Hannah Fry
@FryRsquared
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All math and no trousers.
CASA, UCL, London
Joined March 2011
Hot on the heels of the Beatles, I’m off to Americaland 🇺🇸 with a brand new show for Bloomberg on the impact of technology on society. It’s a bit like the summer of love, just with a lot more math. Streaming on Bloomberg, Apple & Amazon from 22nd Feb.
In our new series, @FryRsquared explores patterns in human behavior, AI and algorithms that dominate our lives. Episodes of The Future With Hannah Fry start streaming weekly from Feb. 22
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Every single person who confuses correlation and causation ends up dying.
People more likely to be victims of crime in Labour-run areas, new study shows.
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Zing!.
The Royal Society David Attenborough Award and Lecture is awarded to Professor Hannah Fry for her prolific science communication activity as the foremost populariser of maths in the country who continues to inspire young people to pursue maths and physics in fun and exciting
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That’s it, I’ve found it. My favourite tweet of all time.
she's literally president of the maths society dude what more can you possibly want
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I would fail a masters student for this.
Comparing the gov’t Covid19 maps for end of September and start of October, it looks as if things are getting better. UNTIL you notice they’ve changed the numbers corresponding to each colour. Had they used the same ones, most of the country would be red or dark red. #BitSneaky
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Guess someone forgot to tell me.
Girls dislike hard maths, says education adviser.
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Really leaning into the ginger for the new profile pic. 🥕
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Baby Fry is here! And showing signs of being a mathematician already. Here she is with a rather marvellous demonstration of a singular point on a smooth vector field. 🍼
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I realise I should be at an advantage on this, but can someone here explain how imperial measurements actually work? They remain a mystery. Thank you sincerely, from everyone under 50.
EXCL: Boris Johnson plans to announce imperial measurements will be revived to mark Queen's Platinum Jubilee and boost flagging support among Brexit voters.
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It's an extraordinary coincidence. But for me, the most powerful bit of the original tv prog was this: . This is our 2018 simulation of the difference that everyone washing their hands 5-10 times a day might make to the spread of a flu-like virus. See how much time it buys us?
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In Jan 2021, while having treatment for cervical cancer, I started filming myself. It started as a way to make sense of what was happening to me, but I soon realised there was a much bigger story, about how we approach cancer treatment in this country…
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Doing my first in-person lecture this morning in four years and I’m strangely nervous. (Back at last after baby, pandemic, cancer). Also I did my eyeliner in the car and it looks shit. Hopefully my students won’t notice.
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I think I just vomited into my mouth.
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I know this 'equation' is not meant to be taken literally, but it honestly makes my eyes beed.
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The science museum is a vital national institution, a place I have loved since a child. So it is with great sadness that I have decided to resign from my position on the board of trustees.
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I'd just like to apologise to everyone in the UK for buying a cute new summer dress back in April, thus causing two entire months of uninterrupted cloud cover.
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I am extremely into this. Might get the year I was born as a tattoo. People would assume it was yet another Deathly Hallows tat, and then BOOM impromptu maths lecture 💅🏻.
The Cistercian monks invented a numbering system in the 13th century which meant that any number from 1 to 9999 could be written using a single symbol
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Absolutely lolling that genius is spelt wrong ♥️♥️.
The Secret Genuis of Modern Life set to return for second series. The six part series produced by @BBCStudios and hosted by Prof. Hannah Fry (@FryRsquared) will return to @BBCTwo and @BBCiPlayer later this autumn.
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Planning on using this as my origin story when I eventually run for mayor of London . Hosting @haveigotnews tonight, 9pm BBC1
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To be honest, I’ve never met a person who was good at maths that wasn’t hot in some way. Maybe that’s because I think intelligence and kindness are attractive rather than your bullshit definitions of beauty. 💅🏻.
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Been thinking about @CCriadoPerez’s book a lot recently, about how we live in a world designed for men. My personal favourite: This is the pot they expect you to be able to wee in at 36 weeks pregnant.
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MATHS FANS! A rare treat for you. Tomorrow night, BBC4 will show The Joy of Winning - an hour long proper proper maths doc packed to the brim with glorious game theory. I think it might just be my favourite thing I've ever done for telly.
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Female abduction might be mercifully rare, but being followed, attacked, groped, flashed at, shouted at & degraded absolutely isn't. It's so ubiquitous that we don't even discuss it. We're finally having the conversation. Please don't shut it down.
