Closing Highlights from First Sabbatical

Ely Cathedral, England

Welcome (or welcome back) to my "Mathematical History Tour (Plus)" sabbatical blog.  During spring semester 2016 I spent seven weeks studying the history of mathematics in northern Europe focusing on mathematical developments from the Renaissance to the present.  Though I was very focused on mathematics and math history, it's impossible to be in Europe for 7 weeks and not notice some other stuff too, hence the "(Plus)" in the title. :-)

I have another blog that ran concurrently containing only mathematical content.  This blog contains the full experience of the travel, places, people, and emotions, as well as all the math history content.  The purpose of this blog has been to keep friends and family informed of what I was doing and how I was doing, and it also now serves as a diary or scrapbook of memories for me of a once-in-a-lifetime journey.  Hopefully, it is something others can enjoy as well.

I've decided to finish up by posting what is either a "conclusion" (if you've been following me) or an "introduction" (if you're just finding this blog for the first time) in the form of highlights of the trip - a representative sample of the contents of the rest of the blog.

Here, in no particular order, are the highlights:

1) Holyrood Park, Abbey, Palace -

Absolutely astonishing in every way!  There is history, beauty, ruins, a working castle (the queen's home when she is in Edinburgh) and miles of hiking trails at all levels of difficulty.  For a full post entirely about Holyrood Park, Abbey and Palace, click here.

2) Awesome "Hosts" -

I was blown away by the gracious welcome I was given by each of the mathematicians I contacted before heading to Europe - mathematicians I knew by reputation but did not know personally prior to this trip.

 In each case I had asked a single question by email, such as, "Can you tell me where G. H. Hardy's rooms were in Trinity College, Cambridge?" or "Do you know if the nervenklinik (sanatorium) in Halle, Germany where Georg Cantor died in 1918 still exists?"

Instead of just emailing me an answer to my question, each of these mathematicians connected with me in person, welcomed me, opened doors for me to places I could never have entered without their help, spent a great deal of time with me, conversed with me about the topics of my study, and absolutely gave freely of their time to give me a great and valuable experience.  I do not have words to adequately convey the depth of my gratitude to them!  They are phenomenal human beings, each and every one!

Cambridge University - Professor Piers Bursill-Hall and doctoral student Richard Chapling

Gottingen University - Professor Samuel James Patterson

Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg - Professor Manfred Stern

3) Quiet Days -

I was in Europe for 47 days, only 4 of which were what I would call "down days."  As you can imagine, taking in 500 years of math history in 9 cities in 4 countries in less than 2 months was pretty intense, so these four slower days were unbelievably refreshing!  Below I give one picture of each place; to see more click on the links below:

Burntisland, Scotland - home of Mary Somerville
May Day in Paris
Heidelberg
Plesse Castle, Gottingen, Germany - associated with David Hilbert

Burntisland, Scotland - The Links and Firth of Forth

May Day walk along the Seine - view of Notre Dame Cathedral

Heidelberg Castle

Plesse Castle - Gottingen, Germany

4) Brontes -

I have adored Emily Bronte and the entire Bronte family since my teen years.  I love the writings - novels and poetry - of Emily and Charlotte and Anne.  I'm fascinated by the story of their family.  Though I didn't get to visit their hometown of Haworth, a place I have long longed to go, I did get to see portraits of them at London's National Portrait Gallery - facsimiles of which I've been familiar with for decades - two of these having been painted by their brother Branwell.  I also got to see other items associated with them, such as their famed tiny books of juvenilia, their signatures, a pair of Charlotte's shoes, the prospectus for the school they hoped to open, and so on.  All of these things were on display because this year is the 200th anniversary of Charlotte's birth.  To see more, click here.

Emily Jane Bronte - as painted by her brother Branwell Bronte

5) Archive Reading -

I was here for the math, and being a professor on sabbatical opened doors for me to archives and amazing resources.  I read at two libraries in Oxford: Queen's College and the Bodleian.  I also accessed the archives at Heidelberg University.  My Bodleian Reader's Card is now one of my most treasured possessions!  More here.

