50th
Annual Meeting of the Australian
Mathematical Society
History
Book Launch at Macquarie Theatre
Tuesday
26 September 2006 at 18:30
Graeme Cohen (University of
Technology, Sydney)
Counting
Australia In
Short Talk
by Graeme Cohen
Episodes
in the writing of "Counting Australia In"
This work began well over 5 years
ago in response to a call for someone to write the history of
the Australian Mathematical Society as part of the celebration
of its 50th Anniversary. My offer to extend the history to cover
mathematics in Australian universities and other institutions
was accepted. With the Society's sponsorship, I travelled
to all capital cities to tape interviews, to visit libraries and
university archives, and to take notes of meetings with scores
of mathematicians, young and old.
This talk will detail some of
my "discoveries", such as (1) coming across Basil Rennie's
diary in which he gave a day-by-day account of the first meeting
of the Society 50 years ago, (2) finding that T. G. Room had applied
for the Chair of Mathematics in the University of Western Australia
six years before he won the Sydney appointment, and (3) finding
in the University of Melbourne Archives the 1928 letter of application
of Norbert Wiener for the Chair of Mathematics there.
Official Launch
of "Counting Australia In" - David Elliott
