Brown University Library Acquires Collection of David E. Pingree

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Brown University Library Acquires Collection of David E. Pingree

 

The Brown University Library has acquired the library of the late David

E. Pingree, an internationally renowned scholar of the history of

mathematics. The collection, consisting of more than 22,000 materials,

is a remarkable resource for the study of mathematics in the ancient

world, in particular India, and the relationship of Eastern mathematics

to the development of mathematics and related disciplines in the West.

 

 

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [brown University] — The Brown University Library has

acquired the library of the late David E. Pingree, an internationally

renowned historian of the exact sciences in antiquity and a member of

the Brown faculty from 1971 to 2005. Pingree was chair of Brown’s

Department of History of Mathematics and a University Professor.

 

Reflecting his scholarly interests, the collection focuses on the study

of mathematics and exact sciences in the ancient world, especially

India, and the relationship of Eastern mathematics to the development

of mathematics and related disciplines in the West. The collection

contains some 22,000 volumes and a number of other publications and

manuscripts. The holdings consist of both antiquarian and recent

materials published in Sanskrit, Arabic, Hindi, and Western languages

as well as microfilm and photocopies of manuscript material from around

the world, much of which is now lost in its original format.

 

“David Pingree was for many years a prominent member of our Brown

University faculty with worldwide respect as the absolute leader in his

field,” said Thomas Banchoff, the Royce Family Professor in Teaching

Excellence in the Department of Mathematics. “His working collection of

materials on the history of mathematics is unique and unparalleled.”

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The Pingree Collection will add a new dimension to Brown’s important

holdings in mathematics. With faculty support dating to the early 20th

century, the Brown University Library has built a strong mathematics

collection in both contemporary and antiquarian material, focused

primarily on the Western tradition from Euclid to the present. In

addition to important printed texts, Brown owns the archive of the

American Mathematical Society.

 

The recipient of many honors, Pingree was among the first group of

MacArthur Fellows in 1981 and used a portion of his award to support

the library and the teaching of Sanskrit at Brown. “It is therefore

only fitting that his remarkable collection should find its home at

Brown’s John Hay and John D. Rockefeller Jr. libraries,” said Harriette

Hemmasi, the Joukowsky Family University Librarian at Brown University.

 

The antiquarian books and manuscripts, along with the photocopies, will

be administered by Brown’s Special Collections Library, with most of

the remainder being incorporated into the circulating collections.

 

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