Will give a Graduate Student Seminar entitled:
When Mathematicians Collide: The Calculus Wars and the Battle for the Foundations
Abstract: The history of mathematics is not only a story of theorems and discoveries, but also of rivalries that shaped its trajectory. This talk recounts two of the most famous feuds in mathematical history: the priority dispute between Isaac Newton and G.W. Leibniz over the invention of calculus, and the foundational quarrel between David Hilbert and L.E.J. Brouwer over formalism versus intuitionism. We will see how questions of intellectual credit, personal rivalry, and philosophical conviction ignited controversies that spilled beyond mathematics into institutions, reputations, and national pride. From Newton’s behind-the-scenes maneuvers in the Royal Society against Leibniz, to Hilbert’s decisive expulsion of Brouwer from the editorial board of Mathematische Annalen, these conflicts reveal how power and personality can shape the development of mathematics.
Date: 09-26-2025
Time: 10:00 am
Location: 258 Hurley Bldg
Originally published at math.nd.edu.