Welcome
 
Welcome
 

The Collegium Helveticum is the joint Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS) of ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich, and the Zurich University of the Arts. We aim to provide a meeting place and forum for dialogue between the humanities, social sciences, physical sciences, engineering, medical science and the arts.

 
 
Fellows
 
Fellows
 

Starting in September 2023, nine early-career fellows will pursue their projects at the Collegium Helveticum along with a varying number of senior and associate fellows.

Yael Borofsky

Early-Career Fellow
Development economics

Noé Brasier

Early-Career Fellow
Translational medicine

Georgia Drew

Early-Career Fellow
Evolutionary ecologist

Emma Mavodza

Early-Career Fellow
Development studies

Bruno Moreschi

Early-Career Fellow
Visual arts

Celestin Mutuyimana

Early-Career Fellow
Psychology

Ari Ray

Early-Career Fellow
Political science

Madeline Woker

Early-Career Fellow
History

Paulo Wirz

Early-Career Fellow
Fine arts

Veronica Akle

Senior Fellow
Neuroscience
University of Los Andes

Tuncay Alan

Senior Fellow
Mechanical engineering
Monash University

N. Asokan

Senior Fellow
Computer science
University of Waterloo

Maneesha Deckha

Senior Fellow
Law
University of Victoria

Somayeh Dodge

Senior Fellow
Geographic information science
University of California Santa Barbara

Niels van Doorn

Senior Fellow
New Media Studies
University of Amsterdam

Katherine Elvira

Senior Fellow
Analytical Chemistry
University of Victoria

Huib Ernste

Senior Fellow
Geography
Radboud University Nijmegen

Kenneth Gillingham

Senior Fellow
Environmental economics
Yale University

Christopher Hasson

Senior Fellow
Sensorimotor Control and Learning
Northeastern University

Makiko Hashinaga

Senior Fellow
Pedagogy
Sapporo Gakuin University

Inge Hinterwaldner

Senior Fellow
Art history
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Ulrike Klinger

Senior Fellow
Communication Science
European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)

Urte Krass

Senior Fellow
Art history
University of Bern

Marielle Macé

Senior Fellow
Ecocriticism
EHESS

Kettly Mars

Senior Fellow
Fiction Writing

Galen McKinley

Senior Fellow
Climate and oceans
Columbia University

Francesca Melandri

Senior Fellow
Literature

Bernhard Mikeska

Senior Fellow
Art
RAUM+ZEIT

Maryna Nehrey

Senior Fellow
Agriculture economics
National University of Life and Environment Science of Ukraine

Vadym Rakochi

Senior Fellow
Musicology
Zurich University of the Arts

Kriss Ravetto

Guest of the director
Film, Digital Media, and STS
University of California, Los Angeles

Lyudmyla Romanyuk

Senior Fellow
Developmental psychology
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

Lorenzo Romito

Senior Fellow
Space and Design Strategies
University of Arts Linz

Walid Sadok

Senior Fellow
Crop science
University of Minnesota

Thomas Schroepfer

Senior Fellow
Architecture and sustainable design
Singapore University of Technology and Design

Margaret-Anne Storey

Senior Fellow
Software engineering
University of Victoria

Tim Shaw

Senior Fellow
Sound and media art
Newcastle University

Anke te Heesen

Senior Fellow
History of science
Humboldt University

Nikolaos Zagklas

Senior Fellow
Byzantine studies
University of Vienna

 
 
Fellowship program
 
Fellowship program
 

Located in the historic Semper Observatory, the Collegium Helveticum offers academics and artists a highly international, interdisciplinary environment where they can work on their research projects.

 
 
Event calendar
 
Event calendar
 

May 03, 2023,  10:00–16:00

Mathematics from a Cultural Perspective

Organized by: Iakovos Androulidakis and Alberto Cattaneo
Venue: University of Zurich, KOL-G 217

Registration: If you are interested in participating, please register here.
The workshop is addressed to a general audience, in particular to high school students.

Is mathematics an abstract expression of intelligence of the human species, or does it contribute to culture? What does the historical and archaeological evidence show? 
The beauty of mathematics lies in its precision, its unwavering logic, and its ability to solve “real world” problems. This view has also led to a mathematics education that focuses on students learning mathematical processes and procedures to solve a series of problems from textbooks and worksheets. This workshop argues that a richer mathematics education comes from teaching it from a cultural perspective. This way of teaching, creates the potential to develop a deeper conceptual understanding of mathematics as well as a connection with mathematics. To do this, we must understand the historical connection between mathematics and culture.


