Professor Oliver Johnson

Oliver Johnson is Professor of Information Theory in the School of Mathematics at the University of Bristol, where he is Director of the Institute for Statistical Science. His research involves randomness and uncertainty, and includes collaborations with engineers, biologists and computer scientists.

During the pandemic he became a commentator on the daily COVID numbers, through his Twitter account and through appearances on Radio 4 and articles for Spectator. He is the author of the book Numbercrunch (2023), which is designed to help a general audience to understand the value of maths as a toolkit for making sense of the world.