Female abduction / murder is extremely rare. Yes we should all be vigilant when out alone. But this level of fear-mongering isn’t healthy. And men’s mental health is an issue as well. Calling all men out as dangerous is bad for our sons, brothers, partners.
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Huge congratulations to @jesswade on her MBE. She’s someone who’s done more for gender diversity in science than most institutions, so it’s wonderful to see her work recognised. Read more about her here: Next stop: Damehood!.
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Yr 8 science teacher asked us to name types of pollution. I put my hand up and said "light pollution". She scoffed and insisted that wasn't a thing. STILL NOT OVER IT.
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This is the reason I've been off gallivanting this last year🌎✨🤩. My new series starts tonight!. The Mail said: "If that sounds dull as dishwater, prepare to be amazed!" . Translation: "Oh wow, Hannah, I thought your work would be total shite, but I actually really loved it" 🤣
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Update. Phil is at least 90 mins behind schedule on the Gratin and Tracy has had too much Prosecco and completely forgotten about the yorkshires. 🤣🙈Can’t rely on anyone. 🙄.
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A little piece I wrote for today’s i newspaper about why - I think - you don’t see more girls doing maths. In short: it’s death by a thousand cuts.
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DUN DUN DUNNNN.
DRUMROLL PLEASE 🎉 Our 2019 Christmas Lecturer is the one and only @FryRsquared!. In the ‘Secrets and lies’ #XmasLectures, Hannah will unveil the hidden numbers, rules and patterns that govern our daily lives. Read all about it at @guardianscience -
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📣 It’s Hannah Fry week on BBC2 📣. Let me take care of Maths lessons for the week with a different mind expanding episode every day at 2pm on BBC2 . #homeschooling
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Well. At least when it comes to ‘disasters waiting to happen’ this Algorithm gets an A*. - Impossible problem expecting a magical solution ✅ .- Over complicated solution ✅.- In-built bias ✅.- Over-trust in equations ✅.- Total lack of transparency ✅.- No easy way to appeal ✅.
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At some top universities your entire degree grade is largely determined by one week of final exams. All that work. And it comes down to your performance across one single week. Find me a system more obviously designed without women in mind 🩸.
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Good to have a concise list of the people in government who are incapable of rational thought.
63 Conservative MPs sign our letter to the PM 👇. 👉 Vaccine = immunity from lockdowns & restrictions . 👉 All pupils back in school 8 March . 👉 Hospitality open by Easter . 👉 No legislative restrictions after top 9 vulnerable groups protected . #Road2Recovery starts here 🇬🇧
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I used to quite like Nutella until I saw the picture of it split up into its constituent parts.
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Oh I know *exactly* what I’m doing 😝.
Watching @FryRsquared explain the microwave. There’s a bit where she says that the inventor had a candy bar in his pocket and an early version of the machine “melted his nut cluster.” There’s not even an oo-er.
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WELL IT WORKED . Secret Genius returns tonight at 8pm on BBC2 🤓❤️.
Thank you for the lovely tweets about this 😊 . I'm trying (trying!) to persuade the Beeb to lemme have Series 2 and I need your help looking for ammo 💣. Teachers-did you use it in classes? .Parents-did you watch with your kids?. Any stories you have might make the difference🙏.
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I also think you need to know about what I got for the new baby. 🚀
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We wrote a book! It’s about how intuition is a terrible guide, how often our gut guesses let us down and how science is the only way to step outside our bodies and see the world as it really is. Signed copies are up on Waterstones now:
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It's gotta be Alan Turing, surely? He had a gigantic impact on WW2 and practically invented computer science. Even more thoroughly deserved given how badly he was treated.
New £50 note: Bank of England asks public to nominate scientist
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Forgive me for posting this on here, but we’ve had a disaster 😭😭 My little girl has lost her much loved soft bunny. Anyone in @Gatwick_Airport South? Could you keep an eye out? Looks like the pic - white bunny with a stitch on its bum. Slightly yellow from years of love 💔
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Indulge me on a Friday night. What’s the best non fiction book you’ve ever read?.
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Yes mate. 💪.
We are delighted to announce that Hannah Fry has agreed to become the 2020 President of The Mathematical Association. @FryRsquared
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Oh yeah - I know this story! Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo & ‘The Algorithm’ emerge from a sewer to fight a gang of criminal ninjas and set flawed statistical objectives to impossible problems 🐢.
PM Boris Johnson blames 'mutant algorithm' for exam fiasco
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Thank you for the lovely tweets about this 😊 . I'm trying (trying!) to persuade the Beeb to lemme have Series 2 and I need your help looking for ammo 💣. Teachers-did you use it in classes? .Parents-did you watch with your kids?. Any stories you have might make the difference🙏.
