Date/Time
Date(s) - 04/04/2025
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Speaker: Myron Groover (McMaster University)
Research area: Archives (mathematical holdings)

Location: Hamilton Hall, Room 305

Title: Whitehead, Wittgenstein, and the Witch of Agnesi: Mathematics in McMaster’s Rare Collections

Abstract: McMaster University holds a wealth of unique and irreplaceable primary sources adjacent to the history of mathematics. Most famous of these are the archives and personal library of Bertrand Russell — some 150 linear meters of records and 3,000 volumes, respectively — which trace Russell’s thought and relationships over the course of a long and rich intellectual life. His early studies in mathematics, collaboration with Alfred Whitehead on the Principia Mathematica, and long association with figures such as Ludwig Wittgenstein, Dorothy Wrinch, and Gottlob Frege are amply attested through extensive correspondence and working papers. This resource is complemented by the mathematical holdings of the William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections, which holds first editions of Maria Agnesi’s Instituzioni Analitiche, Emilie du Chatelet’s Institutions de Physique, Newton’s Opticks, and Galileo’s Dialogo among many other significant works adjacent to the history of mathematics. Join Myron Groover, McMaster’s Archives and Rare Books Librarian, for an exploration of these collections and their stories — both as pillars of mathematical history and as artefacts in their own right.

Coffee will be served in the same room, HH 305 at 3:00pm. All are welcome.