John Fauvel (21 July 1947 – 12 May 2001) was a British mathematician and historian of mathematics.

Education

Fauvel was from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, where his father was a principal, and he attended

Trinity College, Glenalmond Glenalmond College is a co-educational independent boarding school in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, for children aged between 12 and 18 years. It is situated on the River Almond near the village of Methven, about west of the city of Perth. T ...

. He then studied mathematics at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...

, where he graduated in 1970, and at the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

, where he obtained his master's degree in 1973. In 1977, he obtained his

MPhil The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

from the University of Warwick under the supervision of David Orme Tall, with a thesis entitled ''Fuzzy Theory''.

Career

From 1974, Fauvel worked at the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

, as a professor from 1979. From 1991 to 1994, he was President of the

British Society for the History of Mathematics The British Society for the History of Mathematics (BSHM) was founded in 1971 to promote research into the history of mathematics at all levels and to further the use of the history of mathematics in education. The BSHM is concerned with all peri ...

and he also published its newsletter. From 1992 to 1996, he directed an international study group on the relations between history and mathematics pedagogy, which is affiliated with the International Commission for Mathematical Education (ICMI), and in 2000 he co-directed a major study of ICMI. In 1998, he was invited lecturer by the

New Zealand Mathematical Society The New Zealand Mathematical Society is a New Zealand based learned society of mathematicians. It is listed by the Royal Society of New Zealand as the affiliate organisation responsible for mathematics research, and by the International Mathematical ...

. Fauvel was a visiting scholar in the Mathematics Department at

Colorado College Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduates at its campus. The college offer ...

on several occasions, including one on a

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

during the Winter and Spring of 1999. Fauvel died on 12 May 2001, from complications of liver disease.

Publications

Fauvel is known as the author of books on the

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 ...

, several of which have been translated. * . * * * * With

Jeremy Gray Jeremy John Gray (born 25 April 1947) is an English mathematician primarily interested in the history of mathematics. Biography Gray studied mathematics at Oxford University from 1966 to 1969, and then at Warwick University, obtaining his Ph.D ...

: ''The history of mathematics: A reader''. Macmillan, 1987, * ''Mathematics through history – a source book''. Livres QED. * With Bengt Johansson, Frank Swetz, Otto Bekken, and

Victor J. Katz Victor Joseph Katz (born 31 December 1942, Philadelphia) is an American mathematician, historian of mathematics, and teacher known for using the history of mathematics in teaching mathematics. Biography Katz received in 1963 from Princeton Unive ...

Learn from the Masters
MAA, 1994. *

References

External links

* . 1947 births 2001 deaths 20th-century Scottish mathematicians People educated at Glenalmond College Alumni of the University of Essex Alumni of the University of Warwick Academics of the Open University British historians of mathematics {{UK-mathematician-stub