Brazilian Academy of Philosophy: Doctor Honoris Causa.
2016-19
Israel Science Foundation, Research Grant: “The History of Computing in Israel (1955-1985)”.
2009-11
German-Israel Fund, Research Grant (together with Prof. Moritz Epple, Universität Frankfurt) “Between Modernism and Application: A Comparative Approach to Mathematical Research Culture in the Early 1900's”.
(Co-supervisor: Tony Levy, Université Paris VII), “Isaac ben Shlomo ben al-Ahdab’s ‘Epistle of the Number’ אגרת המספר. On the Medieval Hebrew Mathematical Bookshelf. Thesis completed – September 2008, Tel-Aviv University.
Uri Pincas
“A Computer-Embedded Philosophy of Mathematics” (פילוסופיה של המתמטיקה משובץ מחשב ). Thesis completed – December 2008, Tel-Aviv University.
Oded Koren
(Co-supervisor: Amiram Yehudai, TAU School of Computer Science) “The “bazaar model”: The evolution of the Linux kernel- from pure volunteer spirit to gigantic corporation involvement (1983-2001)”. Thesis Completed – April 2011, Tel-Aviv University.
Raya Leviathan
“Building the WEIZAC Computer at the Weizmann Institute in the Mid-Fifties, the Decision and its Effects.” Thesis Completed - February 2015, Tel Aviv University.
Itzhak Yosef
(Co-supervisor: Tom Ryckman, Stanford University) “The problem of Causality and determinism in General Relativity: towards a solution.” Thesis Completed - October 2016, Tel Aviv University.
Rosie Lev-Halutz
“London's Role in shaping Victorian Mathematics -
The development of non-Euclidean geometry as a test-case.” Thesis Begun - February 2018, Tel Aviv University.
Kati Kisch Bar-On
(Co-supervisor: Menachem Fisch, Tel Aviv University) “Brouwer's Intuitionism from Within: The Rise and Fall of an Unsuccessful Framework Transition Attempt.” Thesis Begun - May 2018, Tel Aviv University.
MA Students
Eli Harry
“The WWW as a ‘social’ self-organizing system”. 2008, Tel-Aviv University.
Itzhak Yosef
(Co-supervisor: Itamar Pitowsky, Hebrew University)“Causal structure in General Relativity. 2008, Tel-Aviv University.
Ofer Zinger
“The philosophical implications of the developments of the limits of computation. 2008, Tel-Aviv University.
Shlomi Avniel
“Causality, Time & consciousness. Henri Bergson's Philosophical Criticism of Special Relativity. 2008, Tel-Aviv University.
Service as External Academic Evaluator and Refereeing
Show
Academic Quality Assessment and Grant Proposal Evaluations:
Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della
Ricerca (Italia); Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada (Canada); Israeli Science Foundation (ISF), German-Israeli
Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF); CNRS (France);
Minerva Foundation (Germany); Humboldt Stiftung; American Philosophical
Society; Millennium Science Initiative (The World Bank); Gutenberg Research College (Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz); Austrian Science Fund (FWF);
Zukunftskolleg, University of Konstanz
Peer-Review Activity for Academic Journals: Historia Mathematica, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, International Journal for the History of Mathematics Education, Revue d'histoire des mathematiques, Annals of Science, Annals of the History of Computing, Configurations, Synthese, LLull, Notices of the American Mathematical Society, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Journal of the British Society for the History of Mathematics
Peer-Review Activity for Academic Publishers: Princeton University Press, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Springer Verlag
Academic Promotion Evaluations: University of Paris, Case Reserve University, University of Haifa, The Hebrew University - Jerusalem, Universidad de Cádiz
PhD Evaluations: University of Cambridge, University of Uppsala, McGill University, University of Paris, Bar Ilan University, The Hebrew University - Jerusalem, University of Amsterdam
1. August 22, 2019: The Fifth International Conference on History of Modern Mathematics, August 18-24, Xi'an, China: “ Turing's Pre-War Analog Computers: The Fatherhood of the Modern Computer Revisited ”
June 3, 2019: Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Occasion of the Centenary of Emmy Noether's Habilitation Dissertation. Keynote Lecture. “ Emmy Noether's Contribution to the Rise of the Structural Approach in Algebra ”
November 23, 2017: Dedekind Lectures III, ETH Zurich: “ Was sind und was sollen die Dedekind'schen Zahlen? Ideals, Cuts and Chains in a Unified World of Numbers ”
September 14, 2017: Jornadas de Historia de las Matematicas, Universidad de Cadiz: “Geometric Algebra in the Historiography of Medieval and Renaissance Mathematics.” (Spanish)
July 26, 2017: The 25th International Congress of History of Science and Technology, Rio de Janeiro (23-29 July): “Francisco Jose Duarte's Calculation of the first 200 decimal digits of PI (1907).”
