2024 Joint Mathematics Meetings

Sarah Glaz, Mark Sanders

Artists

Sarah Glaz

Emeritus Professor of Mathematics

Department of Mathematics, The University of Connecticut

Storrs, Connecticut, USA

sarah.glaz@uconn.edu

https://www2.math.uconn.edu/~glaz/

Statement

The poet, Sarah Glaz, resides in the US. She is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the University of Connecticut specializing in the area of commutative algebra. Her poetry is often inspired by mathematics and its history. Mark Sanders, from Northamptonshire, UK, is a collage and ceramic artist whose work engages with surrealism. His collage construction is driven by research and combines materials already in his stockpile with new components as required by the subject. This piece is part of Sarah’s and Mark’s larger joint poem-collage project involving the ancient history of mathematics.

Artworks

Image for entry 'And the mule opened her mouth and said'

And the mule opened her mouth and said

29.5 x 37.0 x 0.0 cm

Digital print, collage materials, paper, ink

2023

Additional info

Thales of Miletus (622--547 BCE), is considered one of the Seven Sages of Greek antiquity and the father of demonstrative mathematics. In his youth, he was a successful merchant. The story recounted in the poem is a fable by Aesop highlighting his shrewdness in business. Thales mathematical accomplishments were in the areas of geometry and astronomy. He is credited with five propositions in geometry and several results in astronomy, including the calculation of the position of the Pleiades star cluster. The Pleiades, known as The Seven Sisters, are shown in the collage in their nymph form dancing over waterlily pads. The lily pads reflect Thales' belief that the earth was a flat disk floating on water. More information at the link.