Q&A
The NASA Engineer Who’s a Mathematician at Heart
Christine Darden worked at NASA for 40 years, helping make supersonic planes quieter and forging a path for women to follow in her footsteps.
Q&A
To Boldly Go Where No Internet Protocol Has Gone Before
Vinton Cerf helped create the internet 40 years ago, and he’s still working to connect people around the world — and off it.
Abstractions blog
Math of the Penguins
Emperor penguins display rigorously geometric spacing and mathematical efficiency when they huddle together for warmth, which may reveal secrets to their overall health.
Abstractions blog
Mathematicians Will Never Stop Proving the Prime Number Theorem
Why do mathematicians enjoy proving the same results in different ways?
Q&A
The Computer Scientist Who Can’t Stop Telling Stories
For pioneering computer scientist Donald Knuth, good coding is synonymous with beautiful expression.
Q&A
Cryptography Pioneer Seeks Secure Elections the Low-Tech Way
Ronald Rivest helped come up with the RSA algorithm, which safeguards online commerce. Now he’s hoping to make democratic elections more trustworthy.
Q&A
Secrets of Math From the Bee Whisperer
As Scarlett Howard taught honeybees to do arithmetic, they showed her how fundamental numbers might be to all brains.
Q&A
The Architect of Modern Algorithms
Barbara Liskov pioneered the modern approach to writing code. She warns that the challenges facing computer science today can’t be overcome with good design alone.