Amir Alexander | |
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| Born | |
| Children | 2 |
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| Alma mater | Hebrew University of Jerusalem (B.S. 1988) Stanford (M.A. 1990; Ph.D. 1996) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | History of science |
| Institutions | UCLA |
Amir Alexander is a historian,author,and academic who studies the interconnections between mathematics and its cultural and historical setting.
Born in Rehovot,Israel,he grew up in Jerusalem [1] where his father,Shlomo Alexander,was a professor of physics at the UCLA and the Hebrew University and his mother,Esther Alexander,was an economist and social activist. [2] [3] [4] : xv He obtained a B.S. from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1988 in mathematics and history,before moving to the United States,where he obtained an M.A. in history of science from Stanford University in 1990,and a Ph.D. in history of science from Stanford University in 1996. [5]
His first book,Geometrical Landscapes:The Voyages of Discovery and the Transformation of Mathematical Practice,was published in 2002. [4] [6] The book describes the 17th century English exploration of the Americas,the early exploration by English mathematicians of infinitesimals,and the relationship between the two,and argued that "If a strong relationship can be established between an historically specific nonmathematical tale and the narrative of a mathematical work that originated within its social sphere,then mathematics can indeed be said to be fundamentally shaped by its social and cultural setting." [6] [7]
His second book,Duel at Dawn:Heroes,Martyrs,and the Rise of Modern Mathematics,was published in 2010. [8] [9] The book begins describing the death of Evariste Galois in a duel in 1832 and makes the argument that the ideas and culture of the Romantic age influenced the way mathematicians saw themselves and the very mathematics that they created. [9]
His third book,Infinitesimal:How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World was published in 2014. [10] [11] [12] The book returns to the topic of the history of the study of infinitesimals in the 17th century,and locates arguments about the validity of the mathematical concept in the struggles between Roman Catholics and Protestants in the Reformation and Counter-Reformation and the accompanying political struggles between authoritarian and more pluralistic approaches to governing. [11] [12] Infinitesimal was selected as one of the best science books of 2014 by Library Journal [13] and by Slate magazine. [14] His fourth book,Proof!:How the World Became Geometrical,was published in 2019. [15]
He has contributed pieces to The New York Times's Science and Book Reviews sections, [16] The Los Angeles Times Op-Ed section, [17] and Scientific American, [18] and he has been interviewed on NPR's All Things Considered, [19] and Interfaith Voices. [20]
Alexander lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. [1] He teaches history at UCLA. [5]
Calculus is the mathematical study of continuous change,in the same way that geometry is the study of shape,and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithmetic operations.
Differential geometry is a mathematical discipline that studies the geometry of smooth shapes and smooth spaces,otherwise known as smooth manifolds. It uses the techniques of differential calculus,integral calculus,linear algebra and multilinear algebra. The field has its origins in the study of spherical geometry as far back as antiquity. It also relates to astronomy,the geodesy of the Earth,and later the study of hyperbolic geometry by Lobachevsky. The simplest examples of smooth spaces are the plane and space curves and surfaces in the three-dimensional Euclidean space,and the study of these shapes formed the basis for development of modern differential geometry during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Analysis is the branch of mathematics dealing with continuous functions,limits,and related theories,such as differentiation,integration,measure,infinite sequences,series,and analytic functions.
In mathematics,an infinitesimal number is a quantity that is closer to 0 than any standard real number,but that is not 0. The word infinitesimal comes from a 17th-century Modern Latin coinage infinitesimus,which originally referred to the "infinity-th" item in a sequence.
Paul Guldin was a Swiss Jesuit mathematician and astronomer. He discovered the Guldinus theorem to determine the surface and the volume of a solid of revolution. Guldin was noted for his association with the German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler. Guldin composed a critique of Cavalieri's method of Indivisibles.
Bonaventura Francesco Cavalieri was an Italian mathematician and a Jesuate. He is known for his work on the problems of optics and motion,work on indivisibles,the precursors of infinitesimal calculus,and the introduction of logarithms to Italy. Cavalieri's principle in geometry partially anticipated integral calculus.
Calculus,originally called infinitesimal calculus,is a mathematical discipline focused on limits,continuity,derivatives,integrals,and infinite series. Many elements of calculus appeared in ancient Greece,then in China and the Middle East,and still later again in medieval Europe and in India. Infinitesimal calculus was developed in the late 17th century by Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz independently of each other. An argument over priority led to the Leibniz–Newton calculus controversy which continued until the death of Leibniz in 1716. The development of calculus and its uses within the sciences have continued to the present.
The Nature of Order:An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe (ISBN 0-9726529-0-6) is a four-volume work by the architect Christopher Alexander published in 2002–2004. In his earlier work,Alexander attempted to formulate the principles that lead to a good built environment as patterns,or recurring design solutions. However,he came to believe that patterns themselves are not enough to generate life in buildings and cities,and that one needs a "morphogenetic" understanding of the formation of the built environment as well as a deep understanding of how the makers get in touch with the creative process.
AndréTacquet was a Brabantian mathematician and Jesuit priest. Tacquet adhered to the methods of the geometry of Euclid and the philosophy of Aristotle and opposed the method of indivisibles.
AbūSahl Wayjan ibn Rustam al-Kūhī was a Persian mathematician,physicist and astronomer. He was from Kuh,an area in Tabaristan,Amol,and flourished in Baghdad in the 10th century. He is considered one of the greatest geometers,with many mathematical and astronomical writings ascribed to him.
Eugen Joseph Weber was a Romanian-born American historian with a special focus on Western civilization.
Jacob Bidermann was born in the Austrian village of Ehingen,about 30 miles southwest of Ulm. He was a Jesuit priest and professor of theology,but is remembered mostly for his plays.
The Jesuati (Jesuates) were a religious order founded by Giovanni Colombini of Siena in 1360. The order was initially called Clerici apostolici Sancti Hieronymi because of a special veneration for St. Jerome and the apostolic life the founders led. The order was abolished by Pope Clement IX on 6 December 1668.
The Assayer is a book by Galileo Galilei,published in Rome in October 1623. It is generally considered to be one of the pioneering works of the scientific method,first broaching the idea that the book of nature is to be read with mathematical tools rather than those of scholastic philosophy,as generally held at the time.
This is a timeline of mathematicians in ancient Greece.
Geometry is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance,shape,size,and relative position of figures. Geometry is,along with arithmetic,one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is called a geometer. Until the 19th century,geometry was almost exclusively devoted to Euclidean geometry,which includes the notions of point,line,plane,distance,angle,surface,and curve,as fundamental concepts.
Infinity is something which is boundless,endless,or larger than any natural number. It is often denoted by the infinity symbol .
In geometry,Cavalieri's principle,a modern implementation of the method of indivisibles,named after Bonaventura Cavalieri,is as follows:
Roshdi Rashed,born in Cairo in 1936,is a mathematician,philosopher and historian of science,whose work focuses largely on mathematics and physics of the medieval Arab world. His work explores and illuminates the unrecognized Arab scientific tradition,being one of the first historians to study in detail the ancient and medieval texts,their journey through the Eastern schools and courses,their immense contributions to Western science,particularly in regarding the development of algebra and the first formalization of physics.
Stefano degli Angeli was an Italian mathematician,philosopher,and Jesuate.
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