Eugenia Cheng

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Eugenia Loh-Gene Cheng is an English mathematician, pianist, Scientist-in-Residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an honorary fellow of pure mathematics at the University of Sheffield. 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.

Video Eugenia Cheng

Early life and education

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 the Mathematical Tripos at the University of Cambridge where she was a student of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Her postgraduate research was supervised by Martin Hyland.

Maps Eugenia Cheng

Career and research

Before working at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Cheng has held academic appointments at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, the University of Sheffield and the University of Chicago. Cheng is still affiliated to the University of Sheffield as a senior lecturer of pure mathematics, but is now based at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she teaches mathematics to arts students. She has published over a dozen research papers across several journals within her area of category theory. Former doctoral students include Nick Gurski and Thomas Cottrell.

Mathematics and baking

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, 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.

Music

Cheng is a pianist who specializes in lieder and art song. She was awarded the Sheila Mossman Memorial Award from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, and was the first recipient of the Brighton and Hove Arts Council Award for the Musician of the Year. In Chicago, she gave a recital in the Pianoforte Chicago recital series; she performed Schwanengesang and Winterreise with Paul Geiger at Schubertiade Chicago in 2005 and 2006 respectively, and Die Schöne Müllerin with Ryan de Ryan at Schubertiade Chicago 2007. She performed lieder with tenor Nicholas Harkness in the Noontime Recital Series at the University of Chicago, the Salon Series at the Tower Club, and the Maxwell Recital Series, and she gave recitals for the Auxiliary Board Chapter of the Lyric Opera; she also performed La Traviata at the Oak Park Village Players.

In 2013, Cheng founded Liederstube as an oasis for art song in the Fine Arts Building, in downtown Chicago. The mission of Liederstube is to present and enjoy classical music in an intimate and informal setting. The Liederstube is a Not For Profit 501(c)(3) organization.

Media appearances

Cheng has appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert making Mille-feuille with Stephen Colbert in 2015 to demonstrate exponentials. She was interviewed by Jim Al-Khalili for The Life Scientific on BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in January 2018.