Reviel Netz
Patrick Suppes Professor of Greek Mathematics and Astronomy and Professor, by courtesy, of Philosophy and of History
Classics
Bio
Netz's main field is the history of pre-modern mathematics. His research involves the wider issues of the history of cognitive practices, e.g. visual culture, the history of the book, and literacy and numeracy. His books from Cambridge University Press include The Shaping of Deduction in Greek Mathematics: a Study in Cognitive History (1999, Runciman Award), The Transformation of Early Mediterranean Mathematics: From Problems to Equations (2004), and Ludic Proof: Greek Mathematics and the Alexandrian Aesthetic (2009).
He is also the author of the translation and commentary of the works of Archimedes, also with CUP, a three-volume work of which the first has appeared, The Two Books on Sphere and Cylinder (2004). Together with Nigel Wilson, he prepares the edition of the recently rediscovered Archimedes Palimpsest (evidence from which already gave rise to two major discoveries: a text showing actual infinity in Archimedes, published in SCIAMVS 2001-2002, and a text showing, possibly, combinatorics in Archimedes, published in SCIAMVS 2004.) Two volumes, Transcription and Critical Edition, are forthcoming from the British Academy, of which the transcription is already available online. His popular book on the Archimedes Palimpsest Project, The Archimedes Codex, (co-authored with William Noel, Neumann Prize) was published by Widenfeld and Nicolson, 2007, and is translated into 20 languages.
Related to his research in cognitive history is his interest in ecological history, and he has published Barbed Wire: an Ecology of Modernity (Wesleyan University Press, 2004, finalist for PEN award). Reviel Netz is also a poet (Adