«Doing mathematics for me is like being on a long hike with no trail and no end in sight.»
— Maryam Mirzakhani. Nine years today since she left us — July 14, 2017.
🧪 #histsci #histmath #WomenInSTEM #Mathematics
— Maryam Mirzakhani. Nine years today since she left us — July 14, 2017.
🧪 #histsci #histmath #WomenInSTEM #Mathematics
🧵
12 May 1977: math genius Maryam Mirzakhani was born.
The first woman ever to be awarded the prestigious Fields Medal (2014), she was one of the greatest mathematicians of her generation and won the award
🧪 #May12 #HistSci #WomenInMaths #WomenInScience #maths #WomenInStem
12 May 1977: math genius Maryam Mirzakhani was born.
The first woman ever to be awarded the prestigious Fields Medal (2014), she was one of the greatest mathematicians of her generation and won the award
🧪 #May12 #HistSci #WomenInMaths #WomenInScience #maths #WomenInStem
July 14, 2026 at 5:25 PM
«Doing mathematics for me is like being on a long hike with no trail and no end in sight.»
— Maryam Mirzakhani. Nine years today since she left us — July 14, 2017.
🧪 #histsci #histmath #WomenInSTEM #Mathematics
— Maryam Mirzakhani. Nine years today since she left us — July 14, 2017.
🧪 #histsci #histmath #WomenInSTEM #Mathematics
This eagerly anticipated #histmath book now available for preordering!
Hello Dr. @sixteenthcgirl.bsky.social. Thanks for your fascinating interviews. If I may, I'd like to recommend my colleague Jessica Marie Otis of @rrchnm.bsky.social and her new book, "By the Numbers: Numeracy, Religion, and the Quantitative Transformation of Early Modern England" (Oxford, 2023).
December 12, 2023 at 4:17 PM
This eagerly anticipated #histmath book now available for preordering!
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Ever stood in a field and felt like the Earth is perfectly flat?
That’s the intuition behind manifolds.
They’re mathematical spaces that look completely ordinary & Euclidean up close — like a straight line or a plane — no matter how curved or wild they are on a larger scale. 🧪🔭⚛️
#histmath
Ever stood in a field and felt like the Earth is perfectly flat?
That’s the intuition behind manifolds.
They’re mathematical spaces that look completely ordinary & Euclidean up close — like a straight line or a plane — no matter how curved or wild they are on a larger scale. 🧪🔭⚛️
#histmath
In 1854, Bernhard Riemann introduced a theory about how to study geometric spaces in any dimension. Most mathematicians at the time found his ideas to be too vague to be of much use. They are now a mathematical staple. www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-a-ma...
May 11, 2026 at 6:59 PM
1/2
Ever stood in a field and felt like the Earth is perfectly flat?
That’s the intuition behind manifolds.
They’re mathematical spaces that look completely ordinary & Euclidean up close — like a straight line or a plane — no matter how curved or wild they are on a larger scale. 🧪🔭⚛️
#histmath
Ever stood in a field and felt like the Earth is perfectly flat?
That’s the intuition behind manifolds.
They’re mathematical spaces that look completely ordinary & Euclidean up close — like a straight line or a plane — no matter how curved or wild they are on a larger scale. 🧪🔭⚛️
#histmath
3/23/1882 — b. Emmy Noether, German mathematician, professor, lecturer. One of the most prominent woman in mathematics history; she made major foundational contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics #WomensHistoryMonth #WomenInSTEM #HistMath #MathSky #OTD
March 23, 2025 at 3:20 PM
3/23/1882 — b. Emmy Noether, German mathematician, professor, lecturer. One of the most prominent woman in mathematics history; she made major foundational contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics #WomensHistoryMonth #WomenInSTEM #HistMath #MathSky #OTD
Heading to this amazing event!
Check out the program here: medimath.unibe.ch/events__publ...
#HistoryofMathematics #HistMath
Check out the program here: medimath.unibe.ch/events__publ...
#HistoryofMathematics #HistMath
December 16, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Heading to this amazing event!
Check out the program here: medimath.unibe.ch/events__publ...
#HistoryofMathematics #HistMath
Check out the program here: medimath.unibe.ch/events__publ...
