Christopher Hollings

Historian of mathematics

I studied mathematics (both as an undergraduate and a postgraduate) at the University of York, and then worked in mathematical research for a couple of years before turning full time to the history of mathematics.  I have always been interested in the question of where mathematics comes from, and much of my own research in the history of mathematics has been connected with the 19th- and 20th-century development of the broad area of mathematics (abstract algebra) that I used to work in.  It is important also to supply a cultural context for developments in mathematics, and so this has led me into the study of the communications (or lack thereof) between mathematicians on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain during the 20th century.  In addition to these topics, I have also been involved in the first comprehensive study of the mathematical manuscripts of the computing pioneer Ada Lovelace, and have been interviewed and given talks on this subject:

Listen to more podcasts from Dr Hollings here:

http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/mathematical-correspondence-ada-lovelace-and-augustus-de-morgan

https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/Ada+Lovelace+and+her+mentors+-+Christopher+D.+Hollings/1_bxzi81zq

More information on the topic of the podcast

https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/24907

Online version of the mathematical papers of Ada Lovelace: http://www.claymath.org/publications/ada-lovelaces-mathematical-papers