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Karen Parshall

Commonwealth Professor of History and Mathematics

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  • Karen Parshall

    I am somewhat of a rarity on the faculty at the University of Virginia–a native Virginian. I did my undergraduate studies in French and mathematics as well as my M. S. in mathematics here at the University before pursuing my graduate work at the University of Chicago. I earned my Ph.D. in history from Chicago, where I was privileged to work under the supervision of I. N. Herstein in mathematics and Allen G. Debus in the history of science. My doctoral work explored the history of the theory of algebras and especially the role played by Joseph H. M. Wedderburn in that development.

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Recent Publications

  • The American Mathematical Society and Applied Mathematics from the 1920s to the 1950s: A Revisionist Account
  • Journals in the Evolution of a National Research Community: The Case of Mathematics in the United States (1776-1940)
  • Taming the Unknown: A History of Algebra from Antiquity to the Early Twentieth Century (Japanese translation)
  • James Joseph Sylvester
  • The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920-1950
  • Review of Giovanni Battista Guccia: Pioneer of International Cooperation in Mathematics by Benedetto Bongiorno and Guillermo P. Curbera
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Office Hours

2023-2024: By appointment

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