Napier University to See Merchiston Tower of John Napier
EDINBURGH
Math sites:
Napier University– to see Merchiston Tower of John Napier.
Lauriston Castle – belonged to the Napier family
St. Cuthbert’s Church – there is a memorial to Napier here. He worshipped here and was an elder in this church. There is also a memorial to Alexander Nasmyth who is the artist who taught Mary Somerville.
Old Calton Burial Ground, Edinburgh – grave of John Playfair (next to David Hume)
Greyfriar’sKirkyard – Colin MacLaurin
Maxwell Statue – recent and near Old CaltonMaxwell House where James Clerk Maxwell was born is at 14 India Street, Edinburgh about a fifteen minute walk from the railway station which is in the centre of Edinburgh.
Royal Society of Edinburgh - 22–24 George Street – Kelvin was president at one time, founded by Maclaurin
Scottish National Gallery – portrait of Robert Burns here done by Alexander Nasmyth who taught Mary Somerville. After learning perspective from him she got a copy of Euclid’s Elements and taught herself from it.
University of Edinburgh. – Maxwell, Tait, Bayes (studied here), John Playfair(prof) -while there look into things the outreach program may be putting on. (There is a MathBio talk given on March 29 4pm – my first day in town ) On Friday at noon is a “GAMES” math lecture: a self-guilded tour
(public toilets -
Near Edignburgh:
Burntisland – 31-32 Somerville Square is Mary Somerville’s house - childhood home of Mary Somerville, where she used to collect stones and shells and look out her window at night to see the stars (according to her daughter’s biography of her in the Gutenberg Project). John Playfairalso lived here. Good site on Mary here: also there is a portrait of her at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. (NB contains detailed information about correspondence, esp. Ada)
Jedburgh – the manse here is where Mary Somerville was born – at the home of an aunt and uncle – also the home of her second husband. She was known in Edinburgh as “The Rose of Jedburgh.” (Youtube presentation by RS: )
Personal stops: Arthur’s Seat!!! Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh Castle??
LINCOLN
Math sites:
Lincoln Cathedral – stained glass window and plaque to GeorgeBoole
Boole’s House and School – 3 Pottergate, Lincoln
Events at the university:
Day-trips from Lincoln: (Note to self – these are broad directions with fuller details if selected on google maps!!)
Woolsthorpe Manor – Sir Isaac Newton’s Home
Hucknall– burial place of the Byrons – Ada Byron Lovelace and Lord Byron
Directions to Hucknall:
TakeSt CatherinestoNewark Rd/A1434 (1 min – 0.3 miles)
FollowNewark Rd/A1434toA46 (12 min – 4.1 miles)
FollowA46toLincoln Rd/B6166inNottinghamshire (10 min – 9.1 miles)
FollowB6166toChurch St (5 min – 1.5 miles)
The Parish Church of St Mary Magdalene
Church Walk, Newark-on-Trent, Newark, Nottinghamshire NG24 1JS, United Kingdom
Directions from Hucknall to Woolsthorp:
Get onA1inCoddingtonfromSleaford RdandBeacon Hill Rd (6 min – 2.1 miles)
FollowA1toHigh Dike/B6403inLincolnshire (20 min – 21.2 miles)
Continue onBridge End/B6403to your destination (3 min – 1.1 miles)
Woolsthorpe Manor House
Grantham NG33 5NR, UK
Directions from Woolsthorp back to Lincoln:
TakeWoolsthorpe RdandBridge End/B6403toA1 (3 min – 0.9 miles)
FollowA1toA46inWinthorpe. Take theA46exit fromA1 (22 min – 22.6 miles)
FollowA46andA1434toSouth Park/A15inLincoln (23 min – 13.6 miles)
South Park Guest House
11 South Park, Lincoln LN5 8EN, United Kingdom
CAMBRIDGE
Math sites:
Newton’s Apple Tree (Trinity?)
Trinity Great Court – There’s a fountain near the center that has been there since before the time of Newton, and there’s a clock tower on the north side of the quad famous for a double ring. It was immortalized by Wordsworth at “Trinity’s loquacious clock.”
Trinity College Chapel – plaques honoring Cayley, Hardy, Ramanujan, Russel, etc. and statue of Isaac Newton
Trinity College – FrankRamsey, Sir IsaacNewton, CharlesBabbage, G. H.Hardy,SrinivasaRamanugan, JohnLittlewood, LudwigWittgenstein, James Clerk Maxwell, ( ) Note – to be allowed to take pictures with a tripod, permission must be gotten in advance from the bursar.
Wren Library – display of Newton’s copy of Principia with his notes in it.
