Eugenia Cheng

Eugenia Cheng is an English mathematician and pianist. She is an honorary fellow of pure mathematics at the University of Sheffield and a scientist and residence in liberal arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has appeared on the Stephen Colbert Show. Her mathematical interests include higher-dimensional category theory, and as a pianist she specialises in lieder and art song. She is also passionate about explaining mathematics to non-mathematicians to rid the world of math phobia, often using entertaining analogies with food and baking.

Cheng was born in Hampshire, England but moved to Sussex when she was one, and spent the rest of her childhood there. Her interest in mathematics stemmed from a young age thanks largely to her mother who made mathematics a part of life. Her father was also supportive, encouraging her to be imaginative; but Cheng's biggest influence was her mother, who introduced stimulating mathematical ideas and used the language of logic naturally.

Cheng attended Roedean School. She was bored by school when she was young, but practised the piano every day and was an avid reader. She was also "very serious about eating".

She studied at Gonville and Caius College of the University of Cambridge for both her undergraduate and postgraduate degrees before teaching in Nice, Sheffield and Chicago.

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 (also known as Cakes, Custard and Category Theory), 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 and has since been translated into French. Cheng has also written a number of papers with similar themes, such as "On the perfect quantity of cream for a scone" and "On the perfect size for a pizza". Cheng has presented similar topics through YouTube in a light-hearted manner, and has explored mathematics in other entertaining ways such as in her speech "Mathematics and Lego: the untold story".

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