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Reuben Hersh

 

 
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Reuben Hersh
 
 
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Reuben Hersh (born 1927) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 mathematician
Mathematician

A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and/or research is the field of mathematics....
 and academic, best known for his writings on the nature, practice, and social impact of mathematics. This work challenges and complements mainstream philosophy of mathematics
Philosophy of mathematics

The philosophy of mathematics is the branch of philosophy that studies the philosophical assumptions, foundations, and implications of mathematics....
.

After receiving a B.A. in English literature
English literature

The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; Joseph Conrad was Polish, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, Salman Rushdie is Indian, V.S....
 from Harvard University
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
 in 1946, Hersh spent a decade writing for Scientific American
Scientific American

Scientific American is a popular science science magazine, published since August 28, 1845, making it one of the oldest continuously published magazines in the United States....
 and working as a machinist. In 1962, he was awarded a Ph.D. in mathematics from New York University
New York University

New York University is a private university, nonsectarian, research university in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan....
; his advisor was P.D. Lax
Peter Lax

Peter David Lax is a mathematician working in the areas of pure and applied mathematics. He has made important contributions to integrable systems, fluid dynamics and shock waves, solitonic physics, hyperbolic conservation laws, and mathematical and scientific computing, among other fields....
).






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Reuben Hersh (born 1927) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 mathematician
Mathematician

A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and/or research is the field of mathematics....
 and academic, best known for his writings on the nature, practice, and social impact of mathematics. This work challenges and complements mainstream philosophy of mathematics
Philosophy of mathematics

The philosophy of mathematics is the branch of philosophy that studies the philosophical assumptions, foundations, and implications of mathematics....
.

After receiving a B.A. in English literature
English literature

The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; Joseph Conrad was Polish, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, Salman Rushdie is Indian, V.S....
 from Harvard University
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
 in 1946, Hersh spent a decade writing for Scientific American
Scientific American

Scientific American is a popular science science magazine, published since August 28, 1845, making it one of the oldest continuously published magazines in the United States....
 and working as a machinist. In 1962, he was awarded a Ph.D. in mathematics from New York University
New York University

New York University is a private university, nonsectarian, research university in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan....
; his advisor was P.D. Lax
Peter Lax

Peter David Lax is a mathematician working in the areas of pure and applied mathematics. He has made important contributions to integrable systems, fluid dynamics and shock waves, solitonic physics, hyperbolic conservation laws, and mathematical and scientific computing, among other fields....
). He has been affiliated with the University of New Mexico
University of New Mexico

The University of New Mexico is a public university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, New Mexico, USA. It was founded in 1889. It offers multiple bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and professional degree programs in all areas of the arts, sciences, and engineering....
 since 1964, where he is now professor emeritus.

Hersh has written a number of technical articles on partial differential equation
Partial differential equation

In mathematics, partial differential equations are a type of differential equation, i.e., a Relation involving an unknown Function of several independent variables and its partial derivatives with respect to those variables....
s, probability
Probability

Probability, or wikt:chance, is a way of expressing knowledge or belief that an Event will occur or has occurred. In mathematics the concept has been given an exact meaning in probability theory, that is used extensively in such areas of study as mathematics, statistics, finance, gambling, science, and philosophy to draw conclusions about t...
, random evolutions, and linear operator equations. He is the (co)author of four articles in Scientific American
Scientific American

Scientific American is a popular science science magazine, published since August 28, 1845, making it one of the oldest continuously published magazines in the United States....
, and 12 articles in the Mathematical Intelligencer
Mathematical Intelligencer

The Mathematical Intelligencer is a mathematical journal published by Springer Verlag that aims at a conversational and scholarly tone, rather than the technical and specialist tone more common amongst such journals....
.

Hersh is best known as the coauthor (with Philip J. Davis
Philip J. Davis

For other persons named Philip Davis, see Philip Davis .Philip J. Davis is an United States Applied Mathematics. He was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts....
) of The Mathematical Experience
The Mathematical Experience

The Mathematical Experience is a 1981 book by Philip J. Davis and Reuben Hersh that discusses the practice of modern mathematics from a history of mathematics and philosophy of mathematics perspective....
, which won the National Book Award
National Book Award

The National Book Awards are among the most eminent literary prizes in the United States. Started in 1950, the awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the prior year, as well as lifetime achievement awards including the "Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters" and the "Literarian Award"....
 in 1983. He also sympathizes with the perspectives on mathematics of Imre Lakatos
Imre Lakatos

Imre Lakatos was a philosopher of Philosophy of mathematics and Philosophy of science, most famous today worldwide for his thesis of the fallibility of mathematics and its 'methodology of proofs and refutations', and also for introducing the concept of the 'research programme' in his methodology of scientific research programmes....
 and Where Mathematics Comes From
Where Mathematics Comes From

Where Mathematics Comes From: How the Embodied Mind Brings Mathematics into Being is a book by George Lakoff, a cognitive linguistics, and Rafael E....
.

Books by Hersh

  • 1999 (1981) (with Philip Davis). The Mathematical Experience. Mariner Books.
  • 2005 (1986) (with Philip Davis). Descartes' Dream: The World According to Mathematics. Dover.
  • 1997. What Is Mathematics, Really? Oxford Univ. Press.
  • 2006 (edited). Springer Verlag.
  • 2009 (with Vera John-Steiner). Loving and Hating Mathematics.Princeton University Press


External links

  • at the Univ. of New Mexico.