Events

CHAIRPERSON

Prof Prasenjit Duara, Asia Research Institute and Office of Deputy President (Research and Technology), National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

It is generally recognized that zero’ as we understand the concept today originated in two geographically separated cultures: the Maya in South America and in the Indian. However, if zero merely signified a magnitude or a direction separator, the Egyptian zero, nfr, dating back at least four thousand years, amply served these purposes. If zero was merely a place-holder symbol, then such a zero was present in the Babylonian positional number system before the first recorded occurrence of the Indian zero. If zero was represented by just an empty space within a well-defined positional number system, such a zero was present in Chinese mathematics a few centuries before the beginning of the Common Era. The dissemination westwards of the Indian zero as an integral part of the Indian numerals is one of the most remarkable episodes in the history of mathematics and the story is well-known. What is less known is that the earliest material evidence of the the appearance of zero within a well constructed place value number system is found in parts of South East Asia. What does this signify in relation to circulation of knowledge within the Asian world?

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

George Gheverghese Joseph was born in Kerala, Southern India, and lived in India until he was nine. His family then moved to Mombasa in Kenya where he received his schooling. He studied at the University of Leicester and then worked for six years in Kenya before returning to pursue his postgraduate studies at Manchester. He has travelled widely, holding university appointments in East and Central Africa, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand as well as a Royal Society Visiting Fellowship (twice) in India during which he gave lectures at several universities. His publications include five books: Women at Work (Philip Allan, Oxford, 1983), The Crest of the Peacock: Non-The Crest of the PeacockEuropean Roots of Mathematics (1st Hardback Edition, Tauris, 1991; 1st Paperback Edition, Penguin 1992; 2nd Edition, jointly by Penguin Books and Princeton University Press, 2000), Multicultural Mathematics: Teaching Mathematics from a Global Perspective (Oxford University Press, 1993) and George Joseph: Life and Times of a Kerala Christian Nationalist (Orient Longman, 2003). A Malayalam translation of the book came out in 2008. The last named book is a political biography of his grandfather, George Joseph, a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawarhalal Nehru and other leaders of modern India. In 2009, A Passage to Infinity: Medieval Indian Mathematics from Kerala and its Impact was brought out by Sage. A Malayalam translation of this book followed in December 2010. His book, The Crest of the Peacock, has been translated into Italian, Japanese and Spanish. There have also been recent translations into Malayalam (2006) and Farsi (2008). A third edition of the book was brought out by Princeton University Press in October 2010. He was the Editor of three published Conference Proceedings: ‘International Seminar and Colloquium on 1500 Years of Aryabhateeyam ( Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad, Kochi, 2002 ); Kerala Mathematics, History and its Possible Transmissions to Europe (B R Publishing Corp, Delhi, 2009); and Knowledge and Cultures: Crossing boundaries in History ( Manchester Metropolitan University Press, 2010). He is also the author of over 70 articles and chapters in books. In October 2000, he was called to the Bar of the Middle Temple, London.

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