Sciences, Philosophie, Histoire – UMR 7219, laboratoire SPHERE

Research focus

• Cuneiform mathematics, especially Old-Babylonian mathematics

• Characteristics and uses of mathematical diagrams, roles played by diagrams in mathematical practices and mathematical reasoning

• Material properties of mathematical documents

• Organization of information about mathematical diagrams in databases

• Old-Babylonian field plans

PhD in preparation

Topic : The use of diagrams in mathematical reasonings : a contribution based on the analysis of Old-Babylonian mathematical clay tablets

Supervision : Christine Proust (SPHERE, UMR 7219) and Brigitte Lion (ArScAn-HAROC, UMR 7041)

Since September 2017
PhD student at University Paris 7 under the co-supervision of Christine Proust (SPHERE, UMR 7219) and Brigitte Lion (ArScAn-HAROC, UMR 7041). Tutorial classes in mathematics.

2016-2017
Master 1 in ancient history, specialized in assyriology, at University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Master thesis entitled Catalogue raisonné of the Neo-Babylonian, Achaemenid and Hellenistic metrological tablets from Babylonia under the supervision of Francis Joannès (ArScAn-HAROC, UMR 7041).

2015-2016
Master 2 in history and philosophy of science (LOPHISS) at University Paris 7. Master thesis entitled Interactions between texts and diagrams in Old-Babylonian mathematical reasonings under the supervision of Christine Proust (SPHERE, UMR 7219).

2012-2015
Bachelor and Master in mathematics at University Paris-Sud XI. Agrégation in mathematics.

Papers delivered in international conferences

• A homogeneous culture of drawing diagrams in relation to mathematical procedures in Old-Babylonian southern Mesopotamia ? Ninth conference of the European Society for the History of Science, symposium "Visual and Material Cultures in the Mathematics of the Ancient World". Bologna, 31 August - 3 September 2020.

• Distinguishing between mathematical and administrative diagrams : some examples from Old-Babylonian Sippar. 65ème Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, "Gods, Kings and Capitals in the Ancient Near East", workshop "Mathematics in various institutional settings : palaces, temples, schools, households". Paris, 8-12 July 2019.

• An insight into the variety of interactions between texts and diagrams in Old-Babylonian mathematics. Conference Broadening Horizons 6, "Bridging the Gap : Disciplines, Times and Spaces in Dialogue", session "Visual and Textual Forms of Communication". Berlin, 24-28 June 2019.

• Studying Old-Babylonian mathematical diagrams, a project at the crossroads of assyriology and history of mathematics. Seventh annual Oxford Postgraduate Conference in Assyriology, session "Education and Learning". Oxford, 13-14 April 2018.

Talks given in research seminars

• Reading some mathematical documents consisting only of drawings. Séminaire Lecture de textes mathématiques anciens du laboratoire SPHÈRE. Paris, 15 June 2020.

• Avec Arilès Remaki : Les brouillons mathématiques, approches croisées à partir des corpus leibnizien et paléo-babylonien. Séminaire des doctorants du laboratoire SPHÈRE. Paris, 3 March 2020.

• An air of professional education, but in what sense ? Some reflections on a small group of lenticular "educational field plans" from Old-Babylonian Sippar. Seminar Histoire et Philosophie des Mathématiques of the laboratory SPHÈRE, session "À propos de figure fondamentale : Christine Proust". Paris, 9 December 2019.

• Une série de problèmes mathématiques illustrés de la tablette MS 3052, suite. Groupe de lecture de textes mathématiques cunéiformes. Paris, 17 October and 21 November 2019.

• Different types of erasures revealing different types of mathematical intentions on diagrams from the Old-Babylonian period. Seminar Histoire de Sciences, Histoire du Texte of the laboratory SPHÈRE, session "Actors’ operations with texts". Paris, 23 May 2019.

• A trapezium with impossible dimensions, or an irregular quadrilateral treated as a trapezium ? Reading the Old-Babylonian procedure-text YBC 4675. Seminar Lecture de textes mathématiques anciens of the laboratory SPHÈRE. Paris, 18 march and 1st April 2019.

• With Sarah Hijmans and Justin Gabriel : Opérations sur le papier. Séminaire des doctorants of the laboratory SPHÈRE. Paris, 8 January 2019.

• Une série de problèmes mathématiques illustrés de la tablette MS 3052. Groupe de lecture de textes mathématiques cunéiformes. Paris, 18 October 2018, 8 November 2018 & 14 February 2019.

• With Christine Proust : Reasoning with diagrams and layouts, examples from Mesopotamia. PhilMath Intersem 9, "Non-deductive methods in mathematics". Paris, 5-26 June 2018.

