The Department of History and Classics, Swansea University, in partnership with the Science Museum, London, invites applications from suitably qualified UK/EU candidates for a Collaborative Doctoral Award, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, to conduct research on the topic of ‘Calculating value: using and collecting the tools of early modern mathematics’.
The studentship, which is full-time and funded for three years, will begin in October 2015. The successful applicant will be jointly supervised by Dr Adam Mosley (Swansea University) and Nick Wyatt (Acting Head of Library & Archives, Science Museum). The student will work on the Science Museum’s early modern printed books relating to mathematics and the mathematical sciences (astronomy, mechanics, navigation, surveying, etc.), studying annotations, bindings, and other indications of ownership and use that can illuminate the market for such publications in the era in which they were produced. S/he will also study the subsequent history of these volumes, and the routes by which they entered the Museum’s collections. Thus the project’s aim is to shed light on the full range of values ascribed to these tools of mathematics over the course of their existence - as books intended to be purchased, read, and used, and as items that were, accidentally or intentionally, preserved and collected. The student will, however, be able to shape the project in accordance with their expertise and interests - by, for example, focusing on particular texts or genres of text or by exploring connections between the Science Museum’s books and its holdings of mathematical instruments.
The student will have a base at the Science Museum’s new Research Centre in London, due to open in November 2015, but they will also have access to its Library & Archive collections stored at Wroughton, near Swindon and the Museum’s mathematical instruments, many of which are in storage in London.
The studentship is funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) through the Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) awards allocated to the Science Museum Group and BT Archives.
For eligibility criteria and application procedure, please see:
http://www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate/scholarships/research/history-ahrc-phd-calculating-value-mathematics.php
Dr Adam Mosley
Department of History and Classics| Yr Adran Hanes a Chlasuron
College of Arts and Humanities | Coleg y Celfyddydau a’r Dyniaethau
Singleton Park | Parc Singleton
Swansea | Abertawe
Wales | Cymru
SA2 8PP
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