Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences

2023 Joint Math Meetings Reception – ACMS will once again be hosting a reception at JMM. The reception will be from 6-7:30 PM on Thursday, January 5th at the Marriott Copley Place, Salon G . Karl-Dieter Crisman (Gordon College) will be our guest speaker and his talk will begin at 6:30 PM. I have included an abstract at the end of this email. At the conclusion of his talk, we will break out into small groups for dinner and discussion at various local restaurants. Please contact ACMS Vice President Kristin Camenga (camenga[at]Juniata[dot]edu) with any questions.

Abstract for Karl-Dieter Crisman’s talk:

Mersenne Matters: Mathematics, Music, Monotheism, and More

Thursday January 5, 2023, 6:30 p.m. – 6:50 p.m.

Marin Mersenne is usually considered, when he is considered at all in mathematics, in one of two ways. Either he is the inspiration for the latest newly discovered (and enormous) “Mersenne Prime,” or he is the interlocutor who helped induce Fermat and Descartes to properly, and “publically” discuss their methods of tangents.

But who was Mersenne, what did he do, and why does he matter? This talk will give an overview of his life and the important roles he played in the history of science and music, with many examples from his own writings. We’ll especially look into why a monk, from an order devoted to being the least of all, saw his explorations of things like pure mathematics and practical acoustics as being so closely related to his writings in defense of the faith.

(posted: 12/30/2022)