Radcliffe Camera - Bodleian Library - Oxford

Queen's College Library, Oxford

Queen's College Library - Oxford

6) Marienkirche, Halle, Germany -

I visited many places of worship - kirks, churches, kirchen and cathedrals.  The Marktkirche (Market Church) or Marienkirche (Church of Mary) in Halle stood out to me.  It was stunning, as were so many others, but it was also very accessible and less touristy than most.  There was no charge to get in, and it was open every day.  I was in Halle for about five days, and this church was in such a central location that I spent a lot of time there and came to feel I belonged there.  I attended an organ concert there, and I climbed its unique towers - of which there are FOUR!  This church also contains a lot of history that I was interested in - is the church that George Friedrich Handel was baptized in and first learned to play organ in, and it is associated with Martin Luther.  Halle is very near to Wittenberg, and Luther preached in this Halle church a number of times.  There is a small museum at this church dedicated to him that contains his death mask and casts of his hands.  For lots of pictures of Halle's Marienkirche, including views from the roof, Luther-related items, and a video of organ practice, click here.

7) Harry Potter Connections -

This was a very unexpected find for me.  I have enjoyed the Harry Potter books and movies, but I didn't know much about the settings or the author's inspirations.  While I was in a kirkyard in Edinburgh looking for the grave of a mathematician (Colin Maclaurin) I overheard a conversation about graves there that likely inspired elements of the series.  I also learned that the author, J. K. Rowling, did much of her early writing at a cafe in Edinburgh, so I had lunch there one day and was pretty amazed by the place.  For more about Harry Potter connections in Edinburgh click here.

The Elephant House

View from the Elephant House

Greyfriar's Kirkyard

Greyfriar's Kirkyard

Greyfriar's Kirkyard

Looking across Greyfriar's Kirkyard to Heriot's School - a possible inspiration for Hogwarts school in the novels

So, there you have it, seven weeks packed into one post.  I learned so much through this experience.  I've been enriched as a mathematician and teacher, and the things I've learned in that arena will resonate throughout the rest of my teaching career and will hopefully make a positive impact on many, many students.

I've been enriched in other ways as well - through experiencing the culture, history and beauty of Europe and having an amazing time - but also through difficulties of solo travel in countries where I did not speak the language and through becoming extremely sick for a couple of weeks, to the point where I feared I would have to be hospitalized, and having no one there with me to care for me.  I was particularly sick in Oxford, where if I needed medicine or food it was a half hour walk from my cheap hotel room to get them.

In many ways I had to stretch myself - driving in England (without someone with me to "navigate" and where the cars and roads are reversed from the US, and I don't even like to drive at home!), pushing my introverted self to meet mathematicians there and to let them give to me as abundantly as they did, figuring out how to live abroad for seven weeks on my own - never had done anything remotely like that before -

I learned a lot about myself, and I learned a lot about trust - trusting God to provide for my needs - and He came through so powerfully.  In multiple ways this was a life-changing experience, and I'm so glad to have had the opportunity.  And I'm so thankful to those of you who followed me through this blog and to those of you who were praying for me during this time!!  Much appreciated!!

Soli Deo Glori - To God Alone be the Glory!

Bletchley Park and Alan Turing

Bletchley Park "Mansion" from across the pond

My sabbatical travels were such a whirlwind that I didn't realize until long after I got home that I hadn't posted about my visit to Bletchley Park, the main site for British code-breaking during World War II, and its most famous code-breaker, mathematician Alan Turing.  The photographs above and below this paragraph are of "The Mansion," which was built in about 1880 as a modest gentleman's residence but was expanded in the late 1800s and early 1900s as a "country house."  It was bought by the Secret Intelligence Service (M16) in 1938 - one reason for this choice of location was that it was on the "Varsity Railroad Line" which ran between Oxford and Cambridge - providing easy access for mathematicians and other code-breakers from these universities.

