William Wade Dunham (born 1947) is an American

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

who was originally trained in

topology In mathematics, topology (from the Greek language, Greek words , and ) is concerned with the properties of a mathematical object, geometric object that are preserved under Continuous function, continuous Deformation theory, deformations, such ...

but became interested in 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 ...

and specializes in

Leonhard Euler Leonhard Euler ( , ; 15 April 170718 September 1783) was a Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, geographer, logician and engineer who founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made pioneering and influential discoveries in ma ...

. He has received several awards for writing and teaching on this subject.

Education

Dunham received his BS from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

in 1969, his MS from

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

in 1970, and his PhD from the same institution in 1974.

Writings

Dunham won the American Association of Publishers' award for writing the Best Mathematics Book of 1994 for his book '' The Mathematical Universe''. In his book ''Euler: The Master of Us All'', he examines Leonhard Euler's impressive mathematical work. He received a

Lester R. Ford Award Lester is an ancient Anglo-Saxon surname and given name. Notable people and characters with the name include: People Given name * Lester Bangs (1948–1982), American music critic * Lester W. Bentley (1908–1972), American artist from Wisc ...

in 2006 for his expository article ''Touring the Calculus'', and the

Chauvenet Prize The Chauvenet Prize is the highest award for mathematical expository writing. It consists of a prize of $1,000 and a certificate, and is awarded yearly by the Mathematical Association of America in recognition of an outstanding expository article ...

in 2022 for his article ''The Early (and Peculiar) History of the Möbius Function''. In 2007, Dunham gave a lecture about Euler's product-sum formula and its relationship to

analytic number theory In mathematics, analytic number theory is a branch of number theory that uses methods from mathematical analysis to solve problems about the integers. It is often said to have begun with Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet's 1837 introduction of Diric ...

, as well as discussed Euler's evaluation of a non-trivial integral at the celebration of "Year of Euler" by the

Euler Society The Euler Society is an American group that is dedicated to the examination of the life and work of Leonhard Euler Leonhard Euler ( , ; 15 April 170718 September 1783) was a Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, geographer, logicia ...

. He published a chapter "Euler and the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra" in the book ''The Genius of Euler'' published in 2007 to commemorate the 300th birthday of Euler.

Works

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Footnotes

External links

*
William Dunham at Muhlenberg CollegeA Tribute to Euler, William Dunham, YouTubeYour humble Servant, Is. Newton by William Dunham - YouTubeYour humble Servant, Is. Newton, Mathematical Association of America
1947 births Living people American science writers University of Pittsburgh alumni Ohio State University alumni American historians of mathematics Muhlenberg College faculty {{US-mathematician-stub