Nevile’s Court –Littlewood’s rooms were at Staricase D (and Hardy’s were not far from there). Also It was in the north cloister thatIsaac Newtonstamped his foot to time the echoes and determine the speed of soundfor the first time.
Queen’s College Library –Mary Everest Boole was librarian there after the death of her husband.
Peterhouse – William Thompson (Lord Kelvin), Peter G. Tait, J. C. Maxwell
Center for Mathematical Sciences – former office of Stephen Hawking, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics.
Cambridge Central Library (public library) – where Andrew Wiles came across FLT – according to Simon Singh it was the Milton Road Library (Ascham Road, Cambridge, CB4 2BD) and the book was “The Last Problem” by E. T. Bell.
(Henry Briggs attended and then was elected fellow of St. John’s College 1577 – first professor at Gresham College London - Savillian Chair at Oxford in 1619)
Keep an eye on which is the site of the Trinity Mathematical Society (events)
(My contact here is Dr. Piers Bursill-Hall who is willing to show me around – or to have his grad student do so – including lodgings or Hardy and Littlewood.)
Personal stops:
Punting on the Cam
Evensong – King’s Chapel – Trinity College Cambridge(home of Nine Lessons and Carols – recommended by Dunham)
The Bell Tower of Great St. Mary’s (climb the spiral staircase – 2 pounds – and see a great view of Cambridge – as well as the bells and the ringers and so on – also recommended by Dunham)
Third Court, St. John’s College – Dunham’s favorite inner sanctum in which you are “chillingly isolated” from the 21st century and can half believe you are in the year 1680. (Henry Briggs – see above.)
OXFORD
Math sites:
Oxford University Colleges – Balliol College (Charles Hinton b. 1853) – Somerville College (named for Mary Somerville) – Henry Briggs is buried in the chapel of Merton College – Christ Church (Lewis Carroll) – Oriel, St. Mary’s Hall (Thomas Harriot 1577) – lecture on Harriot: (Visit Magdalin too for association with C. S. Lewis.)
Mathematical Institute – building named after Andrew Wiles – Penrose tiling at entrance
Queen’s College Library – first edition Whetstone of Witte by Robert Recorde – permission granted to access it.
Bodleian Library – Mary Somerville’s collection (owned by Somerville Library) – includes correspondence with Lovelace(details: Also here is the oldest copy of Euclid’s Elements (888 AD).
University Museum of Natural History – contains elements related Lewis Carroll who visited with Alice and her sisters and was inspired by some of the displays there including, perhaps, a painting of a Dodo. (possibly also the nearby Pitts River Museum). “Precocious in mathematics, he was soon awarded a fellowship, which, in the Oxford of that period, bore two restrictions: he was forbidden to marry, and he had to take holy orders within four years of completing his M.A.”
Day-trips from Oxford:
Bletchley Park - Alan Turing– possibly add trip to Kavli (Chicheley) hall Royal Society International Center, Buckinghamshire (northeast of Bletcheley) – at least check to see if any events open to the public are taking place there.
Personal stops:
The Kilns and other Lewis associated spots such as The Eagle and Child and Holy Trinity Headington Quarry – maybe crematorium (if Joy’s plaque is here) Possibly go to church where Lewis did if there on a Sunday.
Radcliffe Camera – a science library near the Bodleian – cool building (featured in The Golden Compass)
LONDON
Math sites:
British Museum – Rosetta Stone (and, if on display, Rhind Papyrus)
British Library – Newton’s notes (including experiments on his own eye)
University College London – not known as University College (the original) is on Gower Street – first institutions of higher learning in England to admit students of any sex, religion, political ideology, etc.
London Science Museum – has a difference engine built from Babbage’s design. (Kensington area)
Royal Society – attend an event if it is being held (first come, first served)6-9 Carlton House Terr.(across from the NE corner of St. James’s Park – somewhat between Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square – near the Mall)
The Tower – Thomas Harriot (1560-1621) held here in the Gatehouse on suspicion of being involved in the Guy Fawkes conspiracy to blow up the Parliamentbuildings. Harriot was associated with Sir Walter Raleigh and his expeditions – see Mac History – talk at JMM – lecture on youtube)
Kensal Green Cemetery – burial place of Babbage (Kensington & Chelsea area – off Harrow Road)
Windsor Palace – the Herschels were frequently invited to Windsor by George III (and was given a stipend on condition he live there??)
For researching at the British Museum and Library click here:
- event (here AND elsewhere!) Mathsjam: April 19, from 7pm in the evening, in the DOWNSTAIRS bar inPenderel's Oak, Holborn (For more information, and to be added to our mailing list so we can remind you when each event is happening, email Dan Hagon, Todd Rangiwhetu or Matt Parker .)
