Alcuin of York

Alcuin of York

It’s Flash­cards Fri­day! at Math! Sci­ence! His­to­ry! and today we’re trav­el­ing back to the eighth cen­tu­ry to explore the life of a man who helped res­cue learn­ing from the brink of obliv­ion, Alcuin of York. Alcuin isn’t exact­ly a house­hold name. But if you’ve ever ben­e­fit­ted from the struc­ture of a class­room, mar­veled at a man­u­script, or even just read a

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Gerard Desargue: A Genius Who Revolutionized Geometry

Gerard Desargue: A Genius Who Revolutionized Geometry

Lyon, France, was a bustling city in the late six­teenth cen­tu­ry. It was a hub for com­merce, bank­ing, and intel­lec­tu­al dis­course. And it was here, in 1591, that Gérard Desar­gues was born into a promi­nent fam­i­ly. His father, Éti­enne Desar­gues, was a mag­is­trate and a city offi­cial, which meant that young Gérard grew up in an envi­ron­ment sur­round­ed by influential

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Fibonacci and His Rabbits

Fibonacci and His Rabbits

What do rab­bits, nature’s cutest fluff­balls, have to do with one of the most famous pat­terns in math­e­mat­ics? Well, imag­ine this: a sin­gle pair of rab­bits start multiplying—just two at first, but soon, the field is hop­ping with Rab­bit DeNiros, Luke Sky­hop­pers, Mar­i­lyn Bun-roes, and Jes­si­cas. Before you know it, you’re ask­ing your­self: How many rab­bits are there?’ And boom—you’ve

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What do Aristotle and St. Aquinas have to do with the Galileo Affair? Parts 1 and 2

What do Aristotle and St. Aquinas have to do with the Galileo Affair? Parts 1 and 2

The Greek philoso­pher Aris­to­tle was born in 384 BCE. The Ital­ian philoso­pher St. Thomas Aquinas was born in 1225. Galileo Galilei was born on Feb­ru­ary 15, 1564. Between the three of them, there is a sto­ry that spans almost 2000 years. That sto­ry is known as the Galileo Affair.