{"id":25208,"date":"2014-12-26T12:00:55","date_gmt":"2014-12-26T17:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/mathgradblog\/?p=25208"},"modified":"2014-12-25T23:17:51","modified_gmt":"2014-12-26T04:17:51","slug":"celebrities-math","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/mathgradblog\/2014\/12\/26\/celebrities-math\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrities and Math"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Photo by Jens Schott Knudsen. The work is distributed under a Creative Commons License<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

I always enjoy seeing mathematics in pop culture. When a friend of mine sent me a txt message about an article talking about celebrities who enjoyed mathematics, I was all over it. (Tangent – The title of the article,\u00a010 Secret Celebrity Math Geeks<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>is a bit indicative of the societal attitude towards mathematicians. It is sad that folks who enjoy math need to be “secret.”) The celebrities included on this list were:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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  1. Danica McKellar (The Wonder Years)<\/li>\n
  2. Mayim Bialik (Blossom)<\/li>\n
  3. Lisa Kudrow (Friends)<\/li>\n
  4. Huey Lewis (Musician)<\/li>\n
  5. Montel Williams (Talk show host)<\/li>\n
  6. Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow, Iron Man)<\/li>\n
  7. Dr. Dan Grimaldi (The Sopranos)<\/li>\n
  8. Art Garfunkel (Musician)<\/li>\n
  9. Cindy Crawford (Actress and supermodel)<\/li>\n
  10. Tom Hands (Actor)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    There are other lists around the internet of celebrities who have excelled in STEM fields as well (a quick Google search will give you many results). I wish this was more well-known to fans, especially younger students who are interested in STEM areas but afraid of being socially outcast due to their “geeky” interests. There is a shortage of females in the STEM fields and many theories on why this may be. (The diversity of practitioners in STEM fields will be saved for another post.)<\/p>\n

    My wish, though, is that students of all ages, genders, races, etc., who are interested in STEM fields, will set aside the stigma and explore the topics that truly interest them. I also wish that celebrities who are interested in these fields will publicly “make a big deal” out of what is happening in these fields. Maybe this will help with people understanding, it is okay to be a little geeky – study what you enjoy.<\/p>\n

    <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I always enjoy seeing mathematics in pop culture. When a friend of mine sent me a txt message about an article talking about celebrities who enjoyed mathematics, I was all over it. (Tangent – The title of the article,\u00a010 Secret … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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