#HistoryofMathematics #HistMath
6/5/1646 — b. Elena Cornaro Piscopia, Italian mathematician, prodigy, philosopher, lecturer, musician. The first woman to receive a university degree, and the first woman to receive a Doctor of Philosophy degree #womenshistory #WomenInSTEM #MathSky #HistMath #SciSky #HistSci #AcademicSky
June 5, 2026 at 4:17 PM
6/5/1646 — b. Elena Cornaro Piscopia, Italian mathematician, prodigy, philosopher, lecturer, musician. The first woman to receive a university degree, and the first woman to receive a Doctor of Philosophy degree #womenshistory #WomenInSTEM #MathSky #HistMath #SciSky #HistSci #AcademicSky
Getting roasted by the mathematicians this week 😬 but we’re jumping into 14th-c. mathematical problems loaded with unknowns, and I’m actually excited
#HistMath
#HistMath
February 23, 2026 at 4:25 PM
Getting roasted by the mathematicians this week 😬 but we’re jumping into 14th-c. mathematical problems loaded with unknowns, and I’m actually excited
#HistMath
#HistMath
Results like Joan Birman’s at 99 strike us so powerfully not only because of her age, but because they remind us that mathematical research is not a means to some external end.
It is, in itself, a way of inhabiting the world with greater clarity.
Read Greg Egan’s thread.
#HistMath 🧪 #mathematics
It is, in itself, a way of inhabiting the world with greater clarity.
Read Greg Egan’s thread.
#HistMath 🧪 #mathematics
While the Fields Medal celebrates the under-40s, the mathematician Joan Birman has, at the age of 99, solved a major open problem in representations of the Braid groups, a topic she has worked on for more than 60 years.
July 27, 2026 at 9:09 AM
Results like Joan Birman’s at 99 strike us so powerfully not only because of her age, but because they remind us that mathematical research is not a means to some external end.
It is, in itself, a way of inhabiting the world with greater clarity.
Read Greg Egan’s thread.
#HistMath 🧪 #mathematics
It is, in itself, a way of inhabiting the world with greater clarity.
Read Greg Egan’s thread.
#HistMath 🧪 #mathematics
Did you find many #histmath practitioners here on Bluesky? @sgessner.bsky.social has entered the building, and I know @viktorblasjo.bsky.social is here. I'm curious because my Historia Mathematica piece in memory of Jim Bennett is now available online at doi.org/10.1016/j.hm...
Are there historians of mathematics on Bluesky? Anyway, today in Paris: 📣 the first meeting of the ANR-DFG project "Euclid in the Modern Age"! 🎉 With Vincenzo de Risi and Angela Axworthy leading the way ...
April 19, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Did you find many #histmath practitioners here on Bluesky? @sgessner.bsky.social has entered the building, and I know @viktorblasjo.bsky.social is here. I'm curious because my Historia Mathematica piece in memory of Jim Bennett is now available online at doi.org/10.1016/j.hm...
The full story and broader context is not as well known, and has been confused by apocryphal tales and twisted narratives over the years. This piece by Tony Rothman is a pretty good start for anyone curious: sites.tufts.edu/histmath/fil...
sites.tufts.edu
December 3, 2024 at 6:03 PM
The full story and broader context is not as well known, and has been confused by apocryphal tales and twisted narratives over the years. This piece by Tony Rothman is a pretty good start for anyone curious: sites.tufts.edu/histmath/fil...
Mac Lane's first-hand account of how an absolutely amazing mathematical department at Göttingen was destroyed by Nazi politics, irrevocably, practically overnight.
Absolutely fascinating—and depressing—slice of history I had not read about before.
sites.tufts.edu/histmath/fil...
Absolutely fascinating—and depressing—slice of history I had not read about before.
sites.tufts.edu/histmath/fil...
sites.tufts.edu
May 24, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Mac Lane's first-hand account of how an absolutely amazing mathematical department at Göttingen was destroyed by Nazi politics, irrevocably, practically overnight.
Absolutely fascinating—and depressing—slice of history I had not read about before.
sites.tufts.edu/histmath/fil...
Absolutely fascinating—and depressing—slice of history I had not read about before.
sites.tufts.edu/histmath/fil...
1/8
"This is only a foretaste of what is to come, and only the shadow of what is going to be."
— #AlanTuring, The Times (11 June 1949), “The Mechanical Brain”
Today marks the anniversary of his birth. 🧪⚛️
www.turing.org.uk/publications...
#histsci #histmath #ScienceSky #computing #math
"This is only a foretaste of what is to come, and only the shadow of what is going to be."
— #AlanTuring, The Times (11 June 1949), “The Mechanical Brain”
Today marks the anniversary of his birth. 🧪⚛️
www.turing.org.uk/publications...
#histsci #histmath #ScienceSky #computing #math
June 23, 2026 at 4:21 PM
1/8
"This is only a foretaste of what is to come, and only the shadow of what is going to be."
— #AlanTuring, The Times (11 June 1949), “The Mechanical Brain”
Today marks the anniversary of his birth. 🧪⚛️
www.turing.org.uk/publications...
#histsci #histmath #ScienceSky #computing #math
"This is only a foretaste of what is to come, and only the shadow of what is going to be."
