Alexander Masters

Reading, writing and arithmetic – the glorious interrelation of maths and literature

5 August 2023 9:00 am

Sarah Hart discusses the Oulipo group, Jorge Luis Borges and Eleanor Catton among other writers who have explored the use of mathematics in their works

A radical new theory about the origin of the universe may help explain our existence

4 March 2023 9:00 am

Alexander Masters examines the top down cosmology proposed by Stephen Hawking and Thomas Hertog

Small things misbehaving leads to the greatest question of all

3 April 2021 9:00 am

Helgoland is a craggy German island in the North Sea. Barely bigger than a few fields, it reaches high above…

Will the universe end with a bang or a bounce?

1 August 2020 9:00 am

Alexander Masters speculates on how the universe will end

There’s nothing wrong with plugging a friend’s book

14 November 2015 9:00 am

The advantage of reviewing books by a friend is that you can invite him out for a walk across the…

The Ant Nebula, located a mere 3,000–6,000 light years from Earth in the southern constellation Norma

Physicists have stranger ideas than the most preposterous Old Testament preacher

22 August 2015 9:00 am

The beliefs of physicists are infinitely kookier than anything in the Bible, says Alexander Masters

How could anyone enjoy Cédric Villani’s ‘Birth of a Theorem’? I think I’ve worked it out

28 February 2015 9:00 am

I’ve got a mathematical problem. Birth of a Theorem is by one of the great geniuses of today, a cosmopolitan,…

Alexander Masters’s diary: The idea that could unlock dozens of new cancer drugs

15 November 2014 9:00 am

Two million pounds can buy you consideration for a place on a medical trial! Every year untold numbers of potential…