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Karine Chemla (born 8 February 1957) is a Frenchhistorian of mathematics andsinologist who works as a director of research at theCentre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS).[1] She is also a senior fellow at theNew York UniversityInstitute for the Study of the Ancient World.[2] She was elected a Member of theAmerican Philosophical Society in 2019.
Chemla studied atParis Diderot University and theÉcole normale supérieure de jeunes filles, earning anagrégation in mathematics in 1978 and adiploma of advanced studies in 1979.[3] At this time, her work was in pure mathematics. However, in 1980, influenced by the work ofIlya Prigogine, she won a Singer–Polignac scholarship to travel to China and study the history of Chinese mathematics.[4] Returning to France, she earned her Ph.D. in the history of mathematics fromParis 13 University in 1982, and began working for CNRS at that time.[3]
Chemla's research interests includeChinese mathematics, 19th century Frenchgeometry, and the theory of the history of mathematics.[1]
With Guo Shuchun, Chemla published in 2004 a critical edition and translation into French ofThe Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art.[4][5][6][7] She is also the co-editor, with Cécile Michel, ofMathematics, Administrative and Economic Activities in Ancient Worlds (Springer, 2020).[8]
Chemla was aninvited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1998.[9][10]She became a member of theAcademy of Sciences Leopoldina in 2004,[11] of theInternational Academy of the History of Science in 2005,[3] and of theAcademia Europaea in 2013.[12] In 2013–2014 she was the holder of the Sarton Chair of History of Science atGhent University.[13] She served as president of the European Society for the History of Science 2014–2016.[14] She is the 2020 winner of the Otto Neugebauer Prize[15] and the 2021 winner of theLMS-BSHM Hirst Prize.
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| Preceded by | President of the European Society for the History of Science 2014–2016 | Succeeded by |