November 17-18, 2016: On Mathemata. Commenting on Ancient Greek and Arabic Mathematical Texts, Humboldt Universitat, Berlin: “Distributivity-like Results in Euclid's Elements and in the Euclidean Medieval Traditions: Between Geometry and Arithmetic.”
May 2, 2016: Workshop "Hilbert's Sixth Problem", University of Leicester (May 02-04, 2016), - Special LMS-IMA Lecture, “The Historical Origins of Hilbert's Sixth Problem: Geometry, Mechanics, Kinetic Theory”.
November 4, 2015: Third International Meeting of the APMP (November 2-4, 2015) - Institute Henri Poincaré, Paris, “Geometry and Arithmetic in the Mathematical Practice of the Medieval and Renaissance Traditions of Euclid's Elements”.
August 19, 2015: The International Committee for the History of Technology (ICOHTEC), 42nd Symposium, Tel Aviv University, Israel - Keynote Lecture, “From the Universal Turing Machine to Turing’s Analog Computer: The Fatherhood of the Modern Computer Revisited”.
June 25, 2015: VII International Colloquium for History and Philosophy of Mathematics, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), “Geometric Algebra in the Historiography of Medieval and Renaissance Mathematics”.
March 28, 2015: Mathematics and Culture at Venice, “Mathematical Story-Telling and the Prosaic Dangers of Salgarism”.
September 23, 2014: The Open University, England (Jeremy Gray Retirement Meeting), “The interaction between arithmetic and geometry in the Euclidean tradition: a longue durée issue in the historiography of mathematics”.
March 20, 2013: Universität Wuppertal, (Historiography of Mathematics in the 19th and 20th Centuries): “Geometric Algebra in the Historiography of Ancient and Medieval Mathematics”.
March 3, 2013: Oberwolfach, MFO, (From “Mixed” to “Applied” Mathematics: Tracing an
important dimension of mathematics and its history): “Turing, the Riemann Zeta-Function, and the Changing Borderline between Pure and Applied Traditions in Mathematics”.
October 11, 2012: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts, (Turing in Context II – Keynote Speaker): “Turing and the Computational Tradition in Pure Mathematics: The Case of the Riemann Zeta-Function”.
July 19, 2012: Daejeon, South Korea, International Congress on History and Pedagogy of Mathematics: “Euclid's Proposition II.5: A View through the Centuries-Geometry, Algebra and Teaching”.
May 14, 2012: University of Paris, Dennis-Diderot, Seminaire Hist. et Phil. des mathématiques: “Computations in Number Theory: The Transition to the Electronic Computer Era”.
February 8, 2012: University of Cambridge, HPS Seminar, “Nicolas Bourbaki and the Concept of Structure in Mathematics”.
February 7, 2012: University of Oxford, Algebra Seminar: “From Algebra (1895) to Moderne Algebra (1930): Changing Conceptions of a Discipline. A Guided Tour Using the Jahrbuch über die Fortschritte der Mathematik”.
February 6, 2012: University of Oxford, History of Mathematics Seminar : “Axiomatics Between Hilbert and the New Math: Diverging Views on Mathematical Research and Their Consequences on Education”.
February 6, 2012: University of Oxford ,Topology Seminar: “Bourbaki’s Influence on Topology (1935-1970)”.
January 6, 2012: Oberwolfach, MFO, (Tacit Knowledge in Mathematics): “From Pure Geometry to Algebraic Geometry in Euclid’s II.5: a Case Study in Long-term Tacit Knowledge”.
December 14, 2011: Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem (Mathematical Knowledge and its Applications. The 25th Annual International Workshop on the History and Philosophy of Science. Tel-Aviv University / Van Leer Institute): “Category Theory and Bourbaki: a Story of Incompatibility”.
November 15, 2011. Tel Aviv University (International Conference – Trends and Perspectives in Mathematics): “Landau’s Hebrew List of 23 Problems: Higher Mathematics Makes ‘Aliyah’ in 1925”.