(public toilet locations:
Personal stops:
National Portrait Gallery –Bronte Portraits (photographs can be taken!!) Room 24 for both
National Gallery
Westminster Abbey
Hampton Court Palace St. James’ Park
Hyde Park
Kensington Gardens and Palace??
Temple Church??? EVENTS: (organ recital 1:15-1:45 on April 20 and Easter Carol Service 5:30-6:30)
The Tower (and St. Peter ad Vincula – and gatehouse)???
Highgate Cemetery – Rosetti’s???? (who influenced LewisCarroll) (M-F tickets for tour of east(?) cemetery go on sale, SS no booking, tours about every half hour). Christina’s poem “Goblin Market” partly inspired “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”
PARIS
Math sites:
CNAM– the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers, “a store of new and useful inventions” established in 1794 is a museum of technology and innovation and contains multiple copies ofPascal’s Pascaline(60 rue Réaumur - Paris 3rd arrondissement – 1.6km from the Louvre). It is a doctoral degree granting higher education establishment that was established during the French Revolution with a large museum (Musée des Arts et Métiers) accessible to the public, which also houses Foucault’s original pendulum.
Montparnasse Cemetery – Poincaré, Viete, and Galois buried here.
Pere Lachaise Cemetery –Sophie Germain(16th Division, Père Lachaise, Paris. Roughly at these coordinates (48.859352,2.394188) under the tree directly behind mausoleum of Daudin Moreau, which can be seen from Chemin de La Bedoyere pathway.),Fourier, Laplace (?) buried here. (Laplace was moved.)
Pantheon –Lagrange buried here – large sarcophagus! (in the crypt)
Abbey of Saint-Germain-de-Pres –Descartes buried here. This is near Montparnasse Cemetery, between it and the Siene – Focus on this rather than on day trips to La Fleche and Descartes, which have NO transit service, and which would require both renting a car and spending the night while still holding a room in Paris. (I’ve also read he was buried at the Pantheon – what’s up?)
Place de la Concorde – where the guillotine was set up during the French Revolution. Sophie Germainwas 13 when the Bastille fell. (Also try to find the remaining stones left of the ruin of the Bastille – seem to be right back, across the Siene, east of the southern island.)
Tuileries Gardens – Mary Fairfax Somerville wrote that when she arrived in Paris she was so weak, that she always remained in bed writing till one o'clock, and then, either went to sit in the Tuileries gardens, or else received visits.
13 rue de Savoie – house where Sophie Germain died (plaque on house) – born in a house on Rue Saint-Denis.
rue des Minimes (Marais?) – former location of Minim House (Mersenne) see:
Gentilly, Glacier Pond, 13tharrondissment – (if I can find it!) – site of Galois duel
Bourg-la-Rein – a commune in the suburbs of Paris 5.7 miles south of city center, birthplace of Galois. After a political conflict his father moved the family to Rue Jean-de-Beauvais, Paris.
Cochin Hospital – 14tharrondisement, 27 Rue du Faubourg Saint Jacques. Galois died here.
Universities – Ecole Normal Superior was attended by Galois, but it was at a different location in his time. Bourbaki is centered here. EdouardLucasand PierreFatou also studied here (1898). EcolePolytechnique – Gaston Julia was a professor there after WWI; Lagrange was first professor of analysis here, and Sophie Germain obtained lecture notes and sent her work to Lagrange; the university opened when she was 18. Cauchy studied and taught here.University of Paris = Sorbonne was attended by Nicole Oresme who was far ahead of his time and in 1350 was beginning to unite algebra and geometry, the fullness of which would have to wait for the 1600s and Descartes and Fermat. Also Poincaré taught here. This is also where the International Congress of Mathematicians took place in 1900 where Hilbert’s 23 Problems were presented.
Personal stops:
Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Night boat ride on the Siene, Musee de Orsay – take picture through the clock towards the Louvre (as in National Geographic) – ugh – pictures forbidden
HEIDELBERG
Math sites:
University of Heidelbergarchives – Sonya Kovalevsky (also personal as pertaining to 15x great grandpa and his registry in the archives of 1593 – permission granted to access library). Hilbert, during his second semester at university, followed the popular custom of moving from university to university and studied here – attending lectures by Lazarus Fuchs. The third International Congress of Mathematicians was held here in 1904, and Hilbert spoke on foundations of mathematics (in wake of Zermelo having pointed out to him the antinomies of set theory – see Ried 98-99)
Heidelberg Castle – One time home of PrincessElisabeth of Bohemiawho carried on a celebrated correspondence withDescartes.
