A List
4/11/05

PISKOR LECTURE AT SLU FOCUSES ON MESOPOTAMIAN MATHEMATICS

CANTON – St. Lawrence University Peterson Professor of Mathematics Duncan J. 
Melville will present the Frank P. Piskor Faculty Lecture on Monday, April 18, 
at 7  p.m. in Herring-Cole Hall, on the topic "Teaching and Learning 
Mathematics in Mesopotamia." A reception will follow the lecture; both are 
open to the public, free of charge.
	Mesopotamian mathematics is one of Melville's research interests, and he 
maintains a Web site on the topic. He also covers the subject in his History 
of Mathematics course.
	He states, "Scribes in Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq) wrote on clay, which 
does not perish when discarded, and so much of their writing has been preserved 
for archaeologists to discover, including a number of mathematical texts. In 
recent years, there has been a tremendous development in understanding how 
mathematical knowledge was organized and transmitted – the ways in which 
students learned mathematics, the techniques used to approach different 
mathematical problems, and the kinds of pedagogies used by their teachers." 
Melville will discuss in his lecture the current understanding of these 
topics for roughly 3000 to 1500 BC.  
	A graduate of the University of London, Melville earned two master's 
degrees and the Ph.D. at Yale University. He joined the faculty at St. Lawrence 
in 1991, and has published widely in the field of mathematics history and 
philosophy. Specific research fields of Melville's – other than Mesopotamian 
mathematics – include Lie algebras, and ancient and classical mathematics. 
Many of his most recent publications are on the topic of quantum deformations.
	The Piskor Faculty Lectureship was established in 1979 to encourage 
original and continued research among St. Lawrence faculty members, to 
recognize and honor distinguished scholarship and to afford the opportunity 
for faculty to share their learning with the academic community.

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