Research

Education

Research Interests

History of mathematics and mechanics; analysis from 1700, in particular the calculus of variations; foundations of mathematics; Leonhard Euler, Jean d'Alembert, Joseph Louis Lagrange, Augustin Cauchy, William Rowan Hamilton, Carl Gustav Jacobi, Adolph Mayer, Karl Weierstrass, Henri Poincaré. Classification of mathematical knowledge, LC, MSC. Modern cosmology, interactions of theoretical and observational cosmology 1900-1965.

Editorial Work

Editor, Archive for History of Exact Sciences and Associate editor, Historia Mathematica. Past work: Consulting editor, New Dictionary of Scientific Biography (2008), Editor, Historia Mathematica (2000-2006) ; Mathematics editor, The History of Modern Science and Mathematics Volumes 1-4 (2002).

Reviewing

Published reviews for Mathematical Reviews, Annals of Science, Isis, CSHPM/SCHPM Bulletin, Canadian Mathematical Society Notes, British Journal for the History of Mathematics, The Journal of Modern History. Referee for Archive for History of Exact Sciences, Notices of the American Mathematical Society, Historia Mathematica, Research in History and Philosophy of Mathematics, ISKO Encyclopedia of Knowledge Organization, British Journal for the History of Mathematics, Philosophy of Science.

Professional Associations

Past President, Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Mathematics

Treasurer (2023-), Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Mathematics

Past Chair International Commission on the History of Mathematics

Elected Member (effective), International Academy of the History of Science

American Mathematical Society

Projects

History of the calculus of variations 1700-1917; concept of integral in Euler's analysis; history of complex analysis; foundations of Euclidean geometry; conceptual foundations of analysis; Hamilton-Jacobi theory; celestial dynamics since Laplace; relativistic cosmology in the 1920s and 1930s, relationship of observational and theoretical cosmology; classification of mathematics, MSC, LC; history of mathematics in Canada