Rudolf Taschner is the author of many books on mathematics and its cultural implications, most recently, The Number That Came in from the Cold: When Math Turns into an Adventure. He has been a professor at the Vienna University of Technology (TU) since 1977. Together with his wife and other colleagues, Taschner founded and runs "math.space," a series of events that presents mathematics as a cultural achievement, located in Vienna's Museumsquartier. In 2004, Taschner was elected "Scientist of the Year." In 2011, he was awarded the Prize for People's Education of the City of Vienna.