Article
ID: CBB013467417

Mathematics, Manifest: A Review of Mathematics: The Winton Gallery at the Science Museum (2018)

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Public understanding of science Science and society Mathematics Museums Exhibitions and fairs Science Museum, London

Mathematics: the Winton Gallery strives, like any exhibition concerning mathematics, to make meaningful contact between the abstruse realms of mathematics and the viewing audience. Unlike many other exhibitions, this is here accomplished by displaying a rich range of objects that demonstrate the essential role of mathematics in the world by emphasizing connections to the viewers’ existing cognitive environments. Through a focus on the ways that mathematical work affects and informs our human world, the exhibition succeeds in connecting a mathematical way of thinking with the lives of the viewing public in a complex and profound way, in exchange for their efforts and attention. While an approach which places the interweave of life and mathematics at its centre may invite worries about the representation of pure mathematics or whether such a strategy insulates the viewer from an understanding of ‘real’ mathematics, what this exhibition does is to offer a sense of the mind-set that underscores mathematical work. By revealing the implications of this mode of thought, the exhibition encourages the audience to understand their own lives and world in a more mathematically-oriented way, while also encouraging them to understand mathematics in terms of the ways their human world is already formed.

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Authors & Contributors
Lundgren, Frans
Lightman, Bernard V.
Amy Lonetree
Peavitt, Helen
Jillian Walliss
Sherra Murphy
Journals
Icon: Journal of the International Committee for the History of Technology
British Journal for the History of Science
Museum and Society
Social Studies of Science
History of Science
Endeavour: Review of the Progress of Science
Publishers
University of Pittsburgh Press
University of North Carolina Press
The College of William and Mary
Science Museum
Edições Colibri
Cork University Press
Concepts
Museums
Science and society
Public understanding of science
Exhibitions and fairs
Natural history
Museum exhibits
People
Galton, Francis
Bosisto, Joseph
Smyth, Robert Brough
Mueller, Ferdinand, Baron von
Lyons, Henry George
Clarke, William Branwhite
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
21st century
20th century, late
20th century, early
Places
Great Britain
United States
British Isles
Dublin (Ireland)
New Zealand
Australia
Institutions
Science Museum, London
Smithsonian Institution
Dublin Natural History Museum
Royal Dublin Society
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