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This is the story of Sofia Kovalevskaya – a Russian mathematician who was the first woman to join the editorial staff of a mathematical journal and to hold a prominent university position in modern Europe. Sofia Kovalevskaya was born in Moscow in 1850. Mathematics historians say that she became interested in mathematics as a child […]

Anne Thomas, An English tutor  and blogger for Oxford Open Learning discusses why she finds Black History and the Arts fascinating. As a very proud Liverpudlian it is an honour to be a part of a city which has one of the oldest established black communities in the UK, something like about 300 years old, […]

If you want an example of how far a home study mathematics course can take you then take a look at the life and work of Sophie Germain.  She became a renowned mathematician who has, among other things, a group of prime numbers and a Paris hotel named after her. Sophie Germain was born in […]

Oxford Open Learning Blogger Andrew bateson continues his blog series examining some of the History of Chemistry which underpins our Chemistry International GCSE course. In Oxford Open Learning’s distance learning Chemistry IGCSE course students learn about Polymers or Plastics, and Crude Oil as a raw material for these products. The manufacturing industry surrounding this field […]

September 26 2012 sees the eleventh annual European Day of Languages, established in 2002 by the Council of Europe as a celebration of linguistic diversity across the continent.  The principal message conveyed is that foreign language skills are a necessary right for each and everyone one of us, regardless of nationality, geographical location, age or […]

The deadline for booking exams in the winter series is the 21st October 2012. Schools and colleges will have resumed for the Autumn term and if you need to either book a re-sit , or a first time exam in the winter series, then now is the time to do it. If wait until after […]

Debbie Gill continues her blog on famous female mathematicians, giving background information for Maths GCSE students. Try googling “female mathematician” and Hypatia will probably appear in most of your search results. So who was she? Hypatia was born in Alexandria, Egypt in around 370AD. It is thought that she was educated by her father who […]

Have you ever wondered what the point is of the maths you are learning in your Key Stage 3 or GCSE Maths course? Marcus du Sautoy and his team of mathemagicians may have a few answers for you. They are on a mission to bring to life the “maths that makes our cities work”.  From […]

When writing my blog series on famous mathematicians I was struck by the fact that most of the famous names we know from the history of mathematics belong to men from the West. The mathematics studied at GCSE and A level is full of theorems, rules and numbers (Pythagoras, Fibonacci, Descartes to name but a […]