• Autour de quelques difficultés soulevées par la traduction des textes mathématiques cunéiformes. Séminaire des doctorants of the laboratory SPHÈRE. Paris, 6 February 2018.

• What diagrams tell us about practices of mathematical reasoning in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia : the example of the approximation procedure in tablet YBC 8633. Conference « Practices of reasoning in the mathematical sciences ». Paris, 4-7 December 2017.

• Les tablettes mathématiques et leurs diagrammes. Séminaire d’Histoire et Archéologie des Mondes Orientaux (SHAMO) 2017 of the laboratory ArScAn, "La matérialité des textes et des images dans l’Orient ancien". Nanterre, 12 January 2017.

Talks given for the Ecole doctorale

• Mesurer, communiquer et gérer le degré d’incertitude des résultats, un enjeu crucial en histoire des mathématiques cunéiformes. ED 400 Annual Workshop, "Comment faire ’preuve’ en sciences humaines et sociales ?". Paris, 13 March 2019.

• La mémoire de l’argile : ce que nous apprennent les caractéristiques matérielles des diagrammes mathématiques du corpus cunéiforme. ED 400 PhD workshop. Paris, 16 May 2018.

• What can we learn from Old-Babylonian mathematical diagrams ? ED 400 training in academic English. Paris, 14 February 2018.

Commentaries

• Matthieu Husson, Shaping an astronomical computation : determining syzygies in Paris 1320-1340. Conference "On cultures of scientific practice in ancient mathematical sciences". Paris, 10-13 April 2019.

• Zhou Xiaohan, Methods using duan ( 段 segment [of diagram]) in Yang Hui’s 楊輝 (fl. 13th century) works. Conference "Practices of reasoning in the mathematical sciences". Paris, 4-7 December 2017.

• Zhou Xiaohan, Diverse scholars’ ways of dealing with the “Method duoji” (Duoji shu) in 19th and 20th century China. Conference "Writing histories of ancient mathematics – Reflecting on past practices and opening the future, 18th – 21st centuries". Paris, 24-28 October 2016.

Scientific and practical coordination of research seminars

• Monthly seminar Histoire et philosophie des mathématiques (History and Philosophy of Mathematics) of the laboratory SPHÈRE : co-organizer since June 2018, with Eleonora Sammarchi and Emmylou Haffner, and then with Charlotte de Varent and Arilès Remaki.

• Monthly working group Lecture de textes mathématiques cunéiformes (Reading of mathematical cuneiform texts) of the laboratory SPHÈRE : creator, and organizer since June 2018.

Scientific organization of workshops and symposia

• Symposium "Visual and Material Cultures in the Mathematics of the Ancient World" for the Ninth Conference of the European Society for the History of Science (Bologna, 31 August - 3 September 2020) : co-organizer with Karine Chemla.

• Homage conference "À propos de figure fondamentale : Christine Proust" in the framework of the seminar Histoire et Philosophie des Mathématiques of the laboratory SPHÈRE (Paris,, 9 December 2019) : co-organizer with Karine Chemla, Agathe Keller and Christine Mousset.

Teaching in mathematics

• Tutorial classes "Algèbre et Analyse élémentaires II" (L1, 2x54h) at University Paris 7 in 2017-2018 and 2018-2019.
• Contribution to the tutorial classes "Algèbre et Analyse fondamentales I" (L2, 6h) at University Paris 7 in 2018-2019.

Teaching in history of science

• Lecture "Sciences en Mésopotamie" (M1&M2, 2x3h) for the course "Sciences en Asie" of the master LOPHISS at University Paris 7 in 2019 and 2020.

Workshops for school pupils

• Mesurer et calculer il y a 4000 ans en Mésopotamie. Co-organization of workshops on sexagesimal place value notation for high school pupils in the framework of the Fête de la Science 2019. University Paris 7, 10-11 october 2019.

• À l’école des scribes de Mésopotamie. Organization of a presentation and workshops on cuneiform script for elementary school pupils. Ecole du Plissay, Olivet (Loiret), 25 february 2019.

• Comment apprenait-on les maths en Mésopotamie il y a 4000 ans ?. Organization of a working session about mathematical teaching in Mesopotamia for high school pupils. University Paris 7, 22 february 2019.

• À l’école des scribes de Babylone. Co-organization of workshops for high school pupils in the framework of the ’Journées Européennes du Patrimoine 2018’. Ministère de la Culture, Paris, 14-16 september 2018.

Workshops for teachers

• À l’école de scribes de Babylone. Co-organization de sessions of workshops on the cuneiform script for teachers in the framework of the 80 ans du CNRS. Maison d’Initiation et de Sensibilisation aux Sciences (MISS) de l’Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, 21 september 2019.