Margaret Baron
Margaret E. Baron (1915 – 16 August 1996) was a British mathematics educator and historian of mathematics known for her book on the history of calculus.[1]
Life
Baron was originally from Gateshead, in northeastern England, and earned a bachelor's degree from Durham University through King's College, Newcastle, which later became Newcastle University. She worked for a year as an English teacher in Frankfurt, and in 1938 became a mathematics teacher at the Bede School for Girls, later to become part of Sunderland College. Because she married George Baron, a teacher at the corresponding boys' school, she was dismissed as a teacher in 1940. She took two more teaching posts, at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne and the High Storrs School in Sheffield, before leaving work to raise her family in Gateshead.[1]
Her husband returned from war service in 1946, and they moved to London. Eventually she returned to teaching, at Goldsmiths' College and then, in 1957, as head of mathematics at the Stockwell College of Education. While there, she wrote a master's thesis on the history of calculus in 1960, and completed a PhD in 1965. She retired in 1977, and died on 16 August 1996.[1]
Contributions
Baron's book The Origins of the Infinitesimal Calculus, originally published in 1969 by Pergamon, was reprinted in 1987 by Dover Books,[1][2] and has been suggested for inclusion in undergraduate mathematics libraries by the Mathematical Association of America.[3] She also wrote several other publications in the history of mathematics, including contributions to the Dictionary of Scientific Biography.[1]
She became one of the founders of the Association of Teachers of Mathematics in the early 1950s, and wrote additional publications in mathematics education,[1] including the book Number in Elementary Mathematics (Hutchinson, 1973).[1][4]
References
- Seltman, Muriel (September 1996), "Margaret Baron 1915–1996", British Society for the History of Mathematics. Newsletter, 11 (2): 32–34, doi:10.1080/09629419608000021
- Reviews of The Origins of the Infinitesimal Calculus:
- Boyer, Carl B. (June 1970), The British Journal for the History of Science, 5 (1): 89–91, doi:10.1017/S0007087400010670, JSTOR 4025358
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: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - Drake, Stillman (March 1972), Canadian Mathematical Bulletin, 15 (1): 166–168, doi:10.1017/s000843950003143x
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: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - Grabiner, Judith V. (June 1990), Isis, 81 (2): 346–347, doi:10.1086/355398, JSTOR 233747
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: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - Hofmann, J. E. (1969), Sudhoffs Archiv (in German), 53 (3): 335, JSTOR 20775776
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: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - Struik, D. J., Mathematical Reviews, MR 0256815
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: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - Wallis, P. J. (February 1972), The Mathematical Gazette, 56 (395): 57, doi:10.2307/3613719, JSTOR 3613719
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: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - Whiteside, D. T., zbMATH, Zbl 0182.30801
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: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
- Boyer, Carl B. (June 1970), The British Journal for the History of Science, 5 (1): 89–91, doi:10.1017/S0007087400010670, JSTOR 4025358
- "The Origins of the Infinitesimal Calculus (unreviewed listing)", MAA Reviews, Mathematical Association of America, retrieved 2021-06-12
- Reviews of Number in Elementary Mathematics:
- Wain, G. T. (December 1974), The Mathematical Gazette, 58 (406): 303, doi:10.2307/3616114, JSTOR 3616114
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: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - Wyvill, Ron (November 1974), Mathematics in School, 3 (6): 33, JSTOR 30211289
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: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
- Wain, G. T. (December 1974), The Mathematical Gazette, 58 (406): 303, doi:10.2307/3616114, JSTOR 3616114