MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
URL: http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk:80/~history/
Review by L.D. Steele.
Reprinted from the EdRes mailing list.
Description:
This award-winning site is dedicated to providing biographies of mathematicians throughout the ages. As of late March 1997 the site contained 1162 biographies, as well as 626 "portraits" and over 28 MB of material.
The biographies are indexed chronologically and by name. The MacTutor site also allows viewers to click on various locations of a map to find biographies by birthplace. The length of the biographies range from about four paragraphs to multiple pages. Other features of the site include a search engine, links to other math sites, a chronology, and Java enhanced information on famous curves (history, definition, discoverer, applications and references). The creators of the site have also compiled a list of historical topics such as "Pi through the ages", "Fermat's last theorem" and the "Mathematical discovery of planets".Evaluation:
This site is a very rich source of information for anyone interested in learning more about a particular mathematician. Each biography contains a bibliographical list of references used to compile the information contained in the biography and links to other web sites on the mathematician if they are available.
One aspect of the site that I found very interesting would be of interest to Physicists, Astronomers and Mathematicians. Essays on these historical topics detail not only a listing of the dates behind significant discoveries but some of the politics and conflicts that can occur in scientific research. These essays are well written and contain links to all of the mathematicians mentioned for easy access to more detailed personal information. The MacTutor site has a minimum of graphics. Despite this fact, download times varied. Nevertheless, the site is very valuable for integrating history into Mathematics, Physics or General Science classrooms.
DISCLAIMER: We do our best to verify the information in C-EDRES posts, but we do not guarantee accuracy nor agree with every opinion expressed. Please report inaccuracies to C-EDRES-request@unb.ca. For questions about this resource, please contact the site, not C-EDRES.
Copyright © 1997 the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.
Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364
TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - APRIL 25, 1997.
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