Amir Alexander

Amir Alexander (born 1963) is a historian, author, and academic who studies the interconnections between mathematics and its cultural and historical setting. Born in Rehovot, Israel, he grew up in Jerusalem where his father, Shlomo Alexander, was a professor of physics at the Hebrew University and his mother, Esther Alexander, was an economist and social activist. He obtained a B.S. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1988 in Mathematics and History, before moving to the United States, where he obtained an M.A. in History of Science from Stanford University in 1990, and a Ph.D. in History of Science from Stanford University in 1996.

In his first book, Geometrical Landscapes (2002), Alexander argued that early modern geometers came to view their field as a hazardous voyage of exploration on the seas of mathematics. This new vision of the field made possible the development of the calculus. In Duel at Dawn: Heroes, Martyrs, and the Rise of Modern Mathematics (2010), Alexander shows that different stories accompany different types of mathematics, and that higher mathematics as it is practiced today is inseparable from tales of the mathematician as a tragic romantic hero. Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World (2014) shows how in the 17th century the mathematical concept of the infinitesimal became a battleground between competing visions of modernity. Those who believed in a rigid hierarchical social and political order tried to ban the concept from mathematics, whereas those who believed in increased pluralism and tolerance fought to retain it.

Alexander's books have been widely reviewed and received praise in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Times Higher Education, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and elsewhere. Infinitesimal was selected one of the "Best Books of 2014" (Science category) by Library Journal, one of the "Best Books of 2014" by Slate Magazine, and one of the "Seven Best Science Books for the Holidays" by the Wall Street Journal.

Alexander has also contributed pieces to The New York Times Science section," The New York Times Book Review, The Los Angeles Times, and Scientific American, and he has been interviewed on NPR's All Things Considered and Interfaith Voices. For quotes from Alexander's work see wikiquote.

Amir Alexander lives in Los Angeles and is married to Bonita Thoreson. He teaches history at UCLA.

Books

• Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World (New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux / Scientific American, 2014). Reissued in paperback, 2015.
  • Critical acclaim for Infinitesimal: see Scientific American
• Duel at Dawn: Heroes, Martyrs, and the Rise of Modern Mathematics, (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2010). Reissued in paperback, 2011.
• Geometrical Landscapes: The Voyages of Discovery and the Transformation of Mathematical Practice (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002). Recipient of the Choice magazine Outstanding Academic Title Award for 2003.

External links

• Alexander's homepage: http://www.history.ucla.edu/people/faculty/faculty-1/faculty-1?lid=864