Mathematics: How it Shaped Our World

by David Rooney

Mathematics: How It Shaped Our World uses the world-class collections of the Science Museum to offer a vivid vision of 400 years of human mathematical ingenuity.

This book accompanied the Science Museum’s RIBA-award-winning new Mathematics: The Winton Gallery designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, which I curated. E&T Magazine, reviewing the book, commented that “where some introductory or historical texts seek merely to inform, this one strives to engage intellectual thought and questioning, positioning it firmly above the rest”.

This lavishly illustrated book includes vivid accounts of the mathematical work underpinning some of our most fundamental human concerns, from life and death to war and peace, money, trade, beauty and our attempts to control nature’s most elemental forces. It also contains an absorbing series of newly commissioned essays by world-leading experts in the history and modern practice of mathematics.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published February 13, 2017

About the author

David Rooney is a historian and has taught in many important institutions, including the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Amongst his previously published titles are Wingate and the Chindits, Burma Victory, and Military Mavericks. He lives in Cambridge, United Kingdom.