The role of history in the study of mathematics (Q1985472)

This essay gives a lively and concise summary of the ideals the author has championed in his long and distinguished career. The author stresses the value of concrete calculations and algorithmic thinking, contrasting this with ``the nonconstructive set-theoretic style of what we call modern mathematics''. He repudiates modern mathematicians and historians alike for uncritically ``reinforcing the view that the modern style of mathematics is the only one''. This close-mindedness ``has impoverished mathematics'' itself, as well as led to ``not only unjustified but seriously wrong'' historical accounts in which ``what came before has been painted as limited, naive, and insufficiently rigorous''. The author supports his point with examples drawn from his previous works, showing how computational thinking was essential to figures such as Kummer, Kronecker, Galois, and even Riemann, only to be neglected or mischaracterised in modernising reconceptions of the fields and their history by the likes of Hilbert and Klein that have now become the default mainstream view. One can only hope that the author's passionate plea will inspire a new generation that lives up to the high standard he has set for scholarship that integrates exacting historical research with concerns relevant to the working mathematician, while remaining steadfastly independent and critical with respect to established orthodoxy in either field.