into French.[18]

Cheng has also written a number of papers with similar themes, such as On the perfect quantity of cream for a scone[19] and On the perfect size for a pizza.[20] Cheng has presented similar topics through YouTube in a light-hearted manner and has explored mathematics in other ways such as in her speech Mathematics and Lego: the untold story.[21]

Other writing

Cheng's second book, Beyond Infinity, explains set theory for lay audiences using analogies and anecdotes, including Cantor's diagonal argument and Zeno's paradoxes.[22] It was shortlisted for the 2017 Insight Investment Science Book Prize under the Royal Society Prizes for Science Books.[23]

She published her third book, The Art of Logic in an Illogical World, in 2018.[24] It explores arguments on real-world topics like same-sex marriage, white privilege, and police brutality in the United States using methods from logic, including explanations of Russell's paradox and Euclid's axioms on the way.[25]

Cheng writes a column called Everyday Math for The Wall Street Journal[26] on topics including probability theory, set theory, and Rubik's Cube solutions.

Music

Cheng is a pianist who specialises in lieder and art song. She was awarded the Sheila Mossman Memorial Award from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and was the first recipient of the Brighton and Hove Arts Council Award for the Musician of the Year. In Chicago, she gave a recital in the Pianoforte Chicago recital series; she performed Schwanengesang and Winterreise with Paul Geiger at Schubertiade Chicago in 2005 and 2006 respectively, and Die Schöne Müllerin with Ryan de Ryke at Schubertiade Chicago 2007. She performed lieder with tenor Nicholas Harkness in the Noontime Recital Series at the University of Chicago, the Salon Series at the Tower Club, and the Maxwell Recital Series, and she gave recitals for the Auxiliary Board Chapter of the Lyric Opera; she also performed La Traviata at the Oak Park Village Players.[27]

In 2013, Cheng founded the Liederstube as an oasis for art song in the Fine Arts Building, in downtown Chicago. The mission of the Liederstube is to present and enjoy classical music in an intimate and informal setting. The Liederstube is a Not For Profit 501(c)(3) organisation.[28]

Media appearances

Cheng has appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert making mille-feuille with Stephen Colbert in 2015 to demonstrate exponentials.[29] She was interviewed for the morning magazine show The Morning Shift on Chicago's Public Radio station WBEZ in 2017.[30] She was interviewed by Jim Al-Khalili for The Life Scientific on BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in January 2018.[31] She appeared on the WGBH podcast Innovation Hub in spring 2018.[32]

Books

  • How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics. 2015. (US edition)
    • Cakes, Custard and Category Theory: Easy recipes for understanding complex maths. (original UK edition)
    • How to Bake Pi: Easy Recipes for Understanding Complex Maths. (UK Edition)[33]
  • Beyond Infinity: An Expedition to the Outer-Limits of the Mathematical Universe. 2018. (UK edition)
    • Beyond Infinity: An Expedition to the Outer Limits of Mathematics. (US edition)
  • The Art of Logic: How to Make Sense in a World that Doesn't. 2019. (UK edition)
    • The Art of Logic in an Illogical World. (US edition)
  • x+y: A Mathematician's Manifesto for Rethinking Gender. 2020.
  • Molly and the Mathematical Mysteries. 2021. ISBN 9781536217100.
  • The Joy of Abstraction: An Exploration of Math, Category Theory, and Life. 2022.
  • Is Maths Real?. 2023.

Recognition

Cheng is included in a deck of playing cards featuring notable women mathematicians published by the Association of Women in Mathematics.[34]

References

  1. ↑ Eugenia, Cheng, How to bake pi : an edible exploration of the mathematics of mathematics, Gilbert, Tavia, ISBN 9781622316687, OCLC 898167298 (originally published in the UK as Cakes, Custard and Category Theory)
  2. 1 2 3 Eugenia Cheng at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  3. 1 2 "Pronunciation".
  4. ↑ "Eugenia Cheng, piano". cheng.staff.shef.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 18 September 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  5. ↑ Angier, Natalie (2 May 2010). "Eugenia Cheng Makes Math a Piece of Cake". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 Klinkenberg, Brendan (May 2015). "The Perfect Recipe". WIRED. p. 24.
  7. ↑ "SAIC – Eugenia Cheng – School of the Art Institute of Chicago". saic.edu. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 "About". Eugenia Cheng. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  9. 1 2 3 "Cakes, Custard and Category Theory: Easy Recipes for Understanding Complex Maths, by Eugenia Cheng | Times Higher Education". timeshighereducation.co.uk. 4 June 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  10. ↑ Dr Eugenia Cheng. "Why I Don't Like Being a "Female Role Model" — Bright – Medium". Medium.com. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  11. ↑ Faberij de Jonge, Jane (2013). "Profile: Dr Eugenia Cheng". Roedean Magazine: 36–37.
  12. ↑ Cheng, Eugenia Loh-Gene (2002). Higher-dimensional category theory : opetopic foundations (PDF). cheng.staff.shef.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC 879393286. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.597569. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 October 2008.
  13. ↑ Cheng, Eugenia; Hyland, Martin; Power, John (2003). "Pseudo-distributive Laws". Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science. 83: 227–245. doi:10.1016/S1571-0661(03)50012-3. ISSN 1571-0661.
  14. ↑ "Research papers". cheng.staff.shef.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 21 October 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  15. ↑ Cottrell, Thomas (2014). Comparing algebraic and non-algebraic foundations of n-category theory. etheses.whiterose.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Sheffield. OCLC 879388784. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.595261. Free access icon
  16. ↑ "'How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics' by Eugenia Cheng". Kirkus Reviews. 15 March 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  17. ↑ Bellos, Alex (12 June 2015). "'How to Bake Pi,' by Eugenia Cheng". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  18. ↑ Cheng, Eugenia (2016). Comment cuire un 9. Translated by Courcelle, Olivier. Flammarion. ISBN 978-2-08-138213-8.
  19. ↑ Eugenia Cheng. "On the perfect quantity of cream for a scone" (PDF). Cheng.staff.shef.ac.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 April 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  20. ↑ Eugenia Cheng. "On the perfect size for a pizza" (PDF). Cheng.staff.shef.ac.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 October 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  21. ↑ Eugenia Cheng. "Mathematics and Lego : the untold story" (PDF). Cheng.staff.shef.ac.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  22. ↑ "Review: Beyond Infinity: An Expedition to the Outer Limits of Mathematics | EMS". euro-math-soc.eu. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  23. ↑ "2017 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  24. ↑ Cheng, Eugenia (16 January 2018). The Art of Logic in an Illogical World. ISBN 9781541672482.
  25. ↑ Guest, Katy (19 July 2018). "The Art of Logic by Eugenia Cheng review – the need for good arguments". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  26. ↑ "Eugenia Cheng - News, Articles, biography, Photos". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  27. ↑ "Eugenia Cheng, piano". cheng.staff.shef.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 18 September 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  28. ↑ "home". Liederstube.wix.com. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  29. ↑ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (5 November 2015), Dr. Eugenia Cheng Gives Paula Deen A Run For Her Butter, retrieved 2 March 2017
  30. ↑ "Eugenia Cheng: Math Is About Discovery". WBEZ. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  31. ↑ Al-Khalili, Jim (2018). "Eugenia Cheng on the mathematics of mathematics". London: BBC.
  32. ↑ "Recent Entries". Innovation Hub | WGBH.org Blogs. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  33. ↑ "How to Bake Pi". Profile Books. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  34. ↑ "Mathematicians of EvenQuads Deck 1". awm-math.org. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
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