Following the incredible news that Eugenia Cheng (No.4, 1987-94) had been shortlisted for the LA Times Book Prize for her book ‘Is Math Real’, we were thrilled to hear that she had gone on to win the prize for Science and Technology.

When accepting her prize, Eugenia said:

Thank you for doing me the honour of choosing me out of such distinguished company.

First I'd like to thank my parents for always nurturing my curiosity, and my publishers Basic in the US and Profile in the UK, for supporting me for over 10 years now, and for helping me to develop as a writer when my first profession is as an abstract mathematician. And I'd like to thank all my students ever, and especially all the children who have ever asked me questions about math.
 

I wrote this book because I love math, and I am sad that so many people are put off it for the wrong reasons. Many people have told me they had questions about math that were never answered. They were made to feel stupid for asking those questions. This book celebrates those questions, and shows that the most innocent and naive sounding questions can lead to mathematics' deepest truths.

As I say in the dedication: if you have been made to feel bad at math, you didn't fail math, math failed you.

Let's celebrate curiosity instead of squashing it. Curiosity is beautiful, and math is beautiful. Let's make sure that that beauty is available and accessible for everyone."