Muriel Seltman ( née Barnett; 27 March 1927 – 2 December 2019) [1] was British left-wing activist, mathematics educator, historian of mathematics, and author of books on mathematics, religion, politics, and philosophy.
Seltman was born in Stamford Hill, a Jewish neighborhood of London, [2] on 27 March 1927. [1] She studied mathematics and mathematics education at Trinity College Dublin, [3] [4] and met her husband there. [5] They joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1952, [6] but by the early 1960s had been expelled from the party for their anti-revisionism (sympathy for Maoism and opposition to the Khrushchev Thaw). [5] They traveled with their son to North Korea, [6] where Seltman worked as a teacher, but, bored with the North Korean cult of personality and their life there, [5] left for China in 1965, just in time for the Cultural Revolution. Disillusioned, they returned to England in 1966, [6] and Seltman later wrote a book What's Left? What's Right? describing her experiences. [5]
She taught mathematics at Avery Hill College beginning in 1968, retiring in 1981 but continuing on a part-time basis for another 20 years, through the college's 1985 incorporation into the University of Greenwich. [2] Her works in mathematics and the history of mathematics include a translation of a book on algebra by Thomas Harriot, originally published in 1631, a few years after Harriot's death. Co-editor Robert Goulding provided the translation, while Seltman was responsible for the book's detailed commentary on Harriot's work, [7] with both translation and commentary based on a master's thesis she wrote at University College London, A Commentary on the Artis Analyticae Praxis of Thomas Harriot (1972). [8] She also completed a PhD at University College London, with the dissertation Descartes's "Regulae ad directionem ingenii": a case-study in the emergence of early modern algebra (1987). [9]
Although of Jewish descent, she became a nontheist Quaker, and despite her early experiences continued to describe herself as a Marxist. [10] She died on 2 December 2019. [1]
Seltman's books include:
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link)Muriel Seltman ( née Barnett; 27 March 1927 – 2 December 2019) [1] was British left-wing activist, mathematics educator, historian of mathematics, and author of books on mathematics, religion, politics, and philosophy.
Seltman was born in Stamford Hill, a Jewish neighborhood of London, [2] on 27 March 1927. [1] She studied mathematics and mathematics education at Trinity College Dublin, [3] [4] and met her husband there. [5] They joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1952, [6] but by the early 1960s had been expelled from the party for their anti-revisionism (sympathy for Maoism and opposition to the Khrushchev Thaw). [5] They traveled with their son to North Korea, [6] where Seltman worked as a teacher, but, bored with the North Korean cult of personality and their life there, [5] left for China in 1965, just in time for the Cultural Revolution. Disillusioned, they returned to England in 1966, [6] and Seltman later wrote a book What's Left? What's Right? describing her experiences. [5]
She taught mathematics at Avery Hill College beginning in 1968, retiring in 1981 but continuing on a part-time basis for another 20 years, through the college's 1985 incorporation into the University of Greenwich. [2] Her works in mathematics and the history of mathematics include a translation of a book on algebra by Thomas Harriot, originally published in 1631, a few years after Harriot's death. Co-editor Robert Goulding provided the translation, while Seltman was responsible for the book's detailed commentary on Harriot's work, [7] with both translation and commentary based on a master's thesis she wrote at University College London, A Commentary on the Artis Analyticae Praxis of Thomas Harriot (1972). [8] She also completed a PhD at University College London, with the dissertation Descartes's "Regulae ad directionem ingenii": a case-study in the emergence of early modern algebra (1987). [9]
Although of Jewish descent, she became a nontheist Quaker, and despite her early experiences continued to describe herself as a Marxist. [10] She died on 2 December 2019. [1]
Seltman's books include:
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