Blog

Blog posts written for the BSHM appear below.

Teaching the History of Mathematics: Challenges and Opportunities

Now that the summer session has mostly wrapped up at Cornell, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on my experiences teaching the history of science and mathematics. I recently finished teaching a 3-week course called “Science, Technology, and Politics,” a version of which I also taught last summer. The course this year was different in many ways, including its suddenly online format, yet much was also the same. Many students struggled to work through the same kinds of questions and analyses that challenged last year’s students as well.

Home schooling history of mathematics resources

Next week some more children in England will go back to school, but most of the children will still be learning from home. We have put a short list together for the parents and children alike to do some mathematics during this period, and remind you that the 1st of July is the deadline to submit an essay or presentation in the history of mathematics for our Schools Prize! https://www.bshm.ac.uk/plus

Making Mathematics American

Sometimes the push to finish a big writing project can end up feeling like a “shelter in place” order—a foggy dance between writing and sleeping. For the past two months, while sheltering in place because of COVID-19, I’ve been working towards a deadline to finish a full draft of my dissertation. There were no offices, archives, or libraries, and I relied heavily on HathiTrust and others who helped put resources online. After endless hours of writing and sleeping, interspersed with distance runs and homemade meals, I finally submitted a draft to my committee this week.

Geometry in focus - Resources Blog

Geometry in focus

The current Coronavirus crisis is on everyone’s minds. For our first Resources Blog we therefore start with the Geometry of viruses, and following this, the history of geometry. But before we get to the links and resources, advice on how to use this Resource Blog posts:

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