A bit of the grounds at Bletchley Park

The Mansion

I found both the exterior and the interior to be absolutely exquisite!  Though it has been called by some a "maudlin and mounstrous pile" because it combines Victorian Gothic, Tudor and Dutch Baroque styles.  Though construction on this mansion didn't begin until 1878, residence on this site goes back at least as far as the Domesday Book of 1086, when it was part of the Manor of Eaton.

It's hard to estimate the full value of the work that was done here.  Until fairly recently it was Britain's "best kept secret."  Secrecy surrounding the activity done here was vital to national security and to victory in WWII.  As the plaque below expresses the intelligence work done here saved countless lives and helped significantly shorten the war.

One benefit of this location is that it includes extensive grounds that could be used for recreation from their intense work by the mathematicians and other intelligence workers and staff that were housed here.  The pond, seen in the first image in this post, would freeze over in winter and be used for ice-skating.  There are also tennis courts on the grounds.

Below is a view of the cottages where Turing and others made breakthroughs on the German Enigma Code.  Also included are photographs of some informational signage from this area.

The Cottages, Bletchley Park

Turing, a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, was instrumental in developing The Bombe which functioned to discover daily settings of the German Enigma machines.  Among other influences he was inspired in his work in logic and computing by the work of Charles Babbage and Ada Byron Lovelace (whose powerful story I have blogged about here).  Pictured below is a replica of The Bombe, which is on display in The Mansion.  It is a prop from the 2014 movie about these events and this era "The Imitation Game," starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

As well as the mansion and the cottages, which already existed on the site when M16 bought the estate, many huts were built to house specific aspects of the intelligence work going on at B.P. (as it was affectionately known by those who worked there).  For instance, Hut 4 dealt with Naval Intelligence, Hut 7 dealt with the Cryptanalysis of Japanese Naval Codes, Hut 2 was for "beer, tea, and relaxation," and Hut 11 was for Bombe Building. 

Alan Turing was a brilliant mathematician who contributed much to mathematics, to the foundations of computer science, and to the war effort.  He is widely acknowledged as the Father of Modern Computing and also as the Father of Artificial Intelligence.    His "Turing Machine"can be considered a model of a general purpose computer.  In 1951 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of London.  Yet for all that he contributed, because of the secrecy of the war effort his contributions could not be recognized in his time.  Additionally, his life ended tragically.

In 1952 Turing, who was homosexual, met a young man with whom he began a relationship.  An acquaintance of his partner robbed Turing's house.  Turing reported the robbery to the police, and during questioning it came out that he was in a homosexual relationship.  At that time homosexual acts were considered criminal offences in England, and Turing was charged with "gross indecency."  He plead guilty and was given a choice between imprisonment or probation which would include hormonal treatments with estrogen to suppress his libido.  The conviction also led to the loss of his security clearance, and it barred him from further cryptographic consulting for the British government.  He was also denied entry into the United States after this conviction.

Two years after his conviction his housekeeper found him dead in his home.  He had died of potassium cyanide poisoning.  There is some doubt as to whether his death was accidental or if it was suicide.  He was working with electrolysis experiments at the time and may have accidentally ingested it.  His mother maintained that his death was accidental.  But a half eaten apple was found by his bedside when his body was discovered, and, according to his biographer David Leavitt, his favorite fairy tale was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and, in Leavitt's words, Turing took "an especially keen pleasure in the scene where the Wicked Queen immerses her apple in the poisonous brew."

Mathematician and artist Lidia Luquet, captured this tragedy well in her painting, pictured below, a Magritte homage which brought me to tears when I saw it displayed at a conference at U.C. Davis early in my sabbatical semester (more about that at this link).

One last look at The Mansion

There are a number of excellent movies about the life of Alan Turing and/or the work at Bletchley Park.  One of these is the 2014 film The Imitation Game starring Benedict Cumberbatch, another is the 2001 film Enigma starring Dougray Scott and Kate Winslet, and my favorite is the 1996 BBC production Breaking the Code: Biography of Alan Turing starring Derek Jacobi (which can be found at this link on youtube).