Joan Livingston Richards (born 1948) is an American

historian 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 ...

and a professor of history at Brown University, where she directs the Program of Science and Technology Studies.

Education and career

Richards graduated '' magna cum laude'' from Radcliffe College in 1971. She completed a Ph.D. in the history of science at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1981. Her dissertation, ''Non-Euclidean Geometry In Nineteenth-century England: A Study of Changing Perceptions of Mathematical Truth'', was supervised by

I. Bernard Cohen I. Bernard Cohen (1 March 1914 – 20 June 2003) was the Victor S. Thomas Professor of the history of science at Harvard University and the author of many books on the history of science and, in particular, Isaac Newton and Benjamin Franklin. C ...

. After postdoctoral research at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

, she joined the Brown University faculty in 1982, and was promoted to full professor in 2001.

Books

Richards is the author of the monograph ''Mathematical Visions: The Pursuit of Geometry in Victorian England'' (Academic Press, 1988) and of a memoir on her struggle to balance her academic work with caring for a son with a brain tumor, ''Angles of Reflection: Logic and a Mother's Love'' (W. H. Freeman, 2000). She is the co-editor of ''The Invention of Physical Science: Intersections of Mathematics, Theology and Natural Philosophy since the Seventeenth Century, Essays in Honor of Erwin N. Hiebert'' (with

Mary Jo Nye Mary Jo Nye (born December 5, 1944) is an American historian of science and Horning Professor in the Humanities emerita of the History Department at Oregon State University. She is known for her work on the relationships between scientific discov ...

and Roger H. Stuewer, Kluwer, 1992).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Joan L. 1948 births Living people American historians 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians American women mathematicians American historians of mathematics Radcliffe College alumni Harvard University alumni Brown University faculty 20th-century American women 21st-century American women