November 2, 2011. Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem (Bar Hillel Colloquium International Lecture Series): “Modernist Aesthetics – Modern Algebra (1890-1930)”.
October 26, 2011: Institut Henri Poincaré, Paris (International Colloquium, Bicentenaire de la naissance d'Évariste Galois): “Dedekind, Frobenius and the beginning of representation theory: cooperation and conflicting views”.
December 16, 2010. Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies. Universităt Freiburg (Ringvorlesung: Exakte Phantasie): "Axiomatics Between Hilbert and the New Math: Diverging Views on Mathematical Research and Their Consequences on Education".
October 27-29, 2010. Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia (Tercera Escuela Nacional de Historia y Educación Matemática): Key-Note Lectures on Structuralism in 20th Century Mathematics.
August 8, 2010. Xi’an University (International Conference on the History of Modern Mathematics. Cultures and elements of practices in mathematics, 1800-1930): “Theory and Computations in Number Theory in the USA before 1935: A Tale Of Provincial Life”.
May 20, 2010. Bar-Ilan University (Aesthetics and Science Symposium): “Modernist Aesthetics – Modern Algebra (1890-1930)”.
March 22, 2010: Racah Institute of Physics Colloquium, the Hebrew University, Jerusalem: “Hilbert, Einstein, and the Tortuous Way to the General Theory of Relativity.”
March 6, 2010: MFO, Germany: (History of Mathematics – Styles and Disciplines): “Axiomatics between Hilbert and R.L. Moore: Two Views on Mathematical Research and their Consequences on Education”.
January 28, 2010: Weizmann Institute, Physics Colloquium: “Hilbert, Einstein, and the Tortuous Way to the General Theory of Relativity.”
January 19, 2010: The Technion, Haifa, Science Education Colloquium: “Axiomatics between Hilbert and R.L. Moore: Two Views on Mathematical Research and their Consequences on Education”.
October 12-15, 2009, International Workshop: Between Modernism and Application – Comparative Studies in the History of Early 20th Century Mathematics, Rauischholzhausen, Giessen: “How useful is the term 'modernism' for understanding 20th century mathematics?
August 13-15, 2009: The Danish Society of History of Science: three Lectures on the History of Modern Mathematics.
July 16, 2009: International Congress of History of Science and Technology, Budapest: “Hilbert's "Grundlagen der Geometrie" translated into Spanish: a case of a famous mathematical text and its contexts”.
July 15, 2008: Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, Germany: Zahlen, Zeichen und Figuren.; Mathematische Inspirationen in Kunst und Literatur. Internationale Tagung der School of Language & Literature im Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS): “Calculating the Limits of Poetic License: Fictional Narrative and the History of Mathematics.”
January 11, 2008: Uppsala University, Sweden (Mathematics Department Colloquium): “On the Origins of Hilbert’s 6th Problem: Physics and the Empiricist Approach to Axiomatization”.
November 1, 2007: 18th Novembertagung on the History, Philosophy & Didactics of Mathematics. Bonn, November 1 – 4, 2007. Invited Talk: “Number Crunching ys. Number Theory from Kummer to Sloane – Some Reflections on the History of a Mathematical Discipline”.
October 5, 2007: University of Siena, Italy (Axiomatics in Economics: the Rise and Fall - 12th Annual EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON THE HISTORY OF ECONOMICS). Opening Talk: “David Hilbert and The Axiomatic Method: Origins and Development”.
June 23, 2007: Prague, Czech Republic (5TH EUROPEAN SUMMER UNIVERSITY ON HISTORY AND EPISTEMOLOGY IN MATHEMATICS EDUCATION), Axiomatics between Hilbert and R.L. Moore: Two Views on Mathematical Research and their Consequences on Education”.
April 15, 2007: The University of Richmond “Quest” Invited Lecture Series - “David Hilbert: from "Foundations of Geometry" (1899) to "Foundations of Physics" (1915)”.
September 16, 2006: The Society for Analytic Philosophy, Sixth International Congress, Berlin. (Invited lecture for the Symposium: “Towards a New Epistemology of Mathematics”).
August 6, 2006: The International Congress of Mathematicians, Madrid, 2006 (Invited Session Talk): “On the Origins of Hilbert’s 6th Problem: Physics and the Empiricist Approach to Axiomatization”.
June 15, 2006: Ecole Normale Superieur, Paris (Third International HOPOS Meeting – The Society for History of Philosophy of Science, Invited Symposium Talk): “Hilbert’s Program for the Axiomatization of Physics”.
