Prof Marcus du Sautoy OBE - How Mathematics shapes Creativity

Making a welcome return to the Otley Science Festival is Oxford mathematician, popular science author and broadcaster Prof Marcus du Sautoy OBE.

We often see art and mathematics as opposites—emotion versus logic—but in his new book Blueprints Marcus reveals a deep and surprising connection between them. Marcus explores how mathematical ideas like symmetry, prime numbers, and the golden ratio shape human creativity. Marcus takes us from the earliest stone circles to the modernist architecture of Le Corbusier, from Bach’s circular compositions to Radiohead’s disruptive soundscapes, and from Shakespeare’s hidden numerical clues to the Dada artists who embraced randomness. Instead of polar opposites we find a complementary relationship that spans a vast historical and geographic landscape.