Michael Sean Mahoney Explained

Michael Sean Mahoney (June 30, 1939 – July 23, 2008) was a historian of science and technology.

Mahoney was born in New York City, and did his undergraduate studies at Harvard University, graduating in 1960. He earned a Ph.D. in history and history of science from Princeton University in 1967, and immediately took a position as an assistant professor there. He remained at Princeton for over 40 years, until his death in 2008.^{[1] [2] [3]}

A conference on the history of science and technology was held in his honor at Princeton in May 2009.^[4]

Fermat biography

Mahoney's biography of Pierre de Fermat received much critical attention^{[5] [6] [7]} including a scathing review by André Weil in 1973.^{[8] [9] [10]} A second edition of Mahoney's book came out in 1994.

Selected publications

• Mahoney, Michael Sean, The mathematical career of Pierre de Fermat. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1973. 2nd edition, 1994,
• Mahoney, Michael S., Barrow's mathematics: between ancients and moderns. Before Newton, 179–249, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1990.
• Mahoney, Michael, S. and Thomas Haigh (editor). Histories of Computing. Harvard Univ. Press. 2011. Completed posthumously.

External links

• Michael S. Mahoney papers. Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota. 38 boxes of Mahoney's books and serials related to the history of computing, mathematics, and related fields; and 17 boxes of Mahoney's archival materials, including course work, subject files, and publication drafts.

Notes and References

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3. William Aspray, "Michael Sean Mahoney (1939-2008)", IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol.36, no. 3, pp. 70-79, July-Sept. 2014, doi:10.1109/MAHC.2014.41
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