Wilbur Knorr

Wilbur Richard Knorr ( born August 29, 1945 in Brooklyn, New York City; † March 18, 1997 in Palo Alto) was an American historian of mathematics.

Knorr studied at Harvard University, where in 1968 he received his master's degree ( Bachelor's degree in 1966 summa cum laude) and received his doctorate in 1973. He studied History of Science, Ancient Greek, Arabic and Hebrew. He was a professor at Brooklyn College and later at Stanford University. 1978/9 he was at the Institute for Advanced Study. He died of skin cancer.

Knorr was known for his studies of Euclid, Archimedes, Apollonius.

Knorr was co-editor of Historia Mathematica, of Isis and the Archive for History of Exact Sciences.

Writings

  • The evolution of the euclidean elements, Dordrecht, Reidel 1975
  • Ancient sources of the medieval tradition of mechanics, Florence 1982
  • The ancient tradition of geometric problems, Boston 1986
  • Textual studies in ancient and medieval geometry, Boston 1989
  • Knorr: La croix - Mathématiciens of Euclid's theory of irrational lines, Bulletin AMS, Vol 9, 1983, p.41
Palo Alto, California David Fowler (mathematician) Name Authority File
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