Known in Ghana as the Queen of Mathematics, Dr. Angela Tabiri is the first African woman to win The Big Internet Math Off – quite an achievement for someone with almost no math background.
The 35-year-old Ghanaian “finds joy in solving puzzles and maths questions” and hopes her win in 2024 will open up the world of maths to other African women – who have traditionally been discouraged from taking the subject.
Sixteen mathematicians were invited to compete for the title of “world’s most interesting mathematician” – a public vote launched in 2018 by The Aperiodical blog.
The first winner was dr. Nira Chamberlain, the first black mathematician to be included in the British Who’s Who reference book and vice-president of the professional body, the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.
During the event, everyone competes against each other – so two in each game – and then it’s on to the quarter-finals and semi-finals until the big match to decide who explained their chosen math concept in the brightest way.
The passion of dr. Tabiri is a quantum, or non-commutative, algebra researcher at the Ghana branch of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (Aims).
The goals started in South Africa and then spread to Ghana, Senegal, Cameroon and Rwanda – to enable postgraduate training and research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
dr. Tabiri is also the academic lead for the Girls in Mathematical Sciences program, a mentoring and support program for girls in middle and high schools in Ghana.
It was founded by Aims-Ghana in 2020 to “ensure we have a pipeline of young women who will be leaders in research and innovation in the mathematical sciences – in academia and industry”.
dr. Tabiri says the number of girls and boys studying math in high school is roughly equal, but then drops off at the university level.
That’s partly because, she says, female students assume that if they do math, the only job they can do is teach, because math is still considered a “boy’s subject” — and there are very few female role models.
This is something that dr. Tabiri is trying to change.
But her journey into mathematics was not an easy one.
She grew up in Ashaiman, one of the poorer, densely populated districts of Teme, an industrial center and port an hour’s drive east of the capital Accra.
Her family home was happy but noisy – she has four sisters – and Dr. Tabiri would often seek the peace and quiet of a local youth center so she could study.
She wanted to follow in the footsteps of her two sisters and study business administration at university.
But her grades, although high, weren’t high enough – so she was accepted for maths and economics instead.
“It was a blessing in disguise,” says dr. Camps. “Numbers and puzzles fascinated me – but I never thought a career in maths was for me.”
dr. In 2015, Tabiri received a PhD scholarship at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. It was hard work, she says – and there she experienced a pivotal moment.
She went to see Hidden Figures, a film about black American mathematicians who worked at the American space agency Nasa in the 1950s, during the era of segregation in the USA.
“It was amazing to see the story of these black women told on a global stage,” she remembers. – I got goosebumps watching it.
She was particularly inspired by Katherine Johnson, whose extraordinary mathematical skills and calculations were crucial to the success of American space flights.
“Katherine Johnson worked so hard – and for a long time her work was hidden. She made me realize that I just had to keep going.
“If your work is not recognized even now, it will be recognized sometime in the future. That was a real turning point for me.”
Ghana reached a historic milestone in 2024 when dr. Gloria Botchway became the first woman to graduate in mathematics from the University of Ghana.
It was a journey full of hardships – including selling water and sweet potatoes on the side of the road as a six-year-old.
dr. Through her non-profit organization FemAfricMaths, Tabiri tries to support other African girls and women from less privileged backgrounds to follow their mathematical dreams.
Together with other volunteers, he teaches classes to the youngest high school students in person and online.
She also publishes interviews with leading female mathematicians from around the world on social networks.
dr. Tabiri is also very passionate about the potential of quantum science and technology – for which mathematics is key.
She is proud that Ghana, with the support of Mexico, has led proposals to declare 2025 the UN International Year of Quantum Science and Technology – the 100th anniversary of the discovery of modern quantum mechanics.
Quantum mechanics emerged from studies to discover how ultra-tiny particles—the most basic bits of matter, energy, and light—interact to make up the world.
This led to the development of the Internet, solar cells and global navigation satellite systems.
Researchers and major technology companies from around the world – including China, the US, the UK, Australia and South Africa – are now racing to develop quantum technologies, including quantum computers and ultra-precise measuring and sensing devices.
We hope that complex problems will be solved at lightning speed – and that there will be major innovations in fields such as medicine, environmental science, food production and cyber security.
“Now there is a lot of discussion – about the pros and cons – about the jobs that will be created,” says Dr. Camps.
Africa’s fast-growing population, which is already the youngest in the world, will be the world’s largest workforce by 2040, according to the UN.
“But that doesn’t mean we will get jobs,” says dr. Camps.
She hopes to organize a “quantum road show” as a first step in introducing school children to quantum science at a much earlier age than she did.
“We want young people to start developing interest and developing all the relevant skills during primary schooling,” she says.
The road show will be based on a recent quantum computing course she held for high school girls attending classes at Aims-Ghana during their holidays.
The course discussed what it takes to build a quantum computer, its current fragility – and the challenges quantum computing poses to existing systems, such as cryptography.
In cooperation with UNESCO, dr. Tabiri will also host a week-long “Quantum Hackathon” in July at Aims-Ghana for around 40 postgraduate students from various African countries.
“We want them to use their quantum skills to solve some of the biggest challenges we face, real-life problems,” says Dr. Camps.
“It is very urgent that we prepare our youth for this next great revolution.”
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