Tibees

Tibees is the YouTube channel of Toby Hendy, a science communicator from New Zealand. She studied physics and maths at the University of Canterbury and went on to an honours degree in physics at the Australian National University. She has been making science videos since 2011.

Her videos cover physics, maths, astronomy and the history of science. Many start from a real document: a famous scientist’s school report, a tough national exam paper, a PhD thesis or a historic letter. She works through the problems on paper and explains them calmly, so viewers can follow along and try the questions themselves.

Some highlights include:

A look at Albert Einstein’s school grades, and what they really say about how he got on in maths and physics.

The story of the letter the self-taught mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan sent to Cambridge, and the results in it that caught G. H. Hardy’s attention.

A walk through the maths test that Terence Tao took as a young child, with the questions worked through one by one.

The channel has over 1.3 million subscribers.

Engineering rests on maths and physics, and this channel makes both feel human and approachable. It suits students taking A level maths, further maths or physics, and anyone wondering whether they have the problem-solving mindset that engineering degrees ask for. The exam videos are good practice at thinking through unfamiliar questions.