GÖTTINGEN
Math sites:
University – Gauss,Dedekind, Dirichlet,Riemann, Hilbert, Mobius, Kovalevsky (dissertation here), Noether (lectured under Hilbert’s name until her habilitation was finally approved), Klein(according to the Dauben book the university library contains correspondence between Klein and Cantor). Here is a link to information about non-local visitors to the library and access to materials: the Mathematical Institute the students of mathematics and theoretical physics attended classes in the only classroom building of the university, the Auditorienhaus where WeenderStrasse crossed the old city wall. The third floor of this building was the heart of mathematical life.
Gottingen Collection of Mathematical Models and Instruments: Mathematical Institute – (part of the university?) contains models and instruments from the 18th to the 21st century – entry is free – open Monday through Friday 8am-8pm, and it is part of the public space of the mathematical institute Bunsenstrasse 3-5, 37073 Göttingen
Mathematical Institute – Colloquia are held here; the building was opened in 1930 by Hilbert and Courant. Check this site for dates and details: I used this link to send a query regarding visiting the university
Royal University Observatory – rooms of Gauss, Dirichlet and Riemann
Albanifriedhof Cemetery – where Gauss is buried – quite a large tombstone surrounded by ivy.
Stadtfriedhof(City Cemetery) – Hilbert’s grave and famous tombstone – also Kleinnearby.
Town Center/Old Town Hall - "Gänseliesel" the little goose girl that students kiss upon receiving their Ph.D. (at 9 MarktStrasse)
Plesse Castle (8km north of Gottingen – 2 hour walk) – Max Born, the Minkowski family and the Hilbert family hiked here (1903? When Born first visited Gottingen)
(The mother of all amazingly helpful sites – from Prof. Laurent Bartholdi’s page: )
Some locations from the above site – though I am not sure what they represent in each case:Wilhelm-Weber str. 29 and David-Hilbert str. 1 (Hilbert), Planck str. 15 (Minkowski), GeismarLandstr. 11, Sternwarte (Gauss), Kurze str. 2 (FarkasBolyai), Stegemühlenweg 51 (Noether), Barfüßerstr. 18 (Riemann)
- definite: KleinHouse was at 3 Wilhelm-Weber Strasse, Hilbert’s built a house at 29 Wilhelm-Weber Strasse, Minkowski’s lived on Planck Strasse (2 blocks from Hilbert). There is also a street named after Hilbert and after Klein. Klein’s was named after his death, but Hilbert’s was named at the time of his retirement.
Personal stops:
Places related to the Brothers Grimm who were both professors at the University of Gottingen, Jacob also having been head librarian. They lost their professorships after having been part of the Gottingen Seven.
City Walls – see if they still exist – in Hilbert’s day people would walk the city walls on Sunday afternoons. According to Wikipedia only a short stretch, with a tower, remains near Turmstrasse (Tower Street)
HALLE (SAALE)
Math sites:
Martin Luther University – Halle-Wittenburg -
Nervenklinik – where Cantor died (NB he apparently visited other sanataria as well. Dauben p. 357 #39)
Cantor’s House – Handelstrasse Street
Giebichenstein Cemetery -Cantor’s Graveis on theeastern boundary of the Giebichenstein Cemetery, in the “peace route” (freidenstrasse).
In the center of Halle (??) there is a plaque showing Cantor, his diagonalization proof, and a quote.
Stadtgottesacker Cemetery Complex – interesting in its own right, also Heine and F. Meyer buried here
Downtown Halle – there is a sculpture to the memory of Cantor, engraved with his face, part of his diagonalization proof, and a quote (according to one book, but on Marcus du Sautoy’s video lectures it seems this is what is described but is quite far out of town).
(Faculty contact: Dr. Manfred Stern – his CV is at: his email is
Personal stops:
Marienkirche – Where Handel was baptized and learned to play organ – where Luther gave his last sermon – where Luther’s death mask is. Try to be in town on Sunday to attend services. Open times, service times, organ times, etc. can be found at this site:
Perhaps a day trip toWittenberg (and/or to Leipzig where Bach was Capelmaster)
Dear Mrs.Meyer,
I remember taking your math 101 class in the spring of this year. I just wanted to thank you for passing me with a C. It was such a hard semester at that time because I was taking the math class as well as two philosophy classes. I had many doubts with passing math, but because of your help, I was able to learn how to deal with a problem the best I could. And I was so happy when I found out that G.H. Hardy was one of your favorite mathematicians. It was an honor to tell his story! thanks so much Heidi Meyer, I truly appreciate you for believing in me.
Lydia Hulse