Michael Sean Mahoney
Michael Sean Mahoney (June 30, 1939 – July 23, 2008) was a historian of science.
Mahoney was born in New York City, and did his undergraduate studies at Harvard University, graduating in 1960. He earned a Ph.D. in history and history of science from Princeton University in 1967, and immediately took a position as an assistant professor there. He remained at Princeton for over 40 years, until his death in 2008.[1][2][3]
A conference on the history of science and technology was held in his honor at Princeton in May 2009.[4]
Fermat biography
Mahoney's biography of Pierre de Fermat received much critical attention[5][6][7] including a scathing review by André Weil in 1973.[8][9][10] A second edition of Mahoney's book came out in 1994.
Reception
In an endorsement letter to Mahoney for his book, Scientist as Subject, Albert Ellis wrote: "you have done a beautiful job of exposing some of the fallibilities of scientists and I certainly hope that the book has a very wide and influential readership." Ellis later wrote in his autobiography that although the book did not attain many readers it was a major influence on Ellis.[11]
Selected publications
- Mahoney, Michael Sean, The mathematical career of Pierre de Fermat. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1973. xviii+419 pp.
- Mahoney, Michael Sean, The mathematical career of Pierre de Fermat, 1601–1665. Second edition. Princeton Paperbacks. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1994. xxii+432 pp. ISBN 0-691-03666-7
- Mahoney, Michael S., Barrow's mathematics: between ancients and moderns. Before Newton, 179–249, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1990.
- Mahoney, Michael S., Die Anfänge der algebraischen Denkweise im 17. Jahrhundert. (German) RETE 1 (1971/72), no. 1, 15–31.
References
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- ↑ William Aspray, "Michael Sean Mahoney (1939-2008)", IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol.36, no. 3, pp. 70-79, July-Sept. 2014, doi:10.1109/MAHC.2014.41
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External links
- Michael S. Mahoney papers. Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota. 38 boxes of Mahoney's books and serials related to the history of computing, mathematics, and related fields; and 17 boxes of Mahoney's archival materials, including course work, subject files, and publication drafts.
