This book is the first edition of the surviving correspondence of celebrated Georgain mathematician and educator Charles Hutton (1737-1823).

This volume puts two biblical miracles - the Sun reversing its course in II Kings 20:8-11/Isaiah 38:8 (Horologium Ahaz) and the Sun standing still in Joshua 10:12 -, in the early modern period centre stage. We pay special attention to the development of related imagery, their role as anti-Copernican arguments (in text and image), their reception, their treatment in the mathematical sciences, and their various cultural layers, with a focus on the history of art and the history of science in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The material discussed spreads from rather prosaic mathematical reflections to highly appealing visual representations of the two miracles.

Comprising fifteen essays by leading authorities in the history of mathematics, this volume aims to exemplify the richness, diversity, and breadth of mathematical practice from the seventeenth century through to the middle of the nineteenth century.

The Savilian Professorships in Geometry and Astronomy at Oxford University were founded in 1619 by Sir Henry Savile, distinguished scholar and Warden of Merton College. The Geometry chair, in particular, is the earliest University-based mathematics professorship in England, predating the first Cambridge equivalent by about sixty years. To celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of the geometry chair, a meeting was held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and the talks presented at this meeting have formed the basis for this fully edited and lavishly illustrated book, which outlines the first 400 years of Oxford's Savilian Professors of Geometry. Starting with Henry Briggs, the co-inventor of logarithms, this volume proceeds via such figures as John Wallis, a founder member of the Royal Society, and Edmond Halley, via the 19th-century figures of Stephen Rigaud, Baden Powell, Henry Smith, and James Joseph Sylvester, to the 20th century and the present day. Oxford's Savilian Professors of Geometry: The First 400 Years assumes no mathematical background, and should therefore appeal to the interested general reader with an interest in mathematics and the sciences. It should also be of interest to anyone interested in the history of mathematics or of the development of Oxford and its namesake university. To all of these audiences it offers portraits of mathematicians at work and an accessible exposition of historical mathematics in the context of its times.

The Ladies' Diary was an annual almanac published in England from 1704 to 1840. It was designed to provide useful information to women; the subtitle reveals the purpose, Containing New Improvements in Arts and Sciences, and Many Entertaining Particulars: Designed for the Use and Diversion of the Fair Sex. It contained meteorological and astronomical information, recipes, health and medical advice, scientific information, and mathematical puzzles and problems. Readers were encouraged to, and did, send solutions and original problems and puzzles of their own for publication in the next year's issue. Frank Swetz, one of the founding Editors of Convergence, the MAA's online journal of the history of mathematics, wondered about the historical and sociological conditions that supported The Ladies' Diary. In this volume he unearths the story of the Diary's creation and of the community of people surrounding it. We learn who the editors were and something about the contributors and readers. Swetz explores the sociological and cultural circumstances that made this unique almanac full of mathematics popular for over a century. As a dynamic forum for mathematics learning, teaching, and understanding, the Diary remains a milestone in the development of British mathematics.

A fascinating life of Sir Joseph Banks which restores him to his proper place in history as a leading scientific figure of the English Enlightenment As official botanist on James Cook's first circumnavigation, the longest-serving president of the Royal Society, advisor to King George III, the "father of Australia," and the man who established Kew as the world's leading botanical garden, Sir Joseph Banks was integral to the English Enlightenment. Yet he has not received the recognition that his multifarious achievements deserve. In this engaging account, Toby Musgrave reveals the true extent of Banks's contributions to science and Britain. From an early age Banks pursued his passion for natural history through study and extensive travel, most famously on the HMS Endeavour. He went on to become a pivotal figure in the advancement of British scientific, economic, and colonial interests. With his enquiring, enterprising mind and extensive network of correspondents, Banks's reputation and influence were global. Drawing widely on Banks's writings, Musgrave sheds light on Banks's profound impact on British science and empire in an age of rapid advancement.

After James Cook's voyage in HMS Endeavour, Banks developed a network of scientists and explorers. Banks's correspondence is one of the great primary sources for studying the Pacific region during this important period of exploration and colonial expansion.