Eleanor Robson Explained

Eleanor Robson
Alma Mater:University of Oxford
Thesis Title:Old Babylonian Coefficient Lists and the Wider Context of Mathematics in Ancient Mesopotamia, 2100–1600 BC
Workplaces:University College London, All Souls College
Occupation:Historian of the ancient world
Awards:History of Science Society's Pfizer Award (2011)

Eleanor Robson, (born 1969) is a British Assyriologist and academic. She is Professor of Ancient Middle Eastern History at University College London. She is a former chair of the British Institute for the Study of Iraq and a Quondam fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.[1] She is a Fellow of the British Academy.[2]

Early life and education

Robson was born in 1969.[3] In 1990, she graduated with a BSc in mathematics from the University of Warwick.[4] In 1995, she received a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree from the University of Oxford for a thesis titled "Old Babylonian coefficient lists and the wider context of mathematics in ancient Mesopotamia 2100-1600 BC".[5]

Career

She was a British Academy postdoctoral research fellow from 1997 to 2000 and then a post-doctoral research fellow at All Souls College from 2000 to 2003, associated with the Faculty of Oriental Studies. From 2004 to 2013 Robson was based at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge.[6]

Robson is the author or co-author of several books on Mesopotamian culture and the history of mathematics. In 2003, she won the Lester R. Ford Award of the Mathematical Association of America for her work on Plimpton 322, a clay tablet of Babylonian mathematics; contrary to previous theories according to which this tablet was of number theoretic character or was trigonometric table, Robson showed that it could have been a collection of school exercises in solving right-triangle problems.[7] [8] [9] [10] She has also been widely quoted for her criticism of the U.S. government's failure to prevent looting at the National Museum of Iraq during the Iraq War in 2003.[11] [12] [13]

Robson has received funding from the AHRC for the Nahrein Network.[14]

Robson was the chair of the Council for the British Institute for the Study of Iraq from 2012 to 2017.

Honours and awards

In 2011 Robson won the History of Science Society's Pfizer Award for her monograph Mathematics in Ancient Iraq: A Social History.

Robson was a visiting lecturer at the College de France in June 2017.

She was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in 2022.[15]

Books

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Dr Eleanor Robson . . 2016 . July 27, 2016.
  2. Web site: Professor Eleanor Robson FBA . 2022-07-22 . The British Academy . en.
  3. Web site: Robson, Eleanor, 1969- (32169986) . viaf.org . 15 August 2022.
  4. Web site: Prof Eleanor Robson. UCL IRIS. 19 Jan 2018.
  5. Web site: Robson . Eleanor . Old Babylonian coefficient lists and the wider context of mathematics in ancient Mesopotamia 2100-1600 BC . E-Thesis Online Service . The British Library Board . 15 August 2022 . 1995.
  6. Web site: Professor Eleanor Robson. University College London. 2018-07-02. History. 2019-01-19.
  7. http://mathdl.maa.org/mathDL/22/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=2883 MAA Writing Awards
  8. p. 202: "the question 'how was the tablet calculated?' does not have to have the same answer as the question 'what problems does the tablet set?' The first can be answered most satisfactorily by reciprocal pairs, as first suggested half a century ago, and the second by some sort of right-triangle problems."
  9. .
  10. Science. February 23, 2001. 291. 5508. 1481. 10.1126/science.291.5508.1481a. Babylonian teaching aid. 220098230. .
  11. .
  12. .
  13. .
  14. Web site: UCL – London's Global University. UCL. The Nahrein Network. en. 2019-01-19.
  15. Web site: Record number of women elected to the British Academy . 2022-07-22 . The British Academy . en.
  16. Review by K.-B. Gundlach (2001), Mathematical Reviews, .
  17. Review by Leo Depuydt (2003) in Journal of Near Eastern Studies 62 (3): 231–232, .
  18. Review by Peggy Aldrich Kidwell (2004), Technology and Culture 45 (3): 662–664, .
  19. Review by T. M. Porter (2005), Historia Mathematica 32 (1): 98–99, .
  20. Review by A. R. George (2005), Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland (Third Series) 15: 219–220, .
  21. Review by Daniel Shoup (2006), European Journal of Archaeology 9 (2–3): 298–300, .
  22. Review by Victor J. Katz (2009), Mathematical Reviews, .
  23. Review by Duncan J. Melville (2009), Historia Mathematica 36 (4): 428–433, .
  24. Review by Frank J. Swetz (2008), Loci, .
  25. Review by Jens Høyrup (2009), The Mathematical Intelligencer, .
  26. Review by Hardy Grant (2010), Historia Mathematica 37 (1): 112–118, .