Alice Louise Slotsky (née Weisfeld) was an American

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

Assyriologist Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , ''-logia'') is the archaeological, anthropological, and linguistic study of Assyria and the rest of ancient Mesopotamia (a region that encompassed what is now modern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southea ...

known for her studies of

Babylonian mathematics Babylonian mathematics (also known as ''Assyro-Babylonian mathematics'') are the mathematics developed or practiced by the people of Mesopotamia, from the days of the early Sumerians to the centuries following the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. Bab ...

and Babylonian accounting and for her popular courses at Brown University on the

Akkadian language Akkadian (, Akkadian: )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages''. Ed. Roger D. Woodard (2004, Cambridge) Pages 218-280 is an extinct East Semitic language th ...

Education and career

Slotsky did her undergraduate studies at

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United Sta ...

, majoring in economics, and continued as a graduate student of economics at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

. In 1959, she married Gordon J. Slotsky, who became a statistician in the aerospace industry. Many years later, she returned to graduate study in the history of mathematics at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, where she completed a Ph.D. in 1992 under the supervision of

Asger Aaboe Asger Hartvig Aaboe (26 April 1922 – 19 January 2007) was a historian of the exact sciences and of mathematics who is known for his contributions to the history of ancient Babylonian astronomy. In his studies of Babylonian astronomy, he went b ...

. Slotsky became a visiting associate professor in the department of history of mathematics at Brown University, led by

David Pingree David Edwin Pingree (January 2, 1933, New Haven, Connecticut – November 11, 2005, Providence, Rhode Island) was an American historian of mathematics in the ancient world. He was a University Professor and Professor of History of Mathemati ...

, where she taught the

beginning in 1999. Her course became "wildly popular", and through it she taught "more students than any previous Assyriologist". However, when Pingree died in 2005, the university shut down the department and shunted Slotsky off to an interim position in the classics department, where she taught for only two more years, before the Akkadian class was removed from that department as well. She died on June 13, 2023, in Providence, Rhode Island.

Books

Slotsky's 1992 doctoral dissertation became a 1997 book by the same title, ''The Bourse of Babylon: market quotations in the astronomical diaries of Babylonia'' (CDL Press). With Ronald Wallenfels, she also published a second book, ''Tallies and Trends: The Late Babylonian Commodity Price Lists'' (CDL Press, 2009). With Sarah C. Melville, she edited ''Opening the Tablet Box: Near Eastern Studies in Honor of Benjamin R. Foster'' (Brill, 2010).

Recognition

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the ...

in Slotsky's honor, ''From the Banks of the Euphrates: Studies in Honor of Alice Louise Slotsky'', was edited by Micah Ross and published by Eisenbrauns in 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slotsky, Alice Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Bryn Mawr College alumni New York University alumni Yale University alumni Brown University faculty 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians American women mathematicians American historians of mathematics American Assyriologists 20th-century American women 21st-century American women