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MAA Writing Awards
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The Centrality of Mathematics in the History of Western Thought
Award: Carl B. Allendoerfer
Year of Award: 1989
Publication Information: Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 61, (1988), pp.220-230.
Summary: The interplay of mathematics and philosophy in Western thought and applications to other fields.
About the Author: (from Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 61 (1988)) Judith V. Grabiner, who benefited from the history, philosophy, and literature of the storied Chicago General Education program while getting her bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Chicago, received her Ph.D. in the History of Science from Harvard in 1966. In teaching the history of mathematics, and mathematics for non-majors, she has developed the approach reflected in this article. She has edited the Book Review department of Historia Mathematica, chaired the Southern California section of the Mathematical Association of America, and written The Origins of Cauchy's Rigorous Calculus (MIT, 1981). Dr. Grabiner is now Professor of Mathematics at Pitzer College in Claremont, California.