Mathematical Biography Conference- Call For Papers
'Mathematical Biography: A Celebration of MacTutor' St Andrews, Scotland, on 16-17 September 2016.
The conference is organised by the British Society for the History of
Mathematics, and the Mathematics Department of St Andrews University.
Papers are invited. Details below.
The deadline for submission is 31 March 2016.
Conference website: www.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/mathbiog/
The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive is a website maintained by
John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson and hosted by the University of
St Andrews. It contains detailed biographies on many historical and
contemporary mathematicians. Founded in 1994, as of 2015 it has
biographies on over 2800 mathematicians and scientists. In 2015,
O'Conner and Robertson won the Hirst Prize of the London Mathematical
Society for their work. The citation for the Hirst Prize calls the
archive "the most widely used and influential web-based resource in
history of mathematics".
Mathematical biography is one of the ways in which bridges are built
between mathematics, mathematicians, and wider culture. Biography can
link mathematicians to their discipline’s past, inspire young people to
become mathematicians, and engage the public in appreciation of
mathematics. Yet space is seldom provided to discuss the cultural roles
of mathematical biography, or the historiographic and technical issues
surrounding writing mathematical biography.
We invite papers that address such issues, particularly if they take a
case study approach. Themes of the conference include, but are not
limited to:
• The cultural significance of individuals in mathematics (in any time period)
• The impact and use of new technologies on mathematical biography
• Issues of audience, purpose, and translation (of language and of mathematics
• Challenges of particular types of biography (e.g. obituary, of living mathematicians, of women, for children
• Case studies of use of MacTutor
Speakers may have the opportunity to contribute to a special issue of the BSHM Bulletin following the conference.
Proposals should be for short talks of approximately 15 minutes plus discussion time.
Please send your proposals, by 31 March to:
Isobel Falconer: ijf3@st-andrews.ac.uk
Your proposal should include:
• title of paper
• a short abstract of approximately 300 words
• brief biographical details (affiliation (if any), main areas of research, relevant publications)
Papers will be considered by the Conference Programme Committee and selected contributors will be notified in April 2016.
In addition to papers, the conference organisers would be pleased to accept drafts of biographies for the MacTutor website.