— #AlanTuring, The Times (11 June 1949), “The Mechanical Brain”
Today marks the anniversary of his birth. 🧪⚛️
www.turing.org.uk/publications...
#histsci #histmath #ScienceSky #computing #math
Searching online, I can only find references to the artist on this story of banning subversive maths diagrams - any #histsci or #histmath people know more?
So no joke: the dictatorship in 1970s Argentina once banned Venn diagrams. Because they could be seen as finding common ground between two (apparently) different groups, and if you’re a dictator, unity is a threat. There’s an artist whose work revolves around this!
July 23, 2024 at 7:05 AM
Fascinating, missed this at the beginning of the month: a beer mug associated with Isaac Newton.
Turns out it's more about #17c ink recipes (a niche interest of mine) rather than drinking beer. Don't know of any architects' ink with beer in it... Still, cheers! 🍺 🍻
#histsci #histmath #earlymodern
Turns out it's more about #17c ink recipes (a niche interest of mine) rather than drinking beer. Don't know of any architects' ink with beer in it... Still, cheers! 🍺 🍻
#histsci #histmath #earlymodern
Uncork the history of a centuries-old beer mug once owned by Sir Isaac Newton, resurfaced after 160 years. Research published today in Royal Society Notes and Records sheds new light on this vaunted vessel: Read more: buff.ly/41cOmq0
March 25, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Fascinating, missed this at the beginning of the month: a beer mug associated with Isaac Newton.
Turns out it's more about #17c ink recipes (a niche interest of mine) rather than drinking beer. Don't know of any architects' ink with beer in it... Still, cheers! 🍺 🍻
#histsci #histmath #earlymodern
Turns out it's more about #17c ink recipes (a niche interest of mine) rather than drinking beer. Don't know of any architects' ink with beer in it... Still, cheers! 🍺 🍻
#histsci #histmath #earlymodern
#HistMath & #PhilMath — here's the CfP you didn't know you needed!
*FRAMING MATHEMATICS: EARLY CAREER WORKSHOP ON THE HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS*
Taking place at the Université Paris Cité on 10-11 September 2026. Full CfP in the poster. Please share!
🤝 @bernalessel.bsky.social 🤝
*FRAMING MATHEMATICS: EARLY CAREER WORKSHOP ON THE HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS*
Taking place at the Université Paris Cité on 10-11 September 2026. Full CfP in the poster. Please share!
🤝 @bernalessel.bsky.social 🤝
February 9, 2026 at 2:38 PM
#HistMath & #PhilMath — here's the CfP you didn't know you needed!
*FRAMING MATHEMATICS: EARLY CAREER WORKSHOP ON THE HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS*
Taking place at the Université Paris Cité on 10-11 September 2026. Full CfP in the poster. Please share!
🤝 @bernalessel.bsky.social 🤝
*FRAMING MATHEMATICS: EARLY CAREER WORKSHOP ON THE HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS*
Taking place at the Université Paris Cité on 10-11 September 2026. Full CfP in the poster. Please share!
🤝 @bernalessel.bsky.social 🤝
🧵 1/4
"...I used to feel guilty in Cambridge that I spent all day playing games, while I was supposed to be doing mathematics. Then, when I discovered surreal numbers, I realized that playing games IS mathematics."
— John H. Conway (26 Dec 1937 – 11 April 2020)
🧪 #HistSci #mathematicians #HistMath
"...I used to feel guilty in Cambridge that I spent all day playing games, while I was supposed to be doing mathematics. Then, when I discovered surreal numbers, I realized that playing games IS mathematics."
— John H. Conway (26 Dec 1937 – 11 April 2020)
🧪 #HistSci #mathematicians #HistMath
April 11, 2025 at 1:12 PM
🧵 1/4
"...I used to feel guilty in Cambridge that I spent all day playing games, while I was supposed to be doing mathematics. Then, when I discovered surreal numbers, I realized that playing games IS mathematics."
— John H. Conway (26 Dec 1937 – 11 April 2020)
🧪 #HistSci #mathematicians #HistMath
"...I used to feel guilty in Cambridge that I spent all day playing games, while I was supposed to be doing mathematics. Then, when I discovered surreal numbers, I realized that playing games IS mathematics."
— John H. Conway (26 Dec 1937 – 11 April 2020)
🧪 #HistSci #mathematicians #HistMath
4/23/1910 — b. Sheila Scott Macintyre, Scottish-American mathematician, researcher, professor. Noted for her work on the Whittaker constant and for creating a multilingual mathematical dictionary written in English, German and Russian #womenhistory #WomenInSTEM #HistMath #mathematicians
April 24, 2025 at 2:03 PM
4/23/1910 — b. Sheila Scott Macintyre, Scottish-American mathematician, researcher, professor. Noted for her work on the Whittaker constant and for creating a multilingual mathematical dictionary written in English, German and Russian #womenhistory #WomenInSTEM #HistMath #mathematicians
I'd already written at length on Jim from a #museums and #histsci perspective (journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/article/jim-...). This new focus is much more specifically on Jim's approach to Renaissance practical geometry. I hope it usefully reassembles the coherence of his approach to #histmath.
