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Dr Daniel Mansfield will deliver a public lecture, "The Forgotten Geometry of Ancient Mesopotamia: Revelations from an ancient clay tablet", for the Alexander Rubinov Memorial Oration 2020.
Abstract
Mathematics is said to have begun long ago in ancient Mesopotamia, also known as the cradle of civilization. This culture had slipped into legend until the late 19th century when archaeologists uncovered thousands upon thousands of clay documents from lost cities such as Sippar, Lasa, and Babylon.
Amongst these tablets were mathematical and geometric texts. Many are yet to be translated and some are surprisingly advanced.
This talk is an introduction to the Mesopotamians’ unique form of arithmetic and geometry, including some very recent discoveries.
Registration
The Alexander Rubinov Memorial Oration
Each year a public oration is held to commemorate the life of Professor Alexander Rubinov and to celebrate his contribution to Federation University as founding Director of the Centre for Informatics and Applied Optimisation.
This webinar is organised by the School of Engineering, IT and Physical Sciences at Federation University.
Biography
Daniel began his academic career at UNSW in 2015. He is an inspiring educator who has received many teaching awards, such as the KPMG Inspiring Teacher Award in 2017 and the AustMS Teaching Excellence Award (Early Career) in 2018.
He is notable for his research with colleague Prof. Norman Wildberger on the famous Plimpton 322 tablet, and more recently for his work on Mesopotamian geometry and land measurement.