Georges Ifrah (1947 – 1 November 2019) was a teacher of

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 ...

, a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and a self-taught

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

, especially

numerals A numeral is a figure, symbol, or group of figures or symbols denoting a number. It may refer to: * Numeral system used in mathematics * Numeral (linguistics), a part of speech denoting numbers (e.g. ''one'' and ''first'' in English) * Numerical d ...

. His work, ''From One to Zero: A Universal History of Numbers'' (1985, 1994) was translated into multiple languages, became an international bestseller, and was included in ''

American Scientist __NOTOC__ ''American Scientist'' (informally abbreviated ''AmSci'') is an American bimonthly science and technology magazine published since 1913 by Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. In the beginning of 2000s the headquarters was in ...

s list of "100 or so Books that shaped a Century of Science", referring to the 20th century. Despite popular acclaim, it has been broadly criticized by scholars.C. Philipp E. Nothaft: ''Medieval Europe’s satanic ciphers: on the genesis of a modern myth.'' British Journal for the History of Mathematics 35, 2020, doi:10.1080/26375451.2020.1726050.

Publications

Several books devoted to numbers and history of numbers and number related topics including: * 1981: ''Histoire Universelle des Chiffres'' (Paris) ** English translation (1985): ''From one to zero. A universal history of numbers'' transl. by Lowell Bair. New York: Viking Penguin Inc. XVI, 503 pages. (

Zentralblatt zbMATH Open, formerly Zentralblatt MATH, is a major reviewing service providing reviews and abstracts for articles in pure and applied mathematics, produced by the Berlin office of FIZ Karlsruhe – Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastruct ...

review
0589.01001
"It is the richness in documents from both primitive and advanced cultures, which makes this publication unique. �� number of authors mentioned in the text are not cited in this bibliography. And in many cases the sources of illustrations remain anonymous".) ** German translation (1986): ''Universalgeschichte der Zahlen'' transl. by Alexander von Platen. Frankfurt/New York: Campus Verlag. 580 pages. (

revie
0606.01023
) ** German translation (1989): ''Universalgeschichte der Zahlen''. 600 pages. (Additional introduction and indices.) (

review
0686.01001
) ** Italian translation (1983): ''Storia universale dei numeri''. Milano: Mondadori. 585 pages. * 1985: ''Les chiffres ou l'histoire d'une grande invention''

Robert Laffont The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

** "The history of numbers or the history of a great discovery" (abridged version? ≈260 pages) ** Polish translation (1990): ''Dzieje liczby czyli historia wielkiego wynalazku'' translated by Stanisław Hartman. Wrocław: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich-Wydawnictwo Polskiej Akademii Nauk (Ossolineum). 260 pages. . (

review
0758.01017
) * 1994: ''Histoire universelle des chiffres'', 2nd edition. (Seghers, puis ''Bouquins'',

, 1994 ** Now in two volumes: Vol I 633 pages (

review
0955.01002
, Vol II 412 pages (

review
0969.68001
. ** Norwegian translation (1997): ''All verdens tall. Tallenes kulturhistorie. I, II''. Translated by Anne Falken, Guri Haarr, Margrethe Kvarenes and Svanhild Solløs. Oslo: Pax Forlag. 1284 p. (1997). (set); (vol.1); (vol.2). (

review
0933.01001
** English translation (1998): ''Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer''. Translated by David Bellos, E.F. Harding, Sophie Wood and Ian Monk. Harville Press, London, 1998 (). *** American edition of English tr., Volume 1 (2000): The Universal History of Numbers: From prehistory to the invention of the computer. Translated by David Bellos, E.F. Harding, Sophie Wood and Ian Monk. John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2000. *** American edition of English tr, Volume 2 (2001): ''The Universal History of Computing: From the Abacus to the Quantum Computer'' with E. F. Harding. John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2001, (softcover) and (hardcover).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ifrah, Georges French historians of mathematics 20th-century French historians 1947 births 2019 deaths French male non-fiction writers