Don't make me regret this ...

[e7_87@mathstodon.xyz]

@ColinTheMathmo why nearly all males

[colinthemathmo@mathstodon.xyz]

@e7_87 That's exactly part of the question I want to answer. At the moment, these are (regrettably still) the ones pushed by existing literature.

That's part of what I want to address. As I said:

"I'm interested in connecting science people with historical context, and pulling in non-(old dead white dude)s."

Especially from history, women are mostly missing, so it's especially important to include them, and I'm very keen to do so.

[suearcher@toot.wales]

@ColinTheMathmo

Ada Lovelace? Woman who did maths and 'computing', was also daughter of Byron, which links in the arts.

(having checked her Wiki, I see she also overcame childhood illness and disability)

[colinthemathmo@mathstodon.xyz]

@suearcher Excellent.

Also Sophie Germain, though few will have heard of her.

[colinthemathmo@mathstodon.xyz]

@e7_87 It's also worth noting that I am an old, Western, white dude, so my personal schooling had virtually no women mentioned, and virtually no people from Asia or the Middle East.

I now know more, but these are the things that come to my mind, and I want to make sure I influence the next generation as best I can to help prevent the bias to which I was exposed.

[e7_87@mathstodon.xyz]

@ColinTheMathmo If I were you, I will address events more than "celebrities". It takes a village to raise a child, so it should take a whole culture to raise those great(exceptionally creative) humans, whose works are sometimes supported by other gifted but less "famous" humans .

[robjlow@mathstodon.xyz]

@ColinTheMathmo Sofia Kowalewskaya maybe?

[colinthemathmo@mathstodon.xyz]

@e7_87 That's a great take ... I will definitely look at emphasising that.

Thank you!

[suearcher@toot.wales]

@ColinTheMathmo

Ah, yes, I had to look her up.

[colinthemathmo@mathstodon.xyz]

@suearcher This is part of the problem ... these people need to be better know, but even we need to look them up.

[e7_87@mathstodon.xyz]

@ColinTheMathmo And I think we could address to the kids [admit the fact...] that in pre-modern times, because most women are repressed/underprivileged, most ancient characters being described in history were males, but in 18xx/19xx/20xx, more and more females and some trans contribute exceptional work to the humanity.

[colinthemathmo@mathstodon.xyz]

Marie Curie
Rosalind Franklin
Ada Lovelace
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
Jocelyn Bell Burnell

3/n

[colinthemathmo@mathstodon.xyz]

To some extent, I'd like people in general, children in particular, to hear of someone, then be able to put them into context.

I think this is an impossible task, so in some senses I'm looking to see why and how it's impossible, perhaps then to decrease the scope and ambition, possibly to make something useful.

Eventually.

4/n, n=4

[colinthemathmo@mathstodon.xyz]

@futzle Very nice idea ... thank you !!

CC: @e7_87

[colinthemathmo@mathstodon.xyz]

@futzle A bit like William and Caroline Herschel.

CC: @e7_87

[robjlow@mathstodon.xyz]

@ColinTheMathmo also Mary Cartwright, a first in many ways, not nearly as well known as she deserves to be.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Cartwright

[kat@is.burntout.org]

@ColinTheMathmo

Emmy Noether ?

[e7_87@mathstodon.xyz]

@ColinTheMathmo Oh I keep getting "pop" sounds from Mastodon... This is a hot thread.
---
For ancient mathematics, I would choose these 6 events/concepts, which some non-western heroes appeared:

* π (See Zu Chongzhi 429-500 from ancient China, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Hui%27s_%CF%80_algorithm)

* Quadratic Equation (many non-western mathematicians worked out the quadratic formula)

* Zeno's paradoxes ( you can see some mentions of Chinese philosophers on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno's_paradoxes#Similar_paradoxes )

* Prime Numbers

* trigonometry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_trigonometry)

* Euclid's 'Elements' (have to say it is a great work in human math history)

I think a grand human history is hard not to be biased, so why not first test on our specialization and leave behind "Macchiavelli", "Shakespeare", "Alexander the Great", ....

---

Let me have some time for a partial list of important modern female heroines (and important non-binary)!

[mpark@mathstodon.xyz]

@ColinTheMathmo Top two I don't see on your list -

Hypatia (feminism, science vs religion)
Eratosthenes (I get so sick of hearing that Columbus proved the Earth was round)

[spacemagick@mastodon.social]

@ColinTheMathmo
The guy who made stripy pyjamas cool.
#maths