AMS/MAA 2001

The IVI at AMS/MAA 2001 Annual Meetings in New Orleans

The IVI has arranged a session for the AMS/MAA annual meetings. The session will take place on Wednesday, January 10, from 9:00 am to 10:30 am. Its subject and panel are:

TITLE: The Muse of History: Writing Biographies of Mathematicians

MODERATOR: Saunders Mac Lane (University of Chicago)

PANELISTS: Joseph Dauben (City University of New York) on A. Robinson and 20th Century Mathematicians, 15 mins.

John Dawson (Penn State University- York) on Goedel, 15 mins. Comment, 5 mins. and Discussion, 10 mins.

Joan Richards (Brown University) on the de Morgans, 15 mins.

Ronald Calinger (Catholic University of America) on Euler in Berlin, 15 mins. Comment, 5 mins. and Discussion, 10 mins.

COMMENTATOR: Manfred Kronfellner (Technische Universitaet-Wien)

DESCRIPTION: Can we get at history as it actually happened -- to borrow a phrase from Ranke -- and how closely can a biographer hope to capture the essence of a mathematical scientist? Is there objective biography, and can historians be mostly independent of preconceptions? What is the character of mathematics that sets it apart from other kinds of historical and biographical writing? Is there an optimal way to avoid confusing past and present categories? In examining the richness and limitations of primary sources sand secondary works, what are the most fruitful analytical techniques? How much technical detail and information and personal life should appear in a clear, successful biography. Through referring to biographical studies of Cantor Robinson, Goedel, de Morgan, and Euler, and others, this session will explore the rapid changes occurring in preparing biographies of mathematical scientists. Those coming to the New Orleans meetings are invited to this session.

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The International Virtual Institute for Historical Studies of Mathematics