On the auspicious occasion of Emmy Noether’s 135th birthday, Kevin Knudson and I started recording our podcast My Favorite Theorem. For 95 episodes, we asked mathematicians in many different places and stages of their careers to tell us about their favorite theorems and why they love them. And then, just to jostle them out of being too academic, we asked them what to pair with their theorem. Symplectic geometry goes well with avocados, according to Dusa McDuff. Tatiana Toro suggests a long walk while contemplating the Pythagorean theorem. And Kimberly Ayers would recommend taffy-pulling videos (not the taffy itself; too sweet and sticky) to enhance your enjoyment of Sharkovskii’s theorem in discrete dynamical systems.

We got to talk to mathematicians from all over the world with all kinds of different backgrounds and paths to mathematics. We had a retired NFL player, a cellist turned mathematician, a mathematician playwright, and a drag queen from Canada’s Drag Race. There is no one way to be a mathematician, and no one kind of math that appeals to everyone. I loved hearing the multitude of different ways mathematicians connect with their work and the enthusiasm they brought to every branch of the field. I hope you’ll dig through our archives and get to know some of these mathematicians too.