Mathematician Marcus du Sautoy is to fill Richard Dawkins’s professorial chair at the University of Oxford.

The university confirmed yesterday that du Sautoy will become the new Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science on December 1st. Dawkins, the first person to hold the position, resigned earlier this year.

“For me, science is about discovery but it is also about communication,” says du Sautoy (press release). “A scientific discovery barely exists until it is communicated and brought to life in the minds of others.”

Du Sautoy’s work concentrates on using zeta functions to understand symmetry and he also has a high profile media role, presenting television programmes and penning a ‘Sexy Maths’ column for the Times. He has a very musical website.

In the Guardian he touched on his predecessor Dawkins’s running battle with religion, saying “I’m bracing myself for everyone asking me if I believe in God or not.”

He then neatly sidestepped his own question by continuing, “I understand Richard’s point, there are great fears about the power of intelligent design movement in America. But my focus is mainly on trying to excite people about science, why I do it, how it impacts on your life.”

Matthew d’Ancona, editor of the Spectator, recalls his early experiences with ‘Dr Maths’:

When I was a young Fellow at All Souls, there was one other member of college – not Isaiah Berlin – who liked the Happy Mondays and New Order, and his name was Marcus du Sautoy. I nicknamed him Dr Maths. He was a young mathematician whose references were almost too good to believe. He dressed like a student, had changeable hair colour, was a great cook, loved music and Arsenal, and spent his evening at theatre workshops.

…

I remember staying at his family home in Henley years ago during the regatta and he suddenly went very quiet. When I asked him what was up he replied: “Oh. I just thought up something new about prime numbers.”

Image: du Sautoy by Niall McDiarmid