George Geza Szpiro (born 18 February 1950 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

) is an Israeli–Swiss author, journalist, and mathematician. He has written articles and books on

popular mathematics Popular mathematics is the presentation of mathematics to an aimed general audience. The difference between recreational mathematics and popular mathematics is that recreational mathematics intends to be fun for the mathematical community, and ...

and related topics.

Life and career

Szpiro was born in Vienna in 1950, and moved to Zug, Switzerland, in 1961. He obtained a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in mathematics and physics from ETH Zurich. He also obtained an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from Stanford University, in 1975. Afterward, he worked as a

management consultant Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultants ...

at McKinsey & Company.Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung verleiht Medienpreise
, Press Release, Technical University of Berlin (2006-11-06) In 1984, he obtained a Ph.D. in mathematical economics from

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

. Szpiro was an assistant professor at the

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...

, during 1984–1986. He was a lecturer in mathematical economics at Hebrew University, during 1986–1992. He also taught at the

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

. He has published research papers related to mathematics, finance, and statistics.George G. Szpiro - Publications
—list of Szpiro's publications at ResearchGate Since 1986, Szpiro has worked as a journalist at '' Neue Zürcher Zeitung''. At ''NZZ'', he has been the Israel

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

and mathematics columnist. For his mathematics columns, Szpiro was awarded the Prix Média by the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences, in 2003.''Descartes Communication Prize''
Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (European Commission) (2005) He was also awarded the Media Prize by the

German Mathematical Society The German Mathematical Society (german: Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung, DMV) is the main professional society of German mathematicians and represents German mathematics within the European Mathematical Society (EMS) and the International Math ...

, in 2006. Beside writing for ''NZZ'', he has also written non-research mathematics columns for journals such as ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

'' and ''

Notices of the American Mathematical Society ''Notices of the American Mathematical Society'' is the membership journal of the American Mathematical Society (AMS), published monthly except for the combined June/July issue. The first volume appeared in 1953. Each issue of the magazine since ...

''. Szpiro married in 1979. He and his wife, Fortuna, have three children.

Books

* ''Kepler's Conjecture: How Some of the Greatest Minds in History Helped Solve One of the Oldest Math Problems in the World'' (

John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, ...

, 2003) * ''The Secret Life of Numbers: 50 Easy Pieces on How Mathematicians Work and Think'' ( Joseph Henry Press, 2006) * ''Poincaré's Prize: The Hundred-Year Quest to Solve One of Math's Greatest Puzzles'' ( Dutton, 2007) * ''Numbers Rule: The Vexing Mathematics of Democracy, from Plato to the Present'' (

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financia ...

, 2010) * ''A Mathematical Medley: Fifty Easy Pieces on Mathematics'' (

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

, 2010) * ''Pricing the Future: Finance, Physics, and the 300-year Journey to the Black-Scholes Equation'' ( Basic Books, 2011)

Notes

External links

* * —website of George Szpiro * *
The Truth, the Whole Truth, And Nothing but the Truth
—YouTube video of Szpiro discussing the difficulties a journalist faces when writing about mathematics for a general audience (the discussion was part of
seminar
at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

: dated 9 April 2015) {{DEFAULTSORT:Szpiro, George 1950 births ETH Zurich alumni Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Living people Mathematics popularizers Austrian non-fiction writers Israeli non-fiction writers Swiss non-fiction writers Science journalists Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni