Astronomy and the Forging of Mathematical Communities

During the late 19th century, British and American organisations such as the US Coast Survey, the Royal Society, and the Royal Astronomical Society, as well as individuals like Elizabeth Brown and James Gilliss, planned expeditions to observe a total solar eclipse. These high-stakes astronomical expeditions involved many scientific practitioners whose collective eclipse experience helped to grow and sustain 19th-century mathematical communities.

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Speakers

Professor Deborah Kent
Senior Lecturer in History of Mathematics at St Andrew's University.

Dr Laure Miolo
Laure is the Lyell Fellow in Latin Palaeography at the Faculty of History of the University of Oxford.

Dr Eva Kaufholz-Soldat
Eva Kaufholz-Soldat studied mathematics and history of mathematics at the University of Hamburg and received her diploma with a technical thesis on the beginnings of matrix calculus.

Location

Barnard's Inn Hall 30 Holborn London EC1N EC1N

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