Clemency Montelle

Clemency Montelle (born 8 July 1977)[1] is a New Zealand historian of mathematics known for her research on Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy.[2][3] She is a professor of mathematics at the University of Canterbury,[1][4] and a fellow of the New Zealand India Research Institute of the Victoria University of Wellington.[5]

Education

Montelle is originally from Christchurch.[2] She earned first class honours in mathematics and classical studies at the University of Canterbury in 1999, and completed a master's degree there in 2000.[1] It was not until the fourth year of her studies that, finding a copy of Euclid in the original Greek, she realized that she could reconcile her two interests by working in the history of mathematics.[2][3]

She became a Fulbright Scholar at Brown University, where she learned Cuneiform, Sanskrit, and Arabic.[3][6] She completed a Ph.D. in the history of mathematics there in 2005;[1] at Brown, her faculty mentors included David Pingree, Alice Slotsky, and Kim Plofker.[7]

Service

Montelle was vice president of the Commission for the History of Ancient and Medieval Astronomy for the 2017–2021 term.[8]

Books

Montelle is the author of the book Chasing Shadows: Mathematics, Astronomy, and the Early Reckoning of Eclipse theory (Johns Hopkins Press, 2011).[9] With Kim Plofker, she is the coauthor of Sanskrit Astronomical Tables (Springer, 2019).[10]

References

1. Curriculum vitae (PDF), November 2011, retrieved 2020-09-17
2. "Profile: Clemency Montelle" (PDF), New Zealand Mathematical Society Newsletter, 131: 16–17, December 2017
3. Dr Clemency Montelle revealing the many faces of mathematics, Royal Society of New Zealand, 20 December 2017
4. Clemency Montelle, University of Canterbury, retrieved 2020-09-17
5. Dr Clemency Montelle, New Zealand India Research Institute, retrieved 2020-09-17
6. White, Rebekah (March–April 2018), The Gaps in History: Clemency Montelle reads mathematics and astronomy texts in ancient languages
7. "Three questions to Clemency Montelle", SAW ERC: Mathematical Sciences in the Ancient World, 14 March 2014, retrieved 2020-09-17
8. CHAMA officers, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, 27 September 2011, retrieved 2020-09-17
9. Reviews of Chasing Shadows:
   • Bowen, Alan C. (June 2013), Isis, 104 (2): 385–387, doi:10.1086/672171, JSTOR 10.1086/672171
   • Duke, Dennis (November 2012), Journal for the History of Astronomy, 43 (4): 500–502, doi:10.1177/002182861204300410, S2CID 122471382
   • Kerszberg, Pierre, MathSciNet, MR 2919869
   • Linton, Christopher (March 2012), Notices of the American Mathematical Society (PDF), vol. 59 (3 ed.), pp. 430–433
   • McCleary, John (January 2014), "Review", MAA Reviews, Mathematical Association of America
10. Reviews of Sanskrit Astronomical Tables:
    • Dani, S. G., MathSciNet, MR 3929708
    • Guthery, Scott (August 2019), "Review", MAA Reviews, Mathematical Association of America

External links

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