Victor J. Katz

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Victor Joseph Katz (born December 31, 1942 in Philadelphia ) is an American mathematician, mathematics historian and mathematics teacher.

Katz studied at Princeton University with a bachelor's degree in 1963 and received his doctorate in mathematics from Brandeis University in 1968 with Maurice Auslander (The Brauer group of a regular local ring). He was then an Assistant Professor at Federal City College and from 1973 Associate Professor and from 1980 Professor at the University of the District of Columbia in Washington, DC , where he retired in 2005.

1985/86 he was visiting professor at the University of Boston and 1994/95 visiting mathematician at the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).

As a mathematician, he dealt with algebra, he is best known for his work on the history of mathematics and its use in teaching. He wrote a textbook that teaches mathematics through its history that won the 1995 Watson Davis and Helen Miles Davis Prize . He also organized workshops and congresses on this for the MAA (which also published a collection of teaching materials by Katz on CD, Historical Modules for the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics ) and the National Association of American Mathematics Teachers. With Frank Swetz, he also organized an online journal on the history of mathematics at the MAA (Convergence) and published a series of Mathematical Treasures with Swetz . He also received a grant from the National Science Foundation to study the possibility of using math history in schools.

He has been married to Phyllis Katz (nee Friedman) since 1969, who is also a maths educator and who developed and directed the national program Hands on Science Outreach (HOSO). He has three children with her.

Fonts

  • History of Mathematics: An Introduction, New York: Harper Collins, 1993, 3rd edition Pearson 2008 (an abridged edition was published by Pearson in 2003)
  • Editors: The Mathematics of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India and Islam: A Sourcebook, Princeton University Press 2007
  • Editor with Bengt Johansson, Frank Swetz, Otto Bekken, John Fauvel: Learn from the Masters, MAA 1994 (therein by Katz: Historical ideas in teaching linear algebra, Napier's logarithms adapted for today's classroom)
  • Editor: Using History to Teach Mathematics. An international perspective, MAA 2000
  • Editor with Marlow Anderson, Robin Wilson: Sherlock Holmes in Babylon and other Tales of Mathematical History, (collection of articles from the MAA's Mathematics Magazine, including by Katz: Ideas of calculus in islam and india), MAA 2004
  • with Marlow Anderson, Robin Wilson (editor): Who gave you the epsilon and other tales of mathematical history, MAA 2009 (continuation of the collection of essays on the history of mathematics from MAA journals, including by Katz: The history of Stokes' theorem)
  • Editor with Constantinos Tzanakis: Recent Developments on Introducing a Historical Dimension in Mathematics Education, MAA 2011
  • with Karen Hunger Parshall : Taming the Unknown: A History of Algebra from Antiquity to the Early Twentieth Century, Princeton University Press 2014
  • with John B. Fraleigh: A first course in abstract algebra, Addison-Wesley 2003

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Life data according to American Men and Women of Science, Thomson Gale 2004
  2. ↑ Victor J. Katz in the Mathematics Genealogy Project (English)Template: MathGenealogyProject / Maintenance / id used
  3. ^ MAA, Convergence
  4. ↑ Katz, Swetz, Mathematical Treasures
personal data
SURNAME Katz, Victor J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Katz, Victor Joseph (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American mathematician, mathematician, and math teacher
DATE OF BIRTH December 31, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia