Life in Lilliput - The Mathematics of Fictional Realms

A lecture by Professor Sarah Hart from Birkbeck, University of London exploring the mathematical implications of fictional worlds like Lilliput from Gulliver's Travels. Discover how mathematics can be applied to analyze the physical, biological, and social constraints of imaginary realms during this 59-minute presentation at the Cambridge Festival 2025. Examine how authors use mathematical principles when creating fictional universes and what these creative thought experiments reveal about our understanding of scale, proportion, and physical laws. Part of the Cambridge Festival 2025 running from March 19 to April 4, this in-person event hosted by the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences offers a fascinating intersection of literature and mathematical analysis.