Mathematics Professor and Rare Books Librarian to Lecture on Euclid

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Honors students who take the Euclid course will have the opportunity to examine early editions of Euclid's Elements in Special Collections, from a 16th century folio to this extraordinarily beautiful 1847 book by Oliver Byrne, which uses four-color printing to illustrate key concepts.

Written more than 2,000 years ago by a mathematician from Alexandria, Egypt, the mathematical concepts in Euclid’s Elements have served as fundamental building blocks for students, theoreticians, designers, builders, even poets and musicians.

“It’s the most successful textbook in history, maybe even the first,” said Joshua Youngblood, rare books librarian and head of the special collections instruction and outreach unit.

“It’s a great window into the past. … It played an important role in setting up the way modern math is done,” said Edmund Harriss, clinical assistant professor of mathematics in Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. “But the actual space we live in is not Euclidean. The logical structure of Euclid’s Elements is not perfect — it’s human; it’s flawed.”

Harriss and Youngblood will discuss the history, impact and paradoxes within the canonical text in a public lecture, “Euclid,” which will be offered online via Zoom at 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 15. Please fill out this online interest form to gain access to the lecture.

Harriss’ and Youngblood’s lecture will preview their spring 2022 Honors College Signature Seminar, Euclid.

Window Into the Past

Little is known about Euclid, and the principles set down in his Elements “are not the mathematics of Euclid — nearly all of the mathematics in the book is far older. Some of it was discovered in the ancient Greek world; Alexandria, of course, is in Egypt, and that was the center of mathematical study, with a lot of it also coming from ancient Babylon, and coming out of different parts of Africa,” Harriss said.

The canonical text sets up a series of rules for points, lines and circles that creates a system for studying geometry that was taught around the world for more than 2,000 years.

That structure was upended in the 19th century, when mathematicians quite literally bent the rules set down by Euclid so long ago. By the early 20th century, physicists were able to show that the universe itself should be modelled by non-Euclidean geometries.

“You move from Euclidean, three-dimensional space, the geometry that Euclid describes, through to a non-Euclidean geometry. The structure of spacetime is actually curved,” Harriss said. “A lovely example of that is black holes. They’re so dense that spacetime around them is intensely curved. If you look towards a black hole, you can actually see far deeper into the universe because you are using that black hole, that massive object, just like the lens in your telescope, to be able to magnify what lies beyond it.”

Lens on Learning

Looking beyond the mathematics, Euclid’s Elements offers insights and raises questions related to intellectual history, beginning with why a work from the eastern Mediterranean was adopted into the foundation of Western civilization.

“Before the transition to non-Euclidian in the 19th and 20th centuries, Euclid was one of the most foundational texts for the development of the university system,” Youngblood said. “There are multiple lenses that are opened up for us here — as you look back at how academia, learning, university systems, college systems evolved over time. Who had access to knowledge?... Why was it packaged and taught the way it was? And why was it so fundamental for systems of learning for so much of the world?”

The lecture will touch on the physical evolution of Euclid’s text, and students in the course will have opportunities to examine editions ranging from a 1537 Latin folio book introduced by humanist scholar Philip Melanchthon to the extraordinarily beautiful 1847 book by Oliver Byrne, which uses four-color printing to illustrate Euclid’s concepts.

About the Presenters

Mathematician, artist, teacher and maker Edmund Harriss works to entice people into mathematical thinking and experiences through art, toys, coloring images and more. His research ranges from illustrating algebraic numbers through the differential geometry of machines guided by numerically controlled computing to mathematical art and perceptualism.

Harriss’ research has appeared in journals including Nature and the proceedings of the National Academy of Science, as well as in national and international media, including New Scientist, NPR, the Guardian and Numberphile.

His artwork is installed in several universities, from Imperial College in London to the U of A, where a 12-foot steel sculpture was recently installed in the courtyard at Gearhart Hall. He has created two adult coloring books of mathematical images and coauthored a children’s book.

Joshua Youngblood serves as the instruction and outreach unit head and as rare books librarian for the Special Collections of the U of A Libraries.

He also serves as the libraries’ Arkansas subject specialist and history librarian. A certified archivist, Youngblood is an active member of several professional organizations and is a recognized leader in the areas of archival outreach and instruction.

In addition to numerous conference presentations, he has published on archival curation of digital exhibits, undergraduate research with primary sources and the history of Arkansas and the American South, including early 20th-century activism and the history of lynching and the anti-lynching movement.

Before coming to Arkansas, Youngblood served as archives historian responsible for digital outreach and content development for the Florida Memory Project of the State Archives of Florida, as the public relations officer for the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs and as the program assistant for the Florida Main Street Program.

Signature Seminars Explore Diverse Topics

Euclid is one of two Honors College Signature Seminars scheduled for spring 2022. The other topic to be covered will be Economic Thought and Competition Law, taught by Sharon Foster, the Sidney Parker Davis Jr. Professor of Law.

Deans of each college may nominate professors to participate in this program, and those who are selected to teach will become Dean’s Fellows in the Honors College.

Honors students must apply to participate, and those selected will be designated Dean’s Signature Scholars. The course application is posted online on the Signature Seminars web page. The deadline to apply is Monday, Oct. 25.

About the Honors College: The University of Arkansas Honors College was established in 2002 and brings together high-achieving undergraduate students and the university’s top professors to share transformative learning experiences. Each year the Honors College awards up to 90 freshman fellowships that provide $72,000 over four years, and more than $1 million in undergraduate research and study abroad grants. The Honors College is nationally recognized for the high caliber of students it admits and graduates. Honors students enjoy small, in-depth classes, and programs are offered in all disciplines, tailored to students’ academic interests, with interdisciplinary collaborations encouraged. Fifty percent of Honors College graduates have studied abroad and 100 percent of them have engaged in mentored research.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas’ economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the top 3% of U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research News.