Never has the phrase "mathematical model" had such a delicious double meaning than in the case of Pietro Boselli, the Italian model and engineering lecturer whose academic specialism is mathematical modelling.

Boselli, aged 27, was branded the "world's sexiest maths teacher" earlier this year by newspapers and magazines around the world after one of his students at University College London posted on social media that he was also a successful model, and the post went viral.

Since then Boselli – a mechanical engineering PhD who taught maths to engineering students – has been hugely in demand, leading a campaign for designer underwear and posing for the cover of Attitude. He has more than half a million Instagram followers.

But only now has he decided to talk about what really turns him on: the fluid dynamics of turbo machinery.