Karine Chemla (born in

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

February 8, 1957) is a French historian of mathematics and

sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...

who works as a director of research at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). She is also a senior fellow at the

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. She was elected a Member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 2019.

Education

Chemla studied at

Paris Diderot University Paris Diderot University, also known as Paris 7 (french: Université Paris Diderot), was a French university located in Paris, France. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 197 ...

and the École normale supérieure de jeunes filles, earning an

agrégation In France, the ''agrégation'' () is a competitive examination for civil service in the French public education system. Candidates for the examination, or ''agrégatifs'', become ''agrégés'' once they are admitted to the position of ''professe ...

in mathematics in 1978 and a diploma of advanced studies in 1979. At this time, her work was in pure mathematics. However, in 1980, influenced by the work of

Ilya Prigogine Viscount Ilya Romanovich Prigogine (; russian: Илья́ Рома́нович Приго́жин; 28 May 2003) was a physical chemist and Nobel laureate noted for his work on dissipative structures, complex systems, and irreversibility. Biogra ...

, she won a Singer–Polignac scholarship to travel to China and study the history of Chinese mathematics.. Returning to France, she earned her Ph.D. in the history of mathematics from

Paris 13 University Sorbonne Paris North University (french: Université Sorbonne Paris Nord) is a public university based in Paris, France. It is one of the thirteen universities that succeeded the University of Paris in 1968. It is a multidisciplinary university l ...

in 1982, and began working for CNRS at that time..

Contributions

Chemla's research interests include

Chinese mathematics Mathematics in China emerged independently by the 11th century BCE. The Chinese independently developed a real number system that includes significantly large and negative numbers, more than one numeral system ( base 2 and base 10), algebra, geomet ...

, 19th century French

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...

, and the theory of the history of mathematics.. With Guo Shuchun, Chemla published in 2004 a critical edition and translation into French of '' The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art''. She is also the co-editor, with Cécile Michel, of ''Mathematics, Administrative and Economic Activities in Ancient Worlds'' (Springer, 2020).

Recognition

Chemla was an

invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians This is a list of International Congresses of Mathematicians Plenary and Invited Speakers. Being invited to talk at an International Congress of Mathematicians has been called "the equivalent, in this community, of an induction to a hall of fame." ...

in 1998. She became a member of the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 2004, of the

International Academy of the History of Science The International Academy of the History of Science (french: Académie Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences) is a membership organization for historians of science. The academy was founded on 17 August 1928 at the Congress of Historical Science by ...

in 2005, and of the Academia Europaea in 2013. In 2013–2014 she was the holder of the Sarton Chair of History of Science at Ghent University. She is the 2020 winner of the Otto Neugebauer Prize.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chemla, Karine 1958 births Living people 20th-century French historians French historians of mathematics French sinologists Members of Academia Europaea Members of the American Philosophical Society 21st-century French historians Research directors of the French National Centre for Scientific Research