Jim Bennett (1947–2023): life as a museum practitioner - Science Museum Group Journal
journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk
April 19, 2025 at 9:12 PM
I'd already written at length on Jim from a #museums and #histsci perspective (journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/article/jim-...). This new focus is much more specifically on Jim's approach to Renaissance practical geometry. I hope it usefully reassembles the coherence of his approach to #histmath.
as it happens, I made this in a haste and with several mistakes in the programme of the three panels... here the correct (I hope) version
#environmentalhistory #envhist #histagriculture #histsci #HSS26 #ESHS26 #17thcentury #histmath
#environmentalhistory #envhist #histagriculture #histsci #HSS26 #ESHS26 #17thcentury #histmath
February 19, 2026 at 7:39 PM
as it happens, I made this in a haste and with several mistakes in the programme of the three panels... here the correct (I hope) version
#environmentalhistory #envhist #histagriculture #histsci #HSS26 #ESHS26 #17thcentury #histmath
#environmentalhistory #envhist #histagriculture #histsci #HSS26 #ESHS26 #17thcentury #histmath
1/6
22 June 1864: the great mathematician Hermann Minkowski was born.
He developed a new view of space & time, coupled together in a four-dimensional space-time continuum, known as the "Minkowski spacetime".⚛️🧪🔭
mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/...
#histsci #histmath
22 June 1864: the great mathematician Hermann Minkowski was born.
He developed a new view of space & time, coupled together in a four-dimensional space-time continuum, known as the "Minkowski spacetime".⚛️🧪🔭
mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/...
#histsci #histmath
June 22, 2026 at 6:52 PM
1/6
22 June 1864: the great mathematician Hermann Minkowski was born.
He developed a new view of space & time, coupled together in a four-dimensional space-time continuum, known as the "Minkowski spacetime".⚛️🧪🔭
mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/...
#histsci #histmath
22 June 1864: the great mathematician Hermann Minkowski was born.
He developed a new view of space & time, coupled together in a four-dimensional space-time continuum, known as the "Minkowski spacetime".⚛️🧪🔭
mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/...
#histsci #histmath
SAHMS has a bluesky account and a CFP? That's right!
More information about the CFP and abstract submissions at www.sahms.net
#histmed #histsci #histpsych #histmath
More information about the CFP and abstract submissions at www.sahms.net
#histmed #histsci #histpsych #histmath
September 24, 2024 at 4:36 PM
SAHMS has a bluesky account and a CFP? That's right!
More information about the CFP and abstract submissions at www.sahms.net
#histmed #histsci #histpsych #histmath
More information about the CFP and abstract submissions at www.sahms.net
#histmed #histsci #histpsych #histmath
A ponderosa pinecone’s bracts form a beautiful symmetrical pattern of 13 counterclockwise & 8 clockwise spirals. It’s no coincidence they’re both Fibonacci numbers. As the bracts grow they form at an angle from each other that optimizes sunlight exposure; an irrational value (φ) guarantees it.
My 📷
My 📷
January 18, 2026 at 3:01 PM
A ponderosa pinecone’s bracts form a beautiful symmetrical pattern of 13 counterclockwise & 8 clockwise spirals. It’s no coincidence they’re both Fibonacci numbers. As the bracts grow they form at an angle from each other that optimizes sunlight exposure; an irrational value (φ) guarantees it.
My 📷
My 📷
1/15
In 1873, in his 'A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism' (Section 113), Maxwell paused on a precise question:
how many “equilibrium points” can the electric field⚛️ generated by a finite number of point charges have?🧪
#mathematics #physics #HistSci #HistMath #Mathsky
In 1873, in his 'A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism' (Section 113), Maxwell paused on a precise question:
how many “equilibrium points” can the electric field⚛️ generated by a finite number of point charges have?🧪
#mathematics #physics #HistSci #HistMath #Mathsky
August 3, 2026 at 5:10 PM
1/15
In 1873, in his 'A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism' (Section 113), Maxwell paused on a precise question:
how many “equilibrium points” can the electric field⚛️ generated by a finite number of point charges have?🧪
#mathematics #physics #HistSci #HistMath #Mathsky
In 1873, in his 'A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism' (Section 113), Maxwell paused on a precise question:
how many “equilibrium points” can the electric field⚛️ generated by a finite number of point charges have?🧪
#mathematics #physics #HistSci #HistMath #Mathsky