MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive

{{Short description|Mathematics web site}}

{{Use dmy dates|cs1-dates=ly|date=March 2024}}

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| url = {{URL|https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/}}

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The MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive is a website maintained by John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson and hosted by the University of St Andrews in Scotland. It contains detailed biographies on many historical and contemporary mathematicians, as well as information on famous curves and various topics in the history of mathematics.{{citation|journal=Convergence|title=St Andrews History of Mathematics Archive|publisher=Mathematical Association of America|url=https://maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/st-andrews-history-of-mathematics-archive|first=Barnabas|last=Hughes|date=July 2007}}{{citation|title=MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive|first=J. H.|last=Ellison|journal=Choice|volume=27|issue=3|date=January–February 1999|page=46|url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/a10b133fd555ff33e485e78b03fdc6f6/1}}{{citation|id={{ProQuest|203934232}}|first=Peter|last=Ross|title=MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland|journal=The College Mathematics Journal|volume=30|issue=1|date=January 1999|page=69}}

The History of Mathematics archive was an outgrowth of Mathematical MacTutor system, a HyperCard database by the same authors,{{citation |url=https://umanitoba.ca/cm/vol3/no17/mathtutor.html |title=MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive|magazine=CM|publisher= Manitoba Library Association|volume=III|issue=17|date=25 April 1997 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303204859/https://umanitoba.ca/cm/vol3/no17/mathtutor.html |url-status=dead }} which won them the European Academic Software award in 1994. In the same year, they founded their web site. It has since expanded to include biographies of more than 3200 mathematicians and scientists.{{citation |url=https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/chronological/ |title= Chronological Biographies Index |website= MacTutor History of Mathematics archive |access-date=2024-05-28}}

In 2015, O'Connor and Robertson won the Hirst Prize of the London Mathematical Society for their work.{{citation|title=MacTutor History of Mathematics website creators honoured by LMS|first=Colm|last=Mulcahy|work=The Aperiodical|date=July 19, 2015|url=http://aperiodical.com/2015/07/mactutor-history-of-mathematics-website-creators-honoured-by-lms/|access-date=July 19, 2015|archive-date=July 20, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150720012141/http://aperiodical.com/2015/07/mactutor-history-of-mathematics-website-creators-honoured-by-lms/|url-status=live}}.{{citation|url=http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/maths/news/title,262438,en.php|title=London Mathematical Society Hirst Prize and Lectureship|date=July 3, 2015|publisher=University of St Andrews, School of Mathematics and Statistics|access-date=July 19, 2015|archive-date=December 11, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161211203417/http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/maths/news/title,262438,en.php|url-status=dead}}. The citation for the Hirst Prize calls the archive "the most widely used and influential web-based resource in history of mathematics".