This is the reason I've been off gallivanting this last year🌎✨🤩. My new series starts tonight!. The Mail said: "If that sounds dull as dishwater, prepare to be amazed!" . Translation: "Oh wow, Hannah, I thought your work would be total shite, but I actually really loved it" 🤣
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Almost no one will get this, but I think that trolley picture is legit one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.
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Filming the first Royal Institution Christmas Lecture tonight. Here’s my good luck card from @AdamRutherford. He’s got a way with words, that boy.
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Just over 24 hours until my film Making Sense of Cancer airs on BBC2. Come for the cancer stories, stay for the science. Or if I know my Twitter followers: come for the statistical data, stay for the Bayesian probability theory. ⭐️
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And Horrible Histories and Hey Duggee and Maddie’s shows and Mr Tumble and Number blocks. And for that matter, David Attenborough and Lucy Worsley and Brian Cox and David Olusoga and so so many others. There’s a reason they all came to us through public service broadcasting.
If you want an example of the benefits of state funding start with @cbbc: there’s no other place for children’s entertainment that as safe, as educational & as careful to include & represent. Only The BBC could make @OperationOuch.
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THAT'S IT I'VE PEAKED.
"Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything" is a book by which authors?. I think you might know this #UniversityChallenge semi final question @AdamRutherford @FryRsquared 😉
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This photo makes me so happy.
Here's the moment when the first black hole image was processed, from the eyes of researcher Katie Bouman. #EHTBlackHole #BlackHoleDay #BlackHole (v/@dfbarajas)
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I can’t tell you how much I’m enjoying the unfolding story of Sophie the beautiful shy rescue dog, as she slowly starts to brave the big scary world of the kitchen 🥰.
I’m upstairs watching football and @DianeCoyle1859 is sending me pictures of #sophiefromromania venturing out and roaming the living room
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Last week, the lovely folk at National Grid showed me around their amazing underground tunnels. Lots of pics of the trip over on my Insta, but for you Twitter - the One True Kingdom of the nerds - I've got something much more exciting. BECAUSE THEY ALSO SHOWED ME THEIR DATA.
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My dad would have much preferred to spend more time with his granddaughters this year, but instead he put the hours into the most incredible Christmas gift. How it started How it’s going
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A final comment (a more personal one). This project – and all of the staggeringly important work as a result of it – really wouldn’t have been possible without the unrivalled reach and commitment to science broadcasting of the BBC. Please be careful what you wish for.
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Did I mention that Hello World is now out in paperback? All the same delicious algorithm-y goodness, now cheaper, and in a much more portable format. And it was shortlisted for two major non-fiction awards, so it's not just me that thinks it's good.
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I think the big conclusion from this Times piece today is that 92,300 of you need to go and follow me on Instagram. You’re making me look bad.
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“The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand exponential growth” . This is an old quote by the physicist Albert Bartlett that I used to find amusing. I’m starting to worry he was right.
THREAD: where we are with COVID in the UK and what we should do about it. TLDR: it's not good, but there's hope. We have maybe 2/3 weeks to get cases down. 1/13.
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Is it bad to be particularly proud of this record? . Tonight, 9pm, BBC2.
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Look. I’m not going to lie. It’s been a very good month.
Congratulations to Hannah Fry, who has been awarded the 2018 LMS-IMA Christopher Zeeman Medal for her many contributions towards public engagement of maths. Full details at @FryRsquared @IMAmaths.
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Pleased to report that the recipient of that NASA baby-grow is ready for her mission #firstbabyinspace
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I can't tell you how proud this makes me. At last. My credibility grab receives the recognition it so richly deserves.
Hannah Fry. A bookcase runs along the back until it abruptly ends at glowing white space. Hannah sits at the edge of human knowledge, her credibility is all humanity's progress. She knows that each forward step is into the unknown but the step must be taken, new shelves built.
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No. No it reaally can’t. (Thread).
Warner Bros has signed a deal for a AI-driven film management system which will help decision-making for greenlighting certain films. The AI system can assess an actor’s value in any territory and how much a film is expected to earn in theaters. (Source:
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Take that Leibniz.
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Not to poo poo the app before it even gets going, but even even if you SOMEHOW manage to get 75% of smartphone users to run it, it would still give a reproduction number of 1.4 if lockdown were lifted. (anything above one is bad) Our paper here:
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You know that annoying thing physicists do, when they make up some numbers and a diagram, then claim to have a better understanding of something than the actual experts? . Yeah that.
