A K Peters, Ltd. was a publisher of scientific and technical books, specializing in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and in

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...

robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...

, and other fields of

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

. They published the journals ''

Experimental Mathematics Experimental mathematics is an approach to mathematics in which computation is used to investigate mathematical objects and identify properties and patterns. It has been defined as "that branch of mathematics that concerns itself ultimately with th ...

'' and the ''

Journal of Graphics Tools The ''Journal of Computer Graphics Techniques'' is a diamond open-access peer-reviewed scientific journal covering computer graphics. It was established in May 2012 when a large part of the editorial board resigned from the now-defunct '' Journ ...

'', as well as mathematics books geared to children.

Background

Klaus Peters wrote a doctoral dissertation on

complex manifold In differential geometry and complex geometry, a complex manifold is a manifold with an atlas of charts to the open unit disc in \mathbb^n, such that the transition maps are holomorphic. The term complex manifold is variously used to mean a ...

s at the

University of Erlangen A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

in 1962, supervised by

Reinhold Remmert Reinhold Remmert (22 June 1930 – 9 March 2016) was a German mathematician. Born in Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, he studied mathematics, mathematical logic and physics in Münster. He established and developed the theory of complex-analytic ...

. He then joined

Springer Verlag Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 i ...

, becoming their first specialist mathematics editor. As a Springer director from 1971, he hired Alice Merker for Springer New York: they were married that year, and moved to

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...

. Leaving Springer, they founded

Birkhäuser Birkhäuser was a Swiss publisher founded in 1879 by Emil Birkhäuser. It was acquired by Springer Science+Business Media in 1985. Today it is an imprint used by two companies in unrelated fields: * Springer continues to publish science (particu ...

Boston in 1979; Birkhäuser ran into financial difficulties, and was taken over by Springer. Klaus and Alice then spent a period running a Boston office for

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Harcourt () was an American publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. The company was last based in San Diego, California, with editorial/sales/marketing/rights offices in New York City ...

and their imprint

Academic Press Academic Press (AP) is an academic book publisher founded in 1941. It was acquired by Harcourt, Brace & World in 1969. Reed Elsevier bought Harcourt in 2000, and Academic Press is now an imprint of Elsevier. Academic Press publishes refer ...

. With the takeover of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich by General Cinema Corporation, the couple then found funding from

Elwyn Berlekamp Elwyn Ralph Berlekamp (September 6, 1940 – April 9, 2019) was a professor of mathematics and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley.Contributors, ''IEEE Transactions on Information Theory'' 42, #3 (May 1996), p. 1048. DO1 ...

to start their own company.

Company history

The company was founded in November 1992 by Alice and Klaus Peters,Mays, Allison P. and Long, John (2001) "Publisher Profile: A.K. Peters, Ltd.,"Against the Grain: Vol. 13: Iss. 3, Article 18. DOI:https://doi.org/10.7771/2380-176X.3498 and maintained as a privately held corporation by the Peters. In 2006 William Randolph Hearst III and

David Mumford David Bryant Mumford (born 11 June 1937) is an American mathematician known for his work in algebraic geometry and then for research into vision and pattern theory. He won the Fields Medal and was a MacArthur Fellow. In 2010 he was awarded t ...

joined the board. According to Robert J. Lang, who published with them a book on

origami ) is the Japanese art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a f ...

and mathematics, A K Peters "was a business, but first and foremost

laus Laus may refer to: * Laüs, an ancient city on the west coast of Lucania * Laus River, a river of southern Italy * Paul Laus (born 1970), former professional ice hockey player * Beatrice Kristi Laus (born 2000), Filipino-British singer-songwriter ...

really wanted to create books that were works of art."Bryan Marquard
Klaus Peters, 77; publisher of mathematical books

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

, August 4, 2014 The ''

Encyclopedia of the Consumer Movement The ''Encyclopedia of the Consumer Movement'' is a 1997 encyclopedia edited by Stephen Brobeck and which describes the history of the consumer movement The consumer movement is an effort to promote consumer protection through an organized soc ...

'' noted A K Peters as "a small publisher who enjoys a fine reputation in Mathematics". In 2010, A K Peters was acquired by

CRC Press The CRC Press, LLC is an American publishing group that specializes in producing technical books. Many of their books relate to engineering, science and mathematics. Their scope also includes books on business, forensics and information techn ...

