Karine Chemla (born 8 February 1957) is a French

historian of mathematics The history of mathematics deals with the origin of discoveries in mathematics and the History of mathematical notation, mathematical methods and notation of the past. Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of knowledge, written examples ...

and

sinologist Sinology, also referred to as China studies, is a subfield of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on China. It is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of the Chinese civilizatio ...

who works as a director of research at the

Centre national de la recherche scientifique The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...

(CNRS). She is also a senior fellow at the

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

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

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 2019.

Education

Chemla studied at

Paris Diderot University Paris Diderot University, also known as Paris 7 (), 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 1970. Paris Diderot merged with Pari ...

and the École normale supérieure de jeunes filles, earning an

agrégation In France, the () is the most competitive and prestigious examination for civil service in the French public education A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all stu ...

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 (; ; 28 May 2003) was a Belgian physical chemist of Russian-Jewish origin, noted for his work on dissipative structures, complex systems, and irreversibility. Prigogine's work most notably earned him the 19 ...

, 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 () 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 located in north of Paris, in the munici ...

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

Contributions

Chemla's research interests include

Chinese mathematics Mathematics emerged independently in China 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, binary and base 10, decima ...

, 19th century French

geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...

, 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 ''The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art'' is a Chinese mathematics book, composed by several generations of scholars from the 10th–2nd century BCE, its latest stage being from the 1st century CE. This book is one of the earliest surviving ...

''. 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 An invitation system is a method of encouraging people to join an organization, such as a Club (organization), club or a website. In regular society, it refers to any system whereby new members are chosen; they cannot simply apply. In relation to w ...

in 1998. She became a member of the

Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (), in short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded on 1 January 1652, based on academic models in Italy, it was originally named the ''Academi ...

in 2004, of the

International Academy of the History of Science The International Academy of the History of Science () is a membership organization for historians of science. The Academy was founded on 17 August 1928 at the Congress of Historical Science by Aldo Mieli, Abel Rey, George Sarton, Henry E. Sig ...

in 2005, and of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

in 2013. In 2013–2014 she was the holder of the Sarton Chair of History of Science at

Ghent University Ghent University (, abbreviated as UGent) is a Public university, public research university located in Ghent, in the East Flanders province of Belgium. Located in Flanders, Ghent University is the second largest Belgian university, consisting o ...

. She served as president of the European Society for the History of Science 2014–2016. She is the 2020 winner of the Otto Neugebauer Prize and the 2021 winner of the

LMS-BSHM Hirst Prize The Hirst Prize and Lectureship is a biennial prize, jointly awarded by the London Mathematical Society (LMS) and the British Society for the History of Mathematics (BSHM). The prize recognises original and innovative contributions to the history o ...

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