History of Geometry

On the Web

• Xah Lee's A Visual Dictionary of Special Plane Curves

• A list of articles on the history of geometry that have appeard in Math. Teacher, part of Hubert Ludwig's bibliography of geometry articles from Mathematics Teacher stored at The Math Forum at Swarthmore. Although this Math Forum began as "The Geometry Forum", it has expanded its scope over the years.

• Pages on geometry at the Mathematical MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
  • The Famous Curves index
  • Pi through the ages
  • The trigonometric functions
  • Non-Euclidean geometry
  • Topology enters mathematics

• Tom Gettys' Polyhedra Hyperpages has beautiful images and full explanations of the Platonic solids, Archimedian solids, Kepler-Poinsot polyhedra, compound solids, and stellated polyhedra.

Bibliography

• L. Boi, D. Flament, and J.-M. Salanskis, editors. 1830-1930: a century of geometry: epistemology, history, and mathematics. Springer-Verlag, Berlin-New York, 1992.
• Bold, Benjamin. Famous problems of mathematics; a history of constructions with straight edge and compasses. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1969.
• Boyer, Carl B. (Carl Benjamin). History of analytic geometry. Scripta Mathematica, New York, 1956.
• Braummühl, Anton von. Vorlesungen über Geschichte der Trigonometrie. Two volumes. Leipzig, 1900-1903.
• Bretschneider, Carl Anton, 1808-1878. Die Geometrie und die Geometer vor Euklides: ein historischer Versuch. B. G. Teubner, Leipzig, 1870.
• Chasles, Michel (1793-1880). Apercu historique sur l'origine et le developpement des methodes en geometrie. Second edition: Gauthier-Villars, Paris, 1875.
• Coolidge, Julian Lowell (1873-1954).
  • A history of geometrical methods. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1940. Reprint: Dover, New York, 1963.
  • A history of the conic sections and quadric surfaces. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1945. Reprint: Dover, New York, 1968.
• Dieudonne, Jean Alexandre. History of algebraic geometry: an outline of the history and development of algebraic geometry Translated from Cours de geometre algebrique by Judith Sally. Wadsworth, Monterey, Calif.,1985.
• Fukagawa, H. (Hidetoshi), and D. Pedoe. Japanese temple geometry problems = Sangaku Charles Babbage Research Centre, Winnipeg, 1989.
• Greenberg, Marvin J. Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometries: development and history. th edition. 2008
• Hintikka, Jaakko, and Unto Remes. The method of analysis: its geometrical origin and its general significance. Dordrecht, Boston, 1974.
• Hobson, Ernest William (1856-1933). "Squaring the Circle," a history of the problem. Cambridge, 1913. Reprint: Chelsea, New York, 1953.
• Herz-Fischler, Roger. A mathematical history of division in extreme and mean ratio. Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Waterloo, 1987.
• Iaglom, I. M. (Isaak Moiseevich). Felix Klein and Sophus Lie: evolution of the idea of symmetry in the Nineteenth Century. Translated from Feliks Klein i Sofus Li. by Sergei Sossinsky. Birkhauser, Boston, 1988.
• Knorr, Wilbur Richard. The ancient tradition of geometric problems. Birkhauser, Boston, 1985. Reprint: Dover, New York, 1993.
• Lanczos, Cornelius. Space through the ages; The evolution of geometrical ideas from Pythagoras to Hilbert and Einstein. Academic Press, London-New York, 1970.
• Leslie, John. Elements of geometry, geometrical analysis and plane trigonometry. Oliphant, Edinburgh, 1809.
• Loomis, Elisha Scott (1852-1940). The Pythagorean proposition: its demonstrations analyzed and classified and bibliography of sources for data of the four kinds of "proofs". Second edition: Edwards Brothers, Ann Arbor, 1940.
• Loria, Gino. Il passato ed il presente delle pricipali teorie geometriche. Second edtion. C. Clausen, Torino, 1896.
• Matvievskaya, G. P. The beginnings of plane and spherical trigonometry. (Russian). Current Life, Science and Technology: Series "Mathematics and Cybernetics" 82, 5. "Znanice", Moskow, 1962. Reviewed: Math. Rev. 85a:01005.
• Reid, Constance. A long way from Euclid. T. Y. Crowell Co., New York, 1963.
• Richards, Joan L. Mathematical visions: the pursuit of geometry in Victorian England Academic Press, Boston, 1988.
• Rozenfeld, B. A. (Boris Abramovich) A history of non-Euclidean geometry: evolution of the concept of a geometric space. Translated from Istoriia neevklidovoi geometrii by Abe Shenitzer. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1988.
• Rupert, William W. (William Whitehead) Famous geometrical theorems and problems, with their history. D.C. Heath & co., Boston, 1900-01.
• Stackel, Paul, 1862-1919, editor. Die theorie der parallellinien von Euklid bis auf Gauss; eine urkundensammlung zur vorgeschichte der nichteuklidischen geometrie. Teubner, Leipzig, 1895.
• Stamper, Alva Walker. A history of the teaching of elementary geometry, with reference to present-day problems. Thesis (PH.D.) Columbia University, New York, 1909.
• Tannery, Paul, 1843-1904. La geometrie grecque, comment son histoire nous est parvenue et ce que nous en savons. Gauthier-Villars, Paris, 1887.
• Taylor, Charles. An introduction to the ancient and modern geometry of conics. Deighton Bell, Cambridge, 1881.
• Yates, Robert Carl (1904-1963). The trisection problem. Franklin Press, Baton Rouge, 1942.
• Waerden, B. L. van der (Bartel Leendert van der). Geometry and algebra in ancient civilizations. Springer-Verlag, Berlin-New York, 1983.

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Maintained by

David E. Joyce (djoyce@clarku.edu)
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Clark University