June 12, 2006: Tel-Aviv University (The 21th International Workshop on the History and Philosophy of Science: “The Origins and Nature of Computation” – Research Symposium of the Israeli Science Foundation) – “Harry S. Vandiver's Attempts to Prove Fermat's Last Theorem with Electronic Computers in the 1950s”.
April 6, 2006: Wissenschaftskoleg zu Berlin (Weekly Colloquium) - “Fermat’s Last Theorem: How did a marginal question become an important mathematical problem. … Or did it?”
March 24, 2006: Frankfurt University (International Symposium “Modernism and the Sciences: 1890-1940”) – “Is the Term Modernism Useful in Understanding the History of Twentieth Century Mathematics?”.
January 4, 2006: Tel-Aviv University (The Rector’s Distinguished Students Presentation Lecture) – “Scientific Excellence and the Zionist Ethos: the Beginnings of Mathematics in the Hebrew University. 1925-1945.”
December 6, 2005: Tel Aviv University (The School of History’s Tuesday Evenings Monthly Lecture Series): “Einstein and Relativity Theory. 100 Years of History, 100 Years of Historiography.”
Sept 30, 5, 2005: Rutgers University, New Jersey (Mathematics Department Colloquium) - “From Algebra (1895) to Moderne Algebra (1930): Changing Conceptions of a Discipline. A Guided Tour Using the Jahrbuch über die Fortschritte der Mathematik.”
July 5, 2005: Mykonos, Greece – “Mathematics and Narrative – An International Interdisciplinary Workshop”: “Calculating the Limits of Poetic License: Fictional Narrative and the History of Mathematics.”
April 12, 2005: The Israeli Academy of Science and Humanities, Jerusalem (International Einstein Centennial Colloquium): “Minkowski, Relativity and Einstein’s Changing Views on Mathematics.”
March 13, 2005: The Israeli Society for History and Philosophy of Science, Annual Meeting – Keynote Lecture: “Einstein and Relativity Theory. 100 Years of History, 100 Years of Historiography.”
February 28, 2005: Hebrew University Jerusalem (School of Computer Science, Weekly Colloquium): “Fermat’s Last Theorem: How does a marginal question becomes an important mathematical problem.”
February 10, 2005: Erwin Schrödinger International Institute for Mathematical Physics, Vienna: “David Hilbert: from "Foundations of Geometry" (1899) to "Foundations of Physics" (1915)”.
June 14-17, 2004: Fundación Canaria Orotava de Historia de la Ciencia, Tenerife, Las Canarias. Special Invited Colloquium: 1. German Mathematics and the Background to the Theory of Relativity; 2. Minkowski and the Geometrization of Relativity; 3. Borges and Scientific Ideas.
May 13, 2004: University of Richmond, Richmond, VA (International Conference "Exploring the History of Mathematics: How do we know what questions to ask?, 12-15 May, 2004"): “Exploring Changes in the Images of Twentieth-Century Mathematics”.
September 18, 2003: Universidad de Sevilla (International History and Philosophy of Mathematics Meeting): “Empiricism, Anschauung and General Relativity in Hilbert´s Conception of Geometry”.
April 22, 2003: MSRI – Berkeley (Colloquium on the The History of Algebra in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries): “From Algebra (1895) to Moderne Algebra (1930): Changing Conceptions of a Discipline. A Guided Tour Using the Jahrbuch über die Fortschritte der Mathematik.”
November 24, 2002; The Center for the Study of Rationality, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem: “Hilbert's anti-formalist conception of geometry”.
October 16, 2002; Berlin Zentrum für Literarischesforschung, Weekly Seminar: “Jorge Luis Borges and the Sciences: Visionary or Learned Ignoramus”.
October 11, 2002; Universität Stuttgart: “Empiricist Aspects in Hilbert’s Conception of Geometry”.
March 19, 2002; Tel-Aviv University (Symposium: German presence in Latin –America): “German Physicists in Argentina – Early Twentieth Century”
March 13, 2001; Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem (Second Yearly Meeting, The Israeli Society for History and Philosophy of Science): “German Algebraists and the (pre)-History of Israeli Mathematics”
March 13, 2001; The Hebrew University, Jerusalem (Symposium - “Einstein: the Man of the Century”): “Einstein, Hilbert and the Others: Tensions and Collaboration on the Way to General Relativity”.
