Rob'd of glories: The posthumous misfortunes of Thomas Harriot and his algebra
The author investigates the fate of Thomas Harriot's algebra after Harriot's death in 1621 and, in particular, the largely unsuccessful efforts of seventeenth-century mathematicians to promote it. There were three compilations of Harriot's work, which are now assessible in libraries and all brought together within ten years of his death in 1621. One of the compilations was the book ``Artis analyticae praxis prepared by N. Torporley (1564-1632) and W. Warner (ca. 1557-1643) and published in 1631. The author analyses the contents of this book, as well as Torporley's critique of the compilation and discusses the impact of Vieta's algebraic papers. A partial translation of Torporley's critique is presented for the first time. The author then investigates John Pell's influence on J. Wallis (1616-1703) which was far more significant than has previously been realised. On this background a description of Wallis's 1865 account of Harriot's algebra and his accusations on R. Descartes (1596-1650), blaming him for having taken ideas from Harriot without acknowledgement, follows. Wallis's polemic in his ``A treatise of algebra burdened all later assessments of both Wallis and Harriot. Harriot's main contributions to algebra are seen in a simplification of notation, the handling of equations at a pure symbolic level and his insights into the way polynoms could be build up as products of linear and quadratic factors and to rise this composition as an analytical tool.
- Thomas Harriot: Father of English algebra?
- Notes made by Thomas Harriot on the treatises of François Viète
- Symbolism, combinations, and visual imagery in the mathematics of Thomas Harriot
- TheArtis analyticae praxisof Harriot and Warner in focus
- The publications of John Pell FRS (1611-1685): some new light and some old confusions
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1868640 (Why is no real title available?)
- Johannes Lohne (1908--1993), the forgotten Norwegien who rediscovered Thomas Harriot and front fighter for the German occupying forces in World War II
- Pulling Harriot Out of Newton’s Shadow: How the Norwegian Outsider Johannes Lohne Came to Contribute to Mainstream History of Mathematics
- Wallis, Leibniz and the case of Harriot and Descartes -- on the history of a supposed plagiarism in the 17th century
- Maligned for mathematics: Sir Thomas Urquhart and his Trissotetras
- Abraham Robertson, the Binomial Theorem, and the Nature of Plagiarism in Mathematics
- Thomas Harriot's \textit{Artis analyticae praxis}. An English translation with commentary
- Thomas Harriot's doctrine of triangular numbers: The ``Magisteria Magna
- Symbolic language in early modern mathematics: The algebra of Pierre Hérigone (1580-1643)
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