Courtesy of the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project (find a description below)*


Program

10:00
Opening & Welcome words
Sebastian Bonhoeffer (Director, Collegium Helveticum)
Iakovos Androulidakis (Senior fellow, Collegium Helveticum)
10:15
A Hellenistic Dynamic Theory
Lucio Russo (University of Rome Tor Vergata)
11:15
Coffee break 
11:45
The Socio-Cultural Background of the Emergence Of
An Axiomatic-Deductive Mathematics in Ancient Greece
Erwin Neuenschwander (University of Zurich)
12:45
Lunch break
15:00
Aspects of Objectification in Euclid
Dionysios Lappas (University of Athens)
16:00
Panel discussion with all participants
16:45
Concluding remarks & discussion

Speakers & Abstracts

Dionysios Lappas
University of Athens
Aspects of Objectification in Euclid
This talk is about Euclidean Geometry, as it comes out from the first
survived textbook on the subject, Euclid’s Elements (composed circa 300
B.C.). Initially Dionysios Lappas discusses mathematics and mathematicians
in Ancient Greece, in a social and cultural context. Then he deals with
epistemological and methodological questions arising from the reading of
Euclid’s Elements and argues about their implications in studying and
teaching Geometry. Finally, as a case study the talk focuses upon the
notion of figures similarity and discusses its importance and diffusion
from Euclid’s Elements to contemporary considerations.

Lucio Russo
University of Rome Tor Vergata
A Hellenistic Dynamic Theory
In the dialogue “De facie quae in orbe luna apparet,”Plutarch mentions a
Hellenistic dynamical theory that is applied both to the moon and to the
motion of hypothetical moving bodies within the earth. Using passages from
pseudo-Aristotelian mechanics, Euclid and Archimedes, the theory is
partially reconstructed in its technical aspects.

Erwin Neuenschwander
University of Zurich
The Socio-Cultural Background of the Emergence Of
An Axiomatic-Deductive Mathematics in Ancient Greece
Mathematics was practiced in different ancient civilizations. However, its
axiomatic-deductive structure developed in only one place, namely in
ancient Greece. The lecture first gives an overview of the preceding
mathematical writings of the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians and Chinese
and illuminates their cultural background. Then it analyzes the decisive
factors and reasons that led to their axiomatic-deductive structure in
Greece, which presents itself in a completed form in the Elements of
Euclid.

 

*
Video description:
Computed Tomography Slices of Fragment A (2-negative) of the Antikythera Mechanism. The Antikythera Mechanism is an Ancient Greek hand-powered orrery, described as the oldest known example of an analogue computer used to predict astronomical positions and eclipses. It could also be used to track the four-year cycle of athletic games which was similar to an Olympiad, the cycle of the ancient Olympic Games. Its construction relied on theories of astronomy and mathematics developed by Greek astronomers during the second century BC, and it is estimated to have been built in the late second century BC or the early first century BC. It is possibly attributed to the school of Archimedes and consists the culmination of the technological developments of the Hellenistic period, which would not be possible without the mathematical and astronomical achievements of the previous centuries.
 
 
About us
 
About us
 

The Collegium Helveticum is the joint Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS) of ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich, and the Zurich University of the Arts. We aim to provide a meeting place and forum for dialogue between the humanities, social sciences, physical sciences, engineering, medical science and the arts.

 
 
 

Contact/Newsletter

 
Our Location

Collegium Helveticum
Semper-Sternwarte (ETH/STW)
Schmelzbergstrasse 25
CH-8006 Zurich
Switzerland

Postal adress

Collegium Helveticum
ETH Zurich/STW
Schmelzbergstrasse 25
CH-8092 Zurich
Schweiz

info(a)collegium.ethz.ch
+41 (0)44 632 69 06

 

Arrival by public transport from Zurich main station

Tram 10 from Zürich Bahnhofplatz (direction Zürich Flughafen) or Tram 6 from Bahnhofstrasse/HB (direction Zoo), three stops to ETH/Universitätsspital. Go left from University Hospital Zurich and follow Schmelzbergstrasse to Schmelzbergstrasse 25. Climb the stairs by the green fountain and you have arrived at the Collegium Helveticum. Welcome!