CfP: Reading Euclid in the early modern world
Euclid's Elements of Geometry was highly visible in early modern
culture: a touchstone for mathematical training as well as a spur to new
mathematical research throughout the period. In this period dozens of
editions of the Elements were printed, and it was certainly the most
widely read mathematical book of the time. Different editors made very
different choices about the content and layout of the Elements and the
other works attributed to Euclid, based on different assumptions about
the meaning and authenticity of the texts and their component parts.
Likewise, different readers approached the text in very different ways,
bringing to it very different assumptions about the use of (printed)
texts, and about the kind of text the Elements was and the kind of
attention it deserved: logical or philological, geometrical or
practical. Many readers annotated the text, and many selected sections
for copying into exercise books. During this period, standards of
geometrical proof were being actively questioned by mathematicians, but
geometrical methods were being deliberately brought into other fields
such as medicine, physics, and philosophy.
This workshop will consider the ways early modern people engaged with
Euclid's works – from schoolchildren and artisans to teachers and
scholars – and attempt to understand their role in their lives and in
culture. It will examine the unique cultural position Euclidean geometry
occupied and how that position was shaped and maintained. Invited
speakers will include Renee Raphael, Robert Goulding, Catherine Jami,
Sabine Rommevaux, Sebastien Maronne, Yelda Nasifoglu and Philip Beeley.
Proposals for papers are invited on all aspects of early modern reading
of and engagement with the works of Euclid. Proposals should include an
abstract of no more than 250 words and a brief CV, and should be emailed
to benjamin.wardhaugh@all-souls.