The first meeting of this semester's seminar in the history and philosophy of mathematics will take place on Monday, September 19th from 3 to 4 PM in Avery 202 on the Pitzer Campus (and on zoom). We will spend the time sharing ideas for future meetings and discussing the chapter on "Algebraic Logic" (chapter 9) in Lukas Verburgt's new book […]
The relation of accessible points in a projective incidence plane defined by Coxeter in the 1960s is the focus of my narrative. It reveals historical pathways bookending the 19th and […]
The members of the “Invisible College” and the early Royal Society championed an experimental approach to the study of nature as the proper path to the advancement of knowledge and the preservation of civic peace. Mathematics, while admired, was also viewed with suspicion, as potentially dogmatic and coercive. John Wallis, the leading mathematician in the […]
The Human Betterment Foundation was a pro-eugenics think-tank operating in the 1930s and early 1940s out of Pasadena, California. Its aim was to influence public and medical opinion in favor of sterilization of "socially undesirable elements": disabled, poor, and racialized people. Many board members had ties to Caltech, most notably Caltech's then-president Robert Millikan. Upon […]
Deniz Sarikaya joining us from the Technical University of Denmark and speaking on "Narratives of Mathematical Practice (and why they matter!)" (abstract below). The speaker will join via zoom, but there will […]
"The Sceptical Mathematician: How John Wallis Saved Mathematics for the Royal Society." Abstract: The members of the “Invisible College” and the early Royal Society championed an experimental approach to the study of nature as the proper path to the advancement of knowledge and the preservation of civic peace. Mathematics, while admired, was also viewed with suspicion, […]
A mathematician and all his functions: The untold story of Lucien Hibbert. Abstract: Even with his achievements in mathematics, academia, politics, and international affairs, Lucien Hibbert is nearly unknown, even in his native land of Haiti. Our aim is to present a biography of him that includes his family ties, his education, his PhD thesis, and […]
True Grit: Writing the History of Women at Yerkes Observatory, 1895–1950 Abstract: Women at Yerkes Observatory earned advanced degrees, conducted their own research, collaborated on projects with peers of both […]
Inventing the ‘Islamic Golden Age’: Orientalism and the History of Mathematics Abstract: TBA
Speaker: Iris Clever, University of Chicago Title: The Making of the Modern Statistical Identity: From Skull Science to Biometrics Abstract: In this presentation, I uncover an overlooked genealogy of biometrics, tracing […]
This one-day workshop assembles diverse perspectives from the history and philosophy of mathematics to examine ways in which mathematics is applied and impure. Topics will range from applications of mathematics in the natural and social sciences to impure proofs that transcend a single mathematical domain. Please RSVP here by Monday, February 10th to attend the […]
This one-day workshop assembles diverse perspectives from the history and philosophy of mathematics to examine ways in which mathematics interacts and expands across other fields of study. Please RSVP here by Monday, April 6th to attend the workshop and lunch. Schedule 10:00 to 10:05 Welcome! 10:05 to 11:05 Otávio Bueno (University of Miami & Tohoku […]