, which is owned by

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in England that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, Routledge, F1000 Research or Dovepress. It is a division of Informa plc, a United Ki ...

. In January 2012, Taylor & Francis terminated the employment of Alice and Klaus Peters. On July 7, 2014, Klaus Peters died.

Topics

Experimental mathematics

In 1992 David Epstein, Klaus Peters and Silvio Levy set up the journal ''Experimental Mathematics'', with scope the use of computers in

pure mathematics Pure mathematics is the study of mathematical concepts independently of any application outside mathematics. These concepts may originate in real-world concerns, and the results obtained may later turn out to be useful for practical applications, ...

. At the time the ''

Notices of the American Mathematical Society ''Notices of the American Mathematical Society'' is the membership journal of the American Mathematical Society (AMS), published monthly except for the combined June/July issue. The first volume appeared in 1953. Each issue of the magazine sinc ...

'' was running a "Computers and Mathematics" section, launched in 1988. The particular focus of the "experimental mathematics" included in the journal was the computer-assisted development of

mathematical conjecture In mathematics, a conjecture is a conclusion or a proposition that is proffered on a tentative basis without proof. Some conjectures, such as the Riemann hypothesis (still a conjecture) or Fermat's Last Theorem (a conjecture until proven in ...

s. The traditional context in pure mathematics was that "journals only publish theorems"; in this area A K Peters innovated. Klaus Peters had a particular interest in

visualization Visualization or visualisation may refer to: * Visualization (graphics), the physical or imagining creation of images, diagrams, or animations to communicate a message * Data visualization, the graphic representation of data * Information visuali ...

for experimentation in low-dimensional geometry. The ''

'' was published by A K Peters from 1996, after an approach from Andrew Glassner, then with

Microsoft Research Microsoft Research (MSR) is the research subsidiary of Microsoft. It was created in 1991 by Richard Rashid, Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold with the intent to advance state-of-the-art computing and solve difficult world problems through technolog ...

. They also published the journal ''Internet Mathematics'' from its 2003 founding by Fan Chung until the acquisition of the publisher by Taylor & Francis. A K Peters, with the participation of

Jonathan Borwein Jonathan Michael Borwein (20 May 1951 – 2 August 2016) was a Scottish mathematician who held an appointment as Laureate Professor of mathematics at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He was a close associate of David H. Bailey, and the ...

, published as books three collective works on

experimental mathematics Experimental mathematics is an approach to mathematics in which computation is used to investigate mathematical objects and identify properties and patterns. It has been defined as "that branch of mathematics that concerns itself ultimately with th ...

: ''Mathematics by Experiment'' and ''Experimentation in Mathematics'' in 2004, and ''Experimental Mathematics in Action'' (2007). Klaus Peters suggested a further book, ''The Computer as Crucible: An Introduction to Experimental Mathematics'' (2008), authored by Borwein and

Keith Devlin Keith J. Devlin (born 16 March 1947) is a British mathematician and popular science writer. Since 1987 he has lived in the United States. He has dual British-American citizenship.

Combinatorial game theory

Another topic frequently published by A K Peters, sparked by the interest of backer

, was

combinatorial game theory Combinatorial game theory is a branch of mathematics and theoretical computer science that typically studies sequential games with perfect information. Study has been largely confined to two-player games that have a ''position'' that the player ...

. Their books in this area included ''Mathematical Go: Chilling Gets the Last Point'' (1994), ''The Dots and Boxes Game: Sophisticated Child's Play'' (2000), ''Hex Strategy: Making the Right Connections'' (2001), '' Winning Ways for your Mathematical Plays'' (in four volumes, 2001–2004, 2nd edition, after the original two-volume edition by Academic Press in 1982), ''Connection Games: Variations on a Theme'' (2005), ''Lessons in Play: An Introduction to Combinatorial Game Theory'' (2007), and '' Games, Puzzles, and Computation'' (2009).Reviews of ''Games, Puzzles, and Computation'': Oswin Aichholzer, ''Int. Math. Nachrichten''

Liljana Babinkostova, ; Leon Harkleroad, MAA Reviews

Joseph O'Rourke, ''SIAM Review'',

References

External links

Company web site
(now redirects to CRC Press)

—blog post by

{{Authority control Companies based in Natick, Massachusetts Book publishing companies based in Massachusetts Publishing companies established in 1992