ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

What can mathematicians' drafts tell us about the 'back' of mathematics?

• In Event: Mathematics in Manuscripts 1

English Abstract

The published mathematical text as we are used to reading it is a carefully structured communication tool, complying with criteria established by the scientific community. It represents, as Reuben Hersh put it, "the front of mathematics". In this talk, I would like to take a closer look at "the back of mathematics", what happens before publication, as can be seen in certain archival documents, namely drafts, notes and notebooks. Such manuscripts are essentially the mathematician's laboratory, and allow us to observe the (sometimes long and winding) paths followed by the mathematician, the choices made along the way, and a number of practices designed for the exploratory research phase — the back of mathematics — that can differ deeply from the ones observed in publications. Drawing from a small selection of historical examples from several archival sources, I will suggest that such texts are an integral part of mathematical practice and of the shaping of mathematical knowledge, and indeed crucial to understand its history.

Author

• Emmylou Haffner, CNRS