The International Commission on the History of Mathematics was established in 1971 to promote the study of

history of mathematics The history of mathematics deals with the origin of discoveries in mathematics and the mathematical methods and notation of the past. Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of knowledge, written examples of new mathematical developments ...

Kenneth O. May Kenneth O. May (July 8, 1915, in Portland, Oregon – December 1977, in Toronto) was an American mathematician and historian of mathematics, who developed May's theorem. May was a prime mover behind the International Commission on the History of ...

provided its initial impetus. In 1974, its official journal

Historia Mathematica ''Historia Mathematica: International Journal of History of Mathematics'' is an academic journal on the history of mathematics published by Elsevier. It was established by Kenneth O. May in 1971 as the free newsletter ''Notae de Historia Mathemat ...

began publishing. Every four years the Commission bestows the Kenneth O. May Medal upon a deserving historian of mathematics. In 1981, in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, the first in a series of symposia was held in conjunction with the

International Congress of History of Science The International Union of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology is one of the members of the International Science Council (ISC). It was founded in 1955 by merging the ''International Union of History of Science'' (IUHS) and the ''Inter ...

. In 1985, the ICHM became an inter-union commission of both the

International Mathematical Union The International Mathematical Union (IMU) is an international non-governmental organization devoted to international cooperation in the field of mathematics across the world. It is a member of the International Science Council (ISC) and supports ...

and the

International Union of History and Philosophy of Science The International Union of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology is one of the members of the International Science Council (ISC). It was founded in 1955 by merging the ''International Union of History of Science'' (IUHS) and the ''Inter ...

. In 1989 the first Kenneth O. May prize was awarded to

Dirk Struik Dirk Jan Struik (September 30, 1894 – October 21, 2000) was a Dutch-born American (since 1934) mathematician, historian of mathematics and Marxian theoretician who spent most of his life in the U.S. Life Dirk Jan Struik was born in 189 ...

and Adolf P. Yushkevich.

Joseph Dauben Joseph Warren Dauben (born 29 December 1944, Santa Monica) is a Herbert H. Lehman Distinguished Professor of History at the CUNY Graduate Center, Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He obtained his PhD from Harvard University. H ...

became chair of the executive committee of the ICHM in 1985 and proceeded to assemble the global contributions from 40 historians for the 2002 publication ''Writing the History of Mathematics: Its Historical Development'', published by Birkhäuser. In his review, Donald Cook noted, "Because the book is not designed to completely explore issues, it may raise questions for readers." The ICHM began awarding the Montucla Prize, for the best article by an early career scholar in ''Historia Mathematica'', in 2009. The award is given every four years.

References

External links

ICHM official website

A Brief History of the International Commission on the History of Mathematics
from

. {{International mathematical activities Mathematical societies International scientific organizations Scientific organizations established in 1971 History of science organizations