16
ISSUES: Racial & Ethnic Discrimination
Chapter 1: Racism & discrimination
Teachers said I could be a boxer, but never a
mathematician
Rolemodel Dr Nira Chamberlain has it all figured out.
By Poppy Brady
T
eachers running a careers day
at Dr Nira Chamberlain’s school
looked at him in disbelief when
he told them he would one day like
to be a professional mathematician
when he grew up.
“No, no,” they said. “With your
physique you should be a boxer.
You’d make a very good one. Look at
your jawbone.” How misguided they
were in yet another example of racial
stereotyping.
But Birmingham-born Nira had it all
figured out. With a mind far brighter
than those trying to push him into a
boxing ring, he has made it right to the
top of the mathematics world.
He is listed by the Science Council as
"one of the UK’s top 100 scientists"
and last year joined the exclusive list
of only 30 UK mathematicians who are
featured in the world-famous
Who’s
Who
, the autobiographical reference
book.
He may have been described by
Loughborough University as one of
the greatest scientific minds, but Nira’s
feet remain firmly on the ground and
he explains mathematics as if he was
talking about the football team he
supports.
In fact, one of his favourite sayings is
a quote from David Hilbert, one of the
most influential mathematicians of the
19th and early 20th century. Nira backs
Hilbert when he says: “A mathematical
theory is not considered complete
until you have made it so clear that
you can explain it to the first man who
you meet on the street.”
“I love that,” laughs Nira, who is a
Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics
and its Applications (IMA). “I also
like what British mathematician
Sir John Kingman once said that
‘mathematicians are better if they
stay a bit childish and play the game
as a game'. This is the key to teaching
maths.
“It’s not to flood people with practical
problems, but to say that this is the
best game ever invented. It beats
Monopoly, it beats chess and it can
help you to land rockets on the moon.
The real mathematical advances have
been made by people who simply
loved maths.”
Rather than living in a cloistered
academic world, Nira currently
works for the company Babcock
International Group as a principal
consultant for data science and
mathematical modelling.
In his day-to-day work he writes
mathematical algorithms that solve
complex industrial and engineering
problems.
And with his abundant enthusiasm,
it’s clear there is nothing Nira likes
more than tackling a mathematical
problem for the first time. As he says
it himself: “The harder the battle, the
sweeter the victory.”
He says: “People have to understand
that maths is one of the most creative
subjects out there. It’s the poetry of
logical ideas. It seems such a shame
that so many people become afraid of
maths early on and never shake that
off.”
Boxing clever with mathematical
problems is the nearest he ever got to
a boxing ring, despite Muhammad Ali
being his lifelong super hero.
Nira’s passion is clearly helping
the next generation to find maths
as exciting as he does. He’s the
author of a paper about doing long
multiplication
and
percentages
without a calculator.
“I worked this out while teaching
some inner-city youngsters at a
Birmingham Saturday school,” Nira
told
The Voice
. “They were only about
18 months away from doing their
GCSEs and I was horrified when they
told me they didn’t know how to do
long multiplication, so I devised a
system for them that was relatively
easy.”
Nira’s passion for passing on the baton
continues. He was invited by ITV political
editor Robert Peston to join the charity
Speakers for Schools, which provides
state schools with free talks from leading
UK figures to inspire the next generation.
This summer he is back in London
teaching at the International Youth
Science Forum, which attracts 500 of the
world’s leading young scientists from
more than 65 countries.
Now living in Kings Norton, Birmingham,
Nirahasworkedall over theworldhelping
to solve complex industrial problems in
France, The Netherlands, Germany and
Israel.
But there is one issue that does bother
him– and it stems back towhen he was a
boy at school.
He said: “When one of my sons, who is
now a teenager, was about four his infant
school teacher asked himwhat he would
like to be. He said he would like to be a
mathematician.
“The teacher told him: ‘Well, you will
never be a mathematician, but you could
become a singer.'
“That saddens me. Have we learned
nothing down the generations? It makes
me angry that so many careers are still
being denied. As I always say ‘you don’t
need anybody’s permission to be a great
mathematician’.”
21 August 2016
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The above information is reprinted
with kind permission from
The Voice
.
Please visit
for further information.
©The Voice 2017
“Well, youwill never be a
mathematician, but you
could become a singer”
