By: Fatima Durrani – Social Development and Policy Major 2020
(Student, School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Habib University)
Dr. Glen Van Brummelen is an internationally acclaimed Canadian historian of mathematics specializing in historical applications of mathematics to astronomy. On the 7 of August, Dr. Brummelen brought to Habib University his rich and wide berth of knowledge of Mathematics and Astronomy and presented it to an audience of over fifty students, mathematics enthusiasts and professors in a DSSE Public Lecture. This lecture, titled ‘FROM THE HEAVENS TO THE EARTH: THE MERCURIAL TALE OF SPHERICAL TRIGONOMETRY’ was an in-depth summary of his renowned book- first one, to be accurate- with the same title (The Mathematics of the Heavens and the Earth: The Early History of Trigonometry). His book has enjoyed extreme success in the academic circles and is a further testament to his mastery in this arena.