In this Public Lecture, Snezana Lawrence discussed the questions: 'What is it that mathematicians do?' and 'Who gets to be called a ‘mathematician’ and why?' She discussed major questions concerning the nature of mathematics, and linked mathematicians by the substance of their ideas, and the historical and personal contexts in which they were developed.

Snezana focused on images of mathematics and mathematicians from a number of famous historical narratives, and compare them with the emerging new histories of mathematics. These relate to modern difficulties in mathematics education and pose further questions for discussion.