Huxley Lecture 2018
Speaker: Dr Philip Beeley, University of Oxford
Title: ''To the very Fountains of Mathematical Learning". Euclid's Elements and the reform of university teaching around 1700.
Abstract:
Euclid's Elements is widely considered the most influential works ever written, and has played a key role in education for over 2000 years. Since the 1670s plans were afoot in Oxford to produce a new critical edition of Euclid's Elements of Geometry covering the original Greek and Latin versions of the text. Despite a promising start, the project faltered and then collapsed for lack of interest. But then, almost miraculously, the same edition was relaunched a few years later and realized by different scholars in 1703.
The 2018 Huxley Lecture will commence with a brief overview of Euclid's Elements, and its significance to mathematics and education. The main part of the lecture will trace the fascinating story of the Oxford Euclid edition through its ups and downs, showing that this episode can tell us a great deal about changing attitudes towards classical languages and the drive for educational reform in the British Isles around the turn of the century. Surprisingly, the need for mathematics teaching was to be the core of this reform.
Time & Date: 6pm on Tuesday, 24th of April, 2018
Venue: Renehan Hall, South Campus - see map reference, red circled number 13
Parking: If you are traveling by car, please note that parking permits are not required after 5pm, see Traffic Management web page for details.