Legendary mathematicians: They're just like us! Hilbert shovels the snow Alexandroff and Göppert hang by the pool Lewy, Friedrichs, and van der Waerden correct proofs in Courant's garden.
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Bjarni Jónsson, 1920-2016
Sad news via the FOM list today: Published in Tennessean on Nov. 6, 2016 Bjarni Jónsson, originally of Draghals, Iceland, passed away in Cincinnati, OH on Friday, September 30, 2016 at the age of 96. Beloved husband of the late Harriet P. (nee Parkes) Jonsson. Devoted father of Eric (Kaye) Jonsson, Meryl (Bob) Runion Rose … Continue reading Bjarni Jónsson, 1920-2016
(SEP ∧ SSHAP) → Calgary
In May 2017, both the Society for Exact Philosophy and the Society for the Study of the History of Analytic Philosophy will hold their annual meetings at the University of Calgary. Come for one, stay for the other, or come for both and stay for Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies! Keynotes will be … Continue reading (SEP ∧ SSHAP) → Calgary
My First Paper!
I went through old floppies when I went back home over the summer and found the first logic paper I ever wrote! It was on proof theory and general algebra (I guess I must have taken courses in both at the time--1992). For your amusement: A Paedagogical Example of Cut-Elimination
Women Speakers at ASL Meetings
Johanna Franklin has taken on the thankless task of tallying and analyzing the number (and proportion) of female invited speakers at meetings organized by the Association for Symbolic Logic. Her posts are up at the Women in Logic blog: Gender ratios of speakers at ASL meetings ASL Annual Meetings, 1989-2016 (The ASL Membership committee received … Continue reading Women Speakers at ASL Meetings
Interview with Hao Wang and Robin Gandy
In 1991, I videotaped talks at the Kurt Gödel Colloquium in Kirchberg (it was supposed to be held jointly with the Wittgenstein Symposium, that got cancelled). I also videotaped a conversation with Hao Wang and Robin Gandy, students and friends, respectively, of Gödel and Turing. I can't for the life of me remember who the … Continue reading Interview with Hao Wang and Robin Gandy
Line Art Portraits of Logicians
ASL Spring Meeting at the APA Pacific, Seattle, April 2017
The 2017 Spring Meeting of the Association for Symbolic Logic will be held jointly with the Annual Meeting of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association, April 12-15, 2017, in Seattle. The members of the Program Committee are Wesley Holliday, Audrey Yap, and Richard Zach (Chair). There will be three Special Sessions: Modality and … Continue reading ASL Spring Meeting at the APA Pacific, Seattle, April 2017
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Quanta Magazine Covers Reverse Mathematics
An article just published in Quanta Magazine by Natalie Wolchover covers a recent result from reverse mathematics. Keita Yokoyama and Ludovic Patey showed that Ramsey's theorem for pairs is finitistically reducible, i.e., it is $latex \Pi_3$ conservative over $latex I\Sigma_1$. The article explains Ramsey's theorem, but also Hilbert's program and its more recent relativizations, i.e., … Continue reading Quanta Magazine Covers Reverse Mathematics
CfA: Foundations of Mathematical Structuralism
12-14 October 2016 Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, LMU Munich In the course of the last century, different general frameworks for the foundations of mathematics have been investigated. The orthodox approach to foundations interprets mathematics in the universe of sets. More recently, however, there have been other developments that call into question the whole method … Continue reading CfA: Foundations of Mathematical Structuralism
2016 Logic Colloquium in Leeds
The European Meeting of the ASL will be held in Leeds this year, July 31 to August 6. The deadline to submit a contributed talk is tomorrow! For details, see the conference website!
Logicians Elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has announced its 2016 class of fellows. Menachem Magidor (Hebrew University) has been elected Honorary Foreign Member. Vann McGee (MIT) has been elected to the Philosophy and Religious Studies section.
Shapiro’s Philosophy & Mathematics Lecture on Mathtube
Stewart Shapiro gave the 2nd annual Calgary Philosophy & Mathematics Lecture a month ago. Video of his talk, "Potential Infinity: A Modal Account," is now available on mathtube.org.
Helmut Veith (1971-2016)
My friend and colleague Helmut Veith died yesterday. His death is a great and shocking loss to his family and friends, and the logic community, especially in Austria. I've known Helmut since we were undergraduates in computer science at Vienna Technical University in the early 1990s. We shared a passion for theoretical topics in computer … Continue reading Helmut Veith (1971-2016)
An Actual Textbook, and: Photos!
(Cross-posted from the Open Logic Project) Two exciting new things from the Open Logic Project. The first one is another sample textbook. I’ve previously written about how to get your textbook to print, and for my course “Logic II (Phil 379)” this term, I’ve done that. Properly: perfect bound paperbacks, with a nice cover, proper … Continue reading An Actual Textbook, and: Photos!
Association of Symbolic Logic Abstract Deadline Today!
The deadline to submit abstracts for contributed talks at the ASL Annual Meeting in Storrs, CT this May is today! There will be a super exciting Special Session on History and Philosophy of Logic, featuring: Teresa Kouri (Ohio State), Carnap on translations Daniel Nolan (ANU), Reflections on Routley's Ultralogic Program Dave Ripley (UConn), Toward a … Continue reading Association of Symbolic Logic Abstract Deadline Today!
Reconsidering Frege’s Conception of Number
Erich Reck and Roy Cook have edited a special issue of Philosophia Mathematica "Reconsidering Frege's Conception of Number," with contributions by Paddy Blanchette, Phil Ebert, Thomas Forster, Roy Cook, and Richard Heck. It is dedicated to the memory of Aldo Antonelli: Before launching into the introduction to this issue, we would first like to mention … Continue reading Reconsidering Frege’s Conception of Number
The Reason We Use Symbols
In my second logic course I start with some very basic set theory. You forget just how confusing symbols can be to students who aren't used to them. But then you also appreciate how useful they are when you try to explain in "plain English" what they mean. Even something as simple as a proof … Continue reading The Reason We Use Symbols