January 9, 2001; Institut Henri Poincaré, Paris (Colloque d’histoire des mathématiques): “Minkowski: Axiomatics, Geometry, Physics”.
October 21-26, 2000; Göttingen University, Germany (“Göttingen and the Natural Sciences in the 18th and 19th Century”): “Hilbert and his Influence on Göttingen Phsyics (1905-1915)”.
Jan 30 - Feb 4, 2000; Oberwolfach, MFI, (History of Mathematics in the Twentieth Century): "Hilbert and Physics".
July 1999; University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA (V International Conference on the History and Foundations of General Relativity): "From Mie's Electromagnetic Theory of Matter to Hilbert's Unified Foundations of Physics".
June 1999; Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain (IV Simposio Internacional Galdeano - El Paradigma Hilbertiano en la Matemática del Siglo XX): "Hilbert was not a Formalist".
June 1999; Oberwolfach, MFI ("Meeting on History of Number Theory): "Algebraic Structures in the History of Number Theory".
June 1999; Göttingen University, Germany ("The Application of the Axiomatic Approach to the Physical Sciences" - A colloquium on occasion of the 100th anniversary of the publication of David Hilbert's Grundlagen der Geometrie): "Foundational and Pragmatic Aspects of Hilbert's Axiomatic Approach".
May 1999; Van Leer Institute - Jerusalem (Bar Hillel Colloquium for History, Philosophy and Sociology of Science): Comments to Tom Ryckman's Talk “World Geometries: Weyl and Eddington”
April 1999; Tel-Aviv University - Israel (IX Congreso de la Federación Internacional de Estudios Sobre América Latina y el Caribe): "Algunas Ideas Científicas en la Obra de Jorge Luis Borges y su Trasfondo Histórico".
October 1998; Roskilde University, Denmark (International Meeting “Bourbaki – Origins and Influence”): (1) “The Prehistory of Mathematical Structures” ; (2) “Bourbaki’s Structures and Category Theory”
October 1998; University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Mathematics Dept.: “Hilbert and Physics”
October 1998; Aahrus University, Denmark, Philosophy Dept.: “Recent Trends in the Philosophy of Mathematics”
May 1998; Seven Pines Symposium, Wisconsin, USA: “Physics and Mathematics at the Turn of the Century”: “Hilbert’s Axiomatic Method and its Influence on the Development of Physics in the Twentieth Century”
November 1997; Van Leer Institute - Jerusalem (Bar Hillel Colloquium for History, Philosophy and Sociology of Science): Comments to Menachem Fisch’s Talk “Victorian Mathematics.”
November 1997; Roskilde University, Copenhagen (International Meeting “Proof Theory - Origin and Development”): “The Empirical Roots of Hilbert’s Axiomatic Approach”
September 1997; CIRM - Luminy, Marseille (Colloque International d’histoire des Mathématiques: Constructions, Reconstructions et Images de Corpus Mathématique dans l’Histoire): “Mathematical Structures from Hilbert to Bourbaki - The Evolution of an Image of Mathematics.”
November 1996; ETH Zürich (Symposium on The Origins and Development of Eternal Truth in Mathematics): “The Origins and Development of Eternal Truth in Modern Mathematics - Hilbert to Bourbaki.”
March 1996: The Open University, Milton Keynes (Meeting on “Geometry and Physics, 1900-1930): “Hilbert and Physics” (2 Lectures).
February 1996: Duke University, Durham (The Triangle Colloquium for History of Science and Technology): “Hilbert’s Empiricist Approach to Geometry”
October 1995: Dibner Institute for History of Science and Technology, MIT: “Nicolas Bourbaki and the Myth of Mathematical Structures.”
July 1995: Fourth International Symposium on the History of General Relativity, Berlin: “Hilbert’s Way to General Relativity.”
September 1994: Universidad de Zaragoza, Segundo Simposio Galdeano sobre Historia de las Matemáticas: “Paradigmas, la Agenda Kuhniana y la Historia de las Matemáticas.”
July 1993: Fourth Göttingen Workshop on the History of Modern Mathematics, Universität Göttingen: “Nicolas Bourbaki and the Myth of Mathematical Structures.”
July 1991: Second Göttingen Workshop on the History of Modern Mathematics, Universität Göttingen: “Could Dedekind Have written van der Waerden’s Moderne Algebra?
September 1990: Symposium on Structures in Mathematical Theories, Universidad de San Sebastián: “Mathematical Structures: Formal and Informal Aspects”.