Christoph J. Scriba (6 October 1929 – 26 July 2013) was a German

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

Life and work

Scriba was born in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse ...

and studied at ''Justus-Liebig-University Giessen''. He read James Gregory's early writings on the

calculus Calculus, originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the calculus of infinitesimals", is the mathematics, mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizati ...

with

Joseph Ehrenfried Hofmann Joseph Ehrenfried Hofmann (* 7 March 1900 in Munich, † 7 May 1973 in Günzburg ) was a German historian of mathematics, known for his research on Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Life and work After graduating from high school in 1919 at the Wilhel ...

, and was awarded his doctorate in 1957. Continuing with J.E. Hofmann, and with Bernard Sticker, he investigated the papers of

John Wallis John Wallis (; la, Wallisius; ) was an English clergyman and mathematician who is given partial credit for the development of infinitesimal calculus. Between 1643 and 1689 he served as chief cryptographer for Parliament and, later, the royal ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1966, contributing to ''Studies on the Mathematics of John Wallis''. Scriba then taught at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

, the

University of Massachusetts The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...

and at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

from 1959 to 1962. He became chairman of

Technical University of Berlin The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...

's department of History of Mathematics in 1969. Then in 1975 he became Professor of History of Natural Science and Mathematics at the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vo ...

and Director of the Institute until he retired in 1995. His successor there was

Karin Reich Karin Anna Reich is a German historian of mathematics. Career From 1967 to 1973 Reich was a scientific assistant at the Research Institute of the Deutsches Museum in Munich and the Institute for the History of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at ...

. Scriba was on the Executive Committee of the

International Commission on the History of Mathematics The International Commission on the History of Mathematics was established in 1971 to promote the study of history of mathematics. Kenneth O. May provided its initial impetus. In 1974, its official journal Historia Mathematica began publishing. E ...

and its president from 1977 to 1985. He was a member of Jungius company in Hamburg, the Leopoldina, the

International Academy of the History of Science The International Academy of the History of Science (french: Académie Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences) is a membership organization for historians of science. The academy was founded on 17 August 1928 at the Congress of Historical Science b ...

, and since 1995 the

Göttingen Academy of Sciences Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The or ...

. In 1993 he was awarded the

Kenneth O. May Prize Kenneth O. May Prize and Medal in history of mathematics is an award of the International Commission on the History of Mathematics (ICHM) "for the encouragement and promotion of the history of mathematics internationally". It was established in 19 ...

of the ICHM. He was the doctorate advisor of Eberhard Knobloch. He died in July 2013 in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

Writings

* 1966: ''Studies on the mathematics of John Wallis (1616–1703): Angular divisions, combining theory and number theory problems''. Appendix: the books and manuscripts of Valais . Wiesbaden (habilitation) * 1968: ''The Concept of Number: A chapter in the history of mathematics, with applications of interest to teachers'', BI university paperback * 2003: (editor with Philip Beeley) ''The Correspondence of John Wallis'', volume 1 (1641 to 59), 2005: volume 2 (1660 to September 1668), 2012: volume 3 (October 1668 to 71)

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

Literature

* Joseph W. Dauben (and other editors) (1996) ''History of mathematics. State of the Art Flores quadrivii. Studies in Honor of Christoph J. Scriba'',

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 ...

, . * Joseph Dauben (2002) ''Writing the History of Mathematics—its historic development'', Birkhauser * Peter Schreiber (2004) ''Geometry 5000 years – history, culture, people'', Springer * Edward Seidler, Wieland Berg (Editors) (1995) ''The Elite of the Nation in the Third Reich – The ratio of scientific academies and their environment to Nazism'', Leopoldina symposium, Hall

References

External links

Homepage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scriba, Christoph 20th-century German mathematicians German historians of mathematics 1929 births 2013 deaths German historians of philosophy 21st-century German mathematicians 20th-century German historians 21st-century German historians University of Giessen alumni University of Toronto faculty Academic staff of the University of Hamburg Academic staff of the Technical University of Berlin