Here's why I think there's now a one-in-six chance of an imminent global #NuclearWar, and why I appreciate @elonmusk and others urging de-escalation, which is IMHO in the national security interest of all nations:
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So you know how sports teams do loads of science & maths to make themselves as competitive as possible, but it’s all a bit invisible to the viewer? . WELL NOT ANY MORE. I’ve got a brand new show on Saturdays on BT sport that’s the perfect Venn diagram of maths, sport & science.
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Have I Got News For You tonight. See if you can guess who we were talking about 🤔
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They are now hunting in pairs. They have more stamina and persistence than I thought possible. Routine is futile. There is nowhere to hide. I have been forced to retreat to a nearby unmanned vehicle in an attempt to reestablish coms. I may be here some time.
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I think that might just be the nerdiest thing I’ve ever written 😂.
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Didn’t expect to feel so overwhelmed by the beautiful messages last night - after years on YouTube thought I’d lost the ability to be moved by the internet. So today I’m gonna hide under a duvet & watch Princess Bride, and then tomorrow I’ll be back to my normal sarcastic self 💅🏻
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I know I keep banging on about my book, but honestly it is actually very good. This week it’s up for the biggest non fiction prize there is. Only two British authors are in the running, only two science books, and only one girl. 💅🏻
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Honest to god, I think explaining the counter intuitive nature of false positives on telly is one of the proudest moments of my entire career. 🎁.
Ooh, very clever - the 80% accurate machine causes problems! @FryRsquared #XmasLectures @standupmaths
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The Mail asked me to comment on that 8÷2(2+2) equation that's been doing the rounds. Didn't have a pen, so I took a reaaalllyy close up picture of my finger and scribbled on the photo to explain. My favourite thing ever? They've included the actual pictures in the article.
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Absolutely love this from the Guardian today. Speaking of which, my brand new podcast series Uncharted is out now, in which I make absolutely no off-putting mentions of my femaleness WHATSOEVER 🌟 . Imagine!
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These are the excited & exhausted faces of two people who’ve just finished filming the Ri Christmas Lectures 🐨🦁. Annoyingly, I failed to get a picture of the best bits: the 🤖, the 🎁, 🐦, 🔥,🧢, 🐾 or 👠 so you’re just gonna have to tune in on Boxing Day to see for yourselves.
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I just don’t get it. How can politicians face the shame of making such loud declarations about something they fundamentally don’t understand? Am I missing a gene or something? Explain it to me.
This is not an important study. Neither its findings nor its methods are clear. It is flawed to the point where it has no use. I’m sympathetic to David Davis not understanding cluster randomisation, bias in trials, t-tests and Kaplan Meier analyses, but.
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The crew are all busy watching Secret Genius upstairs . Leaving me with an entirely clear run at the downstairs’ doughnuts 🍩 .
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In a strange twist of fate, it seems the first coronavirus patient to be infected in the UK is from Haslemere -the very place we used for our 2018 citizen science experiment: the BBC Pandemic. Here's a news piece from the time. Bit close to home, huh.
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You need to know my favourite fact of the day: . Horses won't run on treadmills unless they have a fan blowing their hair back like the wind.
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Most ambitious crossover in history.
Best day at work! Fan girling with amazing @FryRsquared - representing all the maths girls out there 🙌🙌🙌
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Absolute boss ❤️❤️.
A space industry expert on how women are discouraged from pursuing STEM
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My new favourite game: connecting to the Bluetooth speaker from upstairs & playing back creepy voice memos to scare the shit out of my husband while he’s in the kitchen.
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Y'know, if the tories had just given every single non-Tory voter in the country a £50 bribe, it would've cost £70m less than the DUP deal 🤔.
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I heard a good comparison: walking home as a woman is like visibly carrying a big stack of cash through the streets at night. You're hyper-vigilant & fearful of attack from passers-by. So strange that half of us know this feeling so well, but we still need analogies to explain.
Sarah Everard did everything right. Everything women are 'supposed' to. Bright clothing. Main road. Called her man. Every woman I know in Clapham doesn't feel safe at night. Not to walk home from work, to exercise, to walk to the shop. I wish more men understood this feeling.
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I still consider myself a friend of the museum and will continue to support them wherever I can in their work making science accessible to the public. But being a good friend is sometimes about speaking honestly even when it is uncomfortable. That is what I am trying to do today.
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BIG DAY….
Bloomberg Signs British Mathematician Hannah Fry to Front Science and Tech Series (Exclusive)
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