"No one in their right mind would ever go to a math talk," said University of Colorado at Boulder Visiting Mathematics Professor Edward Burger, who will speak on campus April 28 on "Why I Hate Math But Love Museums."
Burger, a mathematics professor at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., is not your run-of-the-mill faculty member. He has written jokes for the Jay Leno show, put on plays involving construction workers proving mathematical theorems during their lunch breaks and had his own comedy radio show in college.
But don聮t let him fool you. Burger has a deep passion for mathematics and believes it should be made lively, fun and educational. "The idea is to entertain and enlighten," he said. "My goal is to get people to have fun thinking, have a better feeling about math and look at things in a slightly different way."
The poster for his CU-Boulder talk, which will be held at 7 p.m. April 28 in room 100 of the Math Auditorium just east of the engineering center, is vintage Burger. "If you dislike math, this talk is for you! If the sight of an equation makes you ill, this talk is for you! If you thought you would never go to a math lecture, this talk is for you!"
The CU-Boulder talk, sponsored by the mathematics department and The Math Club, is free and open to the public. A public reception will follow.
It is no surprise Burger was selected to be the keynote milennial speaker at a national mathematics conference in January 2000. Sponsored by the Mathematics Association of America, the American Math Society and the Society of Applied and Industrial Mathematics, the meeting will host thousands of scientists in Washington D.C.
Burger has appeared on a number of radio and television stations, including National Public Radio and NBC. He also worked as a stand-up comedian, performing in the Austin area as he worked on his doctoral degree at the University of Texas. He still teaches a course at Williams College on learning to lead and speak publicly by performing stand-up comedy.
But Burger also is the most serious of mathematicians. His research is in number theory, which examines the structure and complexity of numbers, and is one of the oldest branches of mathematics. He also is co-author of a mathematics text for non-science students titled "The Heart of Mathematics聴an Invitation to Effective Thinking."
Burger is crafting a "virtual video interactive calculus textbook" for the World Wide Web at: . His first lecture explained how calculus is virtually everywhere, from flowing rivers and passing joggers to the construction of skyscrapers.
But he has proven he is not above pouring 600 beach balls from the balcony of an auditorium onto people's heads in a packed house at Williams College to make his point. To Burger, making math infectious and fun is a lifetime goal.