Barry Mazur is a mathematician at Harvard University who has often taught courses in History of Science and Philosophy. His books include: Imagining Numbers (particularly the squareroot of minus fifteen) (Farrar Straus and Giroux); Prime Numbers and the Riemann Hypothesis, written with William Stein (Cambridge University Press) and he has edited with Apostolos Doxiadis the book of essays Circles Disturbed: The Interplay of Mathematics and Narrative (Princeton University Press).
Barry Mazur
Gerhard Gade University Professor, Harvard University
Participant In These Roundtable Discussions
Sat
Dec 1st
2018
Dec 1st
2018
Watch
The Beauty and Unity of Mathematics
This roundtable explores the nature of mathematical proof and the growing role of computers and AI in verifying and potentially generating proofs. It considers whether mathematics is a human-centered practice or a process that can ultimately be automated, and what this implies for the future of the field.
Sat
Oct 21st
2023
Oct 21st
2023
Watch
Permanence and Impermanence of Mathematical Concepts
This roundtable explores how fundamental mathematical concepts, like numbers, have evolved over time, challenging the idea of mathematics as fixed and absolute. It examines how revolutions in mathematical thinking reshape our understanding of truth, abstraction, and reality.