[FOM] Query concerning E. H. Neville's Prolegomena to Analytical Geometry

[Marion, Mathieu]

Dear Łukasz,

Thank you very much for this information. I see from Barry’s book that Neville’s Prolegomena may be seen as having had a role in popularising Grassmann’s ‘rotors’, while Forder’s The Foundations of Euclidean Geometry has only two incidental references to it in footnotes. I also read from Barrow-Green & Gray that “scrupulous accuracy and attention to detail made [Neville’s books] forbidding to read and of little influence, as the full title of his [Prolegomena to Analytic Geometry in Anisotropic Euclidean Space of Three Dimensions] may indicate.” This tend to confirm my suspicion that Neville’s book had no impact, including on foundations.

Still, this does not preclude trying to understand what influence Russell’s ideas may have had on his book (Neville followed his classes when a student in 1907-1911), e.g., on definitions, but that is another issue.

With warmest regards,

Mathieu

--

Mathieu Marion, FRSC - MSRC
Professeur titulaire, département de philosophie, Université du Québec à Montréal
Directeur, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la technologie (CIRST), Université du Québec à Montréal


From: <fom-bounces at cs.nyu.edu> on behalf of "Lukasz T. Stepien" <sfstepie at cyf-kr.edu.pl>
Organization: The Pedagogical University of Cracow
Reply-To: FOM <fom at cs.nyu.edu>
Date: Saturday, June 8, 2019 at 1:05 AM
To: FOM <fom at cs.nyu.edu>
Subject: Re: [FOM] Query concerning E. H. Neville's Prolegomena to Analytical Geometry




 Dear Moderator



   I ask you kindly to place in FOM, the following version of my post.





                                                        Best regards

                                                      Łukasz T. Stępień



 Dear Prof. Marion



  Maybe these informations will be useful for you (as I understand, you have asked on an impact of the book: E. H. Neville, "Prolegomena to Analytical Geometry").

  Namely the book: E. H. Neville, "Prolegomena to Analytic Geometry in Anisotropic Euclidean Space of Three Dimensions" was cited in (according to scholar.google.com): June Barrow-Green and Jeremy Gray, "Geometry at Cambridge, 1863–1940", Historia Mathematica, vol. 33, 315 - 356 (2006). Next, the book: E. H. Neville, "Prolegomena to Analytic Geometry" was cited in: P.D.  Barry, "Some Generalization in Geometry". There in the book Henry George Forder, "The Foundations of Euclidean Geometry", Cambridge at The University Press 1927, is cited: Neville, "Prolegomena to Analytical Geometry" . On the website https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.bams/1183486021  you can find the review (Author: B. H. Brown) of the book "Prolegomena to Analytic Geometry in Anisotropic Euclidean Space of Three Dimensions" , published in: Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, vol. 30, no. 5-6, 271 (1924).





                                                                                  Best regards,



                                                                               Łukasz T. Stępień


---

Lukasz T. Stepien



The Pedagogical University of Cracow

Institute of Computer Science,

ul. Podchorazych 2

30-084 Krakow

Poland



tel. +48 12 662-78-54, +48 12 662-78-44



The URL  http://www.ltstepien.up.krakow.pl



On 2019-06-05 20:24, Marion, Mathieu wrote:
Dear FOM,

I recently chanced upon Eric Harold Neville's Prolegomena to Analytical Geometry (Cambridge University Press, 1922). In the Preface, he alludes to Russell's Principles of Mathematics as well as to Principia Mathematica in order to motivate his particular take on the topic, but I could see what the rest of it owed specifically to ideas from Russell. My knowledge of both the history of mathematics and of foundations of mathematics is limited, so I wonder: would anyone know if the book had any impact?

Best regards,

Mathieu Marion




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