Making Mathematical Culture University and Print in the Circle of Lefevre d'Etaples

In 1503, for the first time, a student in Paris was able to spend his entire university career studying only the printed textbooks of his teacher thanks to the works of the humanist and university reformer Jacques Lefevre d'Etaples (c. 1455-1536). As printed books became central to the intellectual habits of following generations, Lefevre turned especially to mathematics as a way to renovate the medieval university.

Making Mathematical Culture argues this was a pivatol moment in the cultural history of Europe and explores how the rise of the printed book contributed to the growing profile of mathematics in the region. Using student manuscripts and annotated books, Making Mathematical Culture offers a new account of printed textbooks, as jointly made by masters and students, and how such collaborative practices informed approaches to mathematics.

Richard Oosterhoff is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, and a fellow at CRASSH where he is researching a monograph on the 'untutored mind' in Early Modern Europe. Richard completed his PhD in 2013 at the University of Notre Dame, and has since worked on the cultural and intellectual history of early modern Europe in the areas of science, the book, and religion. His articles have appeared in the Journal for the History of Ideas, Intellectual History Review, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and History of Universities.