"What is a Mathematician?" - Online Discussion Board Activity

STEP 1: Research Mathematicians and what makes them a Mathematician.

According to Wikipedia, a mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change." And patterns!

Mathematicians have changed our world!   As we saw during our last assignment, "Why Math Matters - 30 High Paying Jobs of the Future", Mathematicians are in demand.  The purpose of this assignment is to provide you with an opportunity to research "Who are Mathematicians?"  

STEP 2:  Pick a Mathematician to Research.

Mathematicians come from all over the world: all genders, cultures, races, and time periods.   Find a mathematician that interests YOU. 

You will then have to post a response to introduce your selected Mathematician to the class in STEP 3.

STEP 3:  Post your summative biography

Click Reply, and provide the requested information below for your Mathematician (19 points) in a NARRATIVE form. Don't just list the information, but write about them like you're telling their story (or writing a mini-report). You can also create a video presentation or a Powerpoint/Google Slide with the info, but you need to link it in the Discussion Board appropriately. Remember it is important to put this in your own words!

• Mathematician's Name

• Date of birth

• Date of death, if applicable

• Photo - do not attach. Use the embedding tool.

• Brief biography (home, family, interesting stories)

• Brief sentence or two about their Mathematical accomplishments (awards, papers, discoveries)

• Brief statement of their Mathematical area of expertise

• Why did you choose this mathematician? What about them interests you?

• Include at least 2 references.

Click Post Reply when done.

STEP 4:  Read your classmates’ posts. 

This can be done throughout the semester, no matter when you post your mathematician biography.

STEP 5:  Interact with your classmates.

For the final 6 points of the assignment, find TWO posts that you identify with or interests you.  Respond to that person's post, using their name, and with a comment about why this particular entry caught your attention.  Example: “Dylan, your post on Vivienne Malone was so cool!  I am looking at Baylor College and did not know that she was the first black faculty member at the University.  I was also fascinated by... "

You can complete STEP 5 before your Step 3 posting, if you read someone's post and it resonates with you before your week of posting.

Resources to search for mathematicians:

• Famous Mathematicians - you can sort by first or last name or Nationality

• The Mathematician Project  - dedicated to celebrating diversity in mathematics - this is a spreadsheet that you can sort by identified gender or ethnicity

  • • The above Google Sheet came from The Mathematician Project website, which has other lists of resources!

• Search a Mathematician by Birth date 

• List of Mathematicians - Wikipedia - Links to lists of mathematicians by nationality, ethnicity, or religion

• Mathematicians of the African Diaspora - Listings and brief descriptions of African-American Mathematicians

  • • Updated Mathematicians of the African Diaspora

  • Mathematically Gifted and Black: https://mathematicallygiftedandblack.com/ 

• Black Women Rock Math - a collection of hidden voices in math education

  • A Timeline of Mathematics - This beautiful interactive website will allow you to search a mathematician based on era. Be careful - there are other important events and subjects for mathematics listed here, so make sure you use it to choose a person, not a subject or object.

  • Scientist Spotlights https://scientistspotlights.org/

  • SACNAS Biography Project https://www.sacnas.org/sacnas-biography-project/ 

  • LatinX Mathematicians: https://www.lathisms.org/calendars/calendars 

For more sample posts and additional mathematicians, visit Instagram: @Mathematicians Look Like All of Us

Sample Post: Hypatia of Alexandria

Hypatia (born circa 350-370, died 415 CE) was a philosopher, astronomer and mathematician, known as a "martyr for philosophy".  She is actually the first female mathematician in history of which we know much. The daughter of Theon of Alexandria, a respected mathematician himself, Hypatia taught astronomy and philosophy in Alexandria.  She was a part of what is now called Neoplatonism philosophy/faith, a "mystical school of philosophy based on the teachings of Plato". The histories of Neoplatonism and Christianity are very closely intertwined, as her death provides an example.

Her best known works were responses or improvements on existing texts, such as Book III of Ptolemy's Almagest,  which describes a geocentric model of the universe (where all celestial objects revolve around the earth), and Diophantus's Arithmetica, an algebraic text written around 250 CE with hundreds of mathematical problems.

As Alexandria was a diverse city, during this time Christianity was spreading. The governor of the city, Orestes, and the bishop, Cyril, were at odds: Cyril was trying to convert Orestes to Christianity, and Orestes refused, remaining  a "pagan". Cyril blamed Orestes's friendship with Hypatia. Chaos ensued, people were killed, and Hypatia was attacked by a mob after going home from lecturing at the university. They dragged her from her chariot down the street into a church where they stripped her naked, scraped her skin off with oyster shells or roof tiles, beat her, and then burned her.  Then Cyril ordered the University of Alexandria burned.  Hypatia's death is recognized as the moment of change between the classical age of paganism to the age of Christianity.

Media Credits:

Al Khawrazmi; Photo by Pikist

Hypatia Drawing, Drawn by Jules Maurice Gaspard (1862–1919) / Public domain

Quote Background: Romanesco Broccoli from pxfuel