Skeptics on the Fringe:Julia Collins - Knitting Mathematics

Speaker - Julia Colins

Talk - Knitting Mathematics

Julia Collins is a knitter and a mathematician - she helps us knit up the Fringe by unravelling the links between knitting and maths in a friendly way. If you knit - bring your own knitting!

We will explore the interplay between mathematics and knitting, showing how these two different areas have a lot to learn from each other.

Knitting is a surprisingly mathematical craft, though practitioners often do not realise it, and knitting can also be used in wondrous ways to express mathematical ideas. We’ll see examples of knitted mathematics from across the world, as well as some projects closer to home.

Julia Collins received her undergraduate degree (MMath) from the University of Bath in 2006, and her PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 2011. Her thesis was in a branch of geometry called Knot Theory.

Currently she is the Mathematics Engagement Officer at the University of Edinburgh and does a variety of things, including undergraduate lecturing, public lectures, masterclasses (for school pupils), research engagement, alumni relations and website development.

Julia is passionate about trying to convince as many people as possible about the beauty and amazingness of mathematics, a task which she attempts with the help of her sheep Haggis.

@haggismaths (http://www.twitter.com/haggismaths)

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