Math History
Dive into the fascinating world of mathematics with our captivating articles, written by passionate experts. Whether you are a curious amateur or a seasoned mathematician, our articles cover a wide range of topics, from fundamental concepts to the latest discoveries, including practical applications and philosophical reflections.
Hong Wang wins 2026 Fields Medal for 3D Kakeya proof
Mathematician Hong Wang becomes the third woman to receive the Fields Medal, for solving the century-old Kakeya needle problem in three dimensions together with Joshua Zahl.
Sak Tahn Waax: the first Maya mathematician to sign his calculations
Discovered at Xultún in Guatemala: the signature of the first formally identified Maya mathematician, Sak Tahn Waax, who calculated the cycles of Venus and Mars around 781 CE.
How a specialist in probability becomes a pillar of the Republic of Professors
A portrait of Émile Borel, the illustrious mathematician of the Belle Époque, who combined a brilliant scientific career with political engagement and a fight for justice.
Marie Curie, Borel, Perrin: a scholarly circle on a Breton peninsula
The Arcouest peninsula, near Paimpol, was a regular holiday retreat for many academics, including Émile Borel and Marie Curie.
This papyrus buried by Vesuvius in 79 AD was read unopened
Researchers have succeeded in reading a papyrus scroll charred by Vesuvius in 79 AD, using tomography, phase contrast, and artificial intelligence.
Can you govern a country the way you solve an equation?
A portrait of Émile Borel, an École normale supérieure alumnus and scholar who combined a scientific career with political activism, from Dreyfusism to the Resistance, through radicalism and international intellectual cooperation.
Alexandre Grothendieck: the quest for mathematical language
A portrait of Grothendieck, a mathematical genius whose practice was intimately bound up with an aesthetics of language, from schemes to topoi.
Hilbert's 6th problem solved: the Newton-Boltzmann-Navier-Stokes link finally proven
A team of mathematicians has finally solved Hilbert's sixth problem, linking the equations of Newton, Boltzmann, and Navier-Stokes after 125 years of research.
Archimedes page found at Blois museum: palimpsest and ancient geometry
Victor Gysembergh has found a leaf from the Archimedes palimpsest, missing since 1906, hidden beneath an illumination of the prophet Daniel at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Blois.
Vedic mathematics: a history of ritual geometry and the Śulba Sūtras
Discover how Vedic rituals gave rise to some of the oldest geometric, arithmetic and algorithmic texts in human history.
Gothic cathedral symmetries: the mathematics of the Middle Ages
Discover how Gothic architects mastered symmetry to create geometric masterpieces in cathedrals, with orders of symmetry as high as 8.
Geometry as incarnation: Pascal and the primacy of figures
How Blaise Pascal favored figures over numbers, even solving combinatorial problems through the geometry of the arithmetic triangle.
The three certainties on which Descartes built all of his physics
How Descartes built his philosophy on three certainties: the existence of the thinking subject, divine goodness, and mathematical rigor.
Biblical numbers: 40, 153 and π—meanings and mathematics
An exploration of the symbolic and mathematical meanings of 40, 153 and π in Scripture, from spiritual trials to calculating a circle's circumference.
Newton on space and the divine: a philosophical and historical analysis
Isaac Newton revolutionized our understanding of space by conceiving it as an absolute mathematical framework, distinct from the bodies within it.
Leibniz, the Yi Jing and binary: an unlikely encounter
Discover how Leibniz found a forerunner of the binary system that would revolutionize modern computing in the Chinese Book of Changes.
Whitehead: logical harmony of mathematics and philosophy
A journey into the thought of Alfred North Whitehead, who laid the foundations of the Principia Mathematica with Russell and developed a metaphysics of the cosmos in which God and mathematics work together in the world's unfolding.
Determining the qibla: spherical trigonometry and direction to Mecca
Discover how Muslim tradition inspired elegant mathematical solutions for finding the direction of Mecca, combining spherical geometry and astronomy.
Gladys West: the mathematician who made GPS possible
A portrait of Gladys West, the African-American mathematician whose geodetic models enabled the development of modern GPS.
Women mathematicians: a long-ignored history
This article explores the place of women in mathematics across the centuries, from the ancient world to the present day, and sheds light on those who have for too long been forgotten.