Pub Date : 2025-12-01Epub Date: 2025-10-16DOI: 10.1016/j.hm.2025.09.004
Norbert Schappacher
The paper outlines the history of libraries at the Strasbourg Universities between the 1880s and post WWII, and focusses on the history of the Strasbourg mathematics library, in particular on its unlikely enrichment during the second WW. The German period of Strasbourg ended with the German defeat in 1918. The subsequent French period was disrupted by the 1939 evacuation of Strasbourg and the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by the Nazi government in 1940. When Strasbourg was liberated in November 1944, most of the mathematical library was put up elsewhere, a large part of it at Oberwolfach.
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Pub Date : 2025-12-01Epub Date: 2025-09-02DOI: 10.1016/j.hm.2025.07.006
Thomas Preveraud
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838), a leading mathematician of the young American Republic, authored numerous works in mathematical astronomy. As a reader of Pierre-Simon de Laplace, he translated and annotated with rich commentary the first four volumes of Laplace’s Mécanique céleste (1799-1825), which were published in Boston between 1829 and 1839. At a time when mathematical practice had little institutional support in the United States, Bowditch contributed to the dissemination of mathematical knowledge produced in France since the Revolution, particularly the works in analysis and mathematical physics by Laplace, Lagrange, or Legendre, which he deemed insufficiently known on his side of the Atlantic.
This article studies Bowditch’s library, which contained over 1,000 documents acquired between 1788 and 1838. The study comprises three movements that analyze the mathematical part of the library from different perspectives. Firstly, we characterize the books and periodicals held by Bowditch in terms of content, publication date and geographical origin. Doing so, we highlight the great diversity of thematic contents – from analysis to mathematical astronomy – and the central place occupied by very contemporary European (especially French) documents in the library. The second result highlights the material and intellectual dynamics that guided the constitution of the library throughout Bowditch’s life. Finally, the article demonstrates how the library’s works were used by its owner in his scholarly productions and supports the thesis of a library for practical use.
In the study of the processes of mathematical heritage, the article contributes to understanding the role of private libraries in the constitution and circulation of a body of knowledge in a territory still marked by great institutional precariousness in scientific practice.
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Pub Date : 2025-09-01Epub Date: 2025-08-14DOI: 10.1016/j.hm.2025.07.001
Libor Koudela
The idea of nondecimal number systems was developed during the 17th century by several mathematicians, especially by Thomas Harriot, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz and Erhard Weigel. Already at the end of the 16th century, a German mathematician Anton Schultze described the base-24 positional number system and showed the basic arithmetic operations in this system. Schultze did so in an example that he included in his textbook of commercial arithmetic published in 1584 and – in a slightly modified form – in an extended version of the textbook that appeared in 1600.
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Pub Date : 2025-09-01Epub Date: 2025-08-28DOI: 10.1016/j.hm.2025.07.004
Siegmund Probst
The edition of Leibniz's mathematical writings is a monumental task: 10,000 manuscript pages will fill 30 volumes (out of 130 planned for his complete works). At his death (1716), only 1 book and ∼100 journal articles were published. 19th century editions by Gerhardt (1849-1863) greatly increased availability. In the 20th century, Eberhard Knobloch spearheaded the Academy Edition (Series VII), publishing 4 volumes (1990-2008) with 90% unpublished texts. Volumes 1-7 cover Leibniz's Paris years (1672-1676). Future plans: 22 more volumes in 30 years, requiring 2 to 8 editors. Collaborations (ERC Philiumm) already yield online pre-editions and translations, boosting worldwide Leibniz research.1
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Pub Date : 2025-09-01Epub Date: 2025-08-19DOI: 10.1016/j.hm.2025.08.001
Tony Crilly , Peter Elliott
Using hitherto unpublished material we chart the creation of Sir Thomas Muir’s magnum opus on determinants, a landmark in the history of mathematics. Between 1906–1930 Muir published 5 vol on the history of determinants, a monument for which he is best remembered.
En nous référant à des documents jusqu'ici inédits, nous traçons la voie vers la publication du magnum opus de Sir Thomas Muir sur l'histoire des déterminants, un jalon dans l'histoire des mathématiques. Entre 1906 et 1930, Muir a publié 5 vol sur l'histoire des déterminants, un monument; dont on se souvient aujourd'hui.
在这里，你可以找到托马斯·缪尔爵士（Sir Thomas Muir）关于决定因素的巨著的创作，这是数学史上的一个里程碑。1906年至1930年间，缪尔出版了五卷关于行为人历史的书，这是他最广为人知的纪念碑。通过参考以前未发表的文献，我们为托马斯·缪尔爵士关于决定因素史的巨著的出版铺平了道路，这是数学史上的一个里程碑。从1906年到1930年，缪尔出版了五卷关于决定因素的历史，这是一座纪念碑。我们今天还记得。
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Pub Date : 2025-09-01Epub Date: 2025-09-02DOI: 10.1016/j.hm.2025.08.002
Horst Struve , Rolf Struve
Johannes Hjelmslev (1873 - 1950) was a renowned Danish mathematician and one of the most remarkable mathematicians of his time. A special feature is that he was active in two fields, mathematics (the foundations of geometry) and the didactics of mathematics (the didactics of geometry). He not only contributed original and fruitful ideas to both areas, but also had a significant impact on the concept of mathematics and school mathematics until the present day. While historical appraisals have already been published on individual topics of his research work - for example on his so-called geometry of reality (Lützen, 2021) - a summarizing presentation and appraisal of his work in both fields in a historical context is still lacking. This is the aim of this article, which, incidentally, is a response on the less appreciative assessment of Hjelmslev's achievements and his geometry of reality by Lützen (2021).
Johannes Hjelmslev（1873 - 1950）是一位著名的丹麦数学家，也是他那个时代最杰出的数学家之一。他的一个特点是活跃于数学（几何基础）和数学教学法（几何教学法）两个领域。他不仅在这两个领域贡献了原创性和富有成果的思想，而且对数学和学校数学的概念产生了重大影响，直到今天。虽然对他的研究工作的个别主题已经发表了历史评价-例如他所谓的现实几何(l tzen, 2021) -在历史背景下对他在这两个领域的工作的总结和评价仍然缺乏。这是本文的目的，顺便说一句，这是对岑（2021）对海姆斯列夫的成就和他的现实几何的不太赞赏的评价的回应。
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