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 History of mathematical notation, mathematical methods and notation of the past. Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of knowledge, written examples ...

Life and work

Scriba was born in

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

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

calculus Calculus 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 generalizations of arithmetic operations. Originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the ...

with Joseph Ehrenfried Hofmann, 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 (; ; ) was an English clergyman and mathematician, who is given partial credit for the development of infinitesimal calculus. Between 1643 and 1689 Wallis served as chief cryptographer for Parliament and, later, the royal court. ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

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 University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

, the

University of Massachusetts The University of Massachusetts is the Public university, public university system of the Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes six campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, University of Massachusetts Lowell ...

and at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

from 1959 to 1962. He became chairman of

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...

'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 (, also referred to as UHH) is a public university, public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('':de:Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen, ...

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

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 () 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 ...

, and since 1995 the Göttingen Academy of Sciences. 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 Eberhard Knobloch (born 6 November 1943) is a German historian of science and historian of mathematics, mathematics. Career Knobloch was born in Görlitz. From 1962 to 1967 he studied classics and mathematics at FU Berlin and Technische Uni ...

. He died in July 2013 in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

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 publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

Literature

Joseph W. Dauben Joseph Warren Dauben (born December 29, 1944, Santa Monica, California, Santa Monica) is a Herbert H. Lehman Distinguished Professor of History at the CUNY Graduate Center, Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He obtained his PhD f ...

(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 launched a British division in the 1950s. Academic Press was acquired by Harcourt, Brace & World in 1969. Reed Elsevier said in 2000 it would buy Harcourt, a deal complete ...

, . * 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 Academic staff of the University of Toronto Academic staff of the University of Hamburg Academic staff of Technische Universität Berlin