Michael Sean Mahoney (June 30, 1939 – July 23, 2008) was a

historian of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal. Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Mesop ...

. Mahoney was born in New York City, and did his undergraduate studies at Harvard University, graduating in 1960. He earned a Ph.D. in history and history of science from Princeton University in 1967, and immediately took a position as an assistant professor there. He remained at Princeton for over 40 years, until his death in 2008. A conference on the history of science and technology was held in his honor at Princeton in May 2009.

Fermat biography

Mahoney's biography of Pierre de Fermat received much critical attention including a scathing review by

André Weil André Weil (; ; 6 May 1906 – 6 August 1998) was a French mathematician, known for his foundational work in number theory and algebraic geometry. He was a founding member and the ''de facto'' early leader of the mathematical Bourbaki group. Th ...

in 1973.... A second edition of Mahoney's book came out in 1994.

Selected publications

*Mahoney, Michael Sean, The mathematical career of Pierre de Fermat. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1973. xviii+419 pp. *Mahoney, Michael Sean, The mathematical career of Pierre de Fermat, 1601–1665. Second edition. Princeton Paperbacks. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1994. xxii+432 pp. *Mahoney, Michael S., Barrow's mathematics: between ancients and moderns. Before Newton, 179–249, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1990. *Mahoney, Michael S., Die Anfänge der algebraischen Denkweise im 17. Jahrhundert. (German) RETE 1 (1971/72), no. 1, 15–31.

References

External links

Michael S. Mahoney papers

Charles Babbage Institute The IT History Society (ITHS) is an organization that supports the history and scholarship of information technology by encouraging, fostering, and facilitating archival and historical research. Formerly known as the Charles Babbage Foundation ...

, University of Minnesota. 38 boxes of Mahoney's books and serials related to the history of computing, mathematics, and related fields; and 17 boxes of Mahoney's archival materials, including course work, subject files, and publication drafts. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mahoney, Michael Sean 1939 births 2008 deaths Harvard University alumni Princeton University alumni Princeton University faculty Educators from New York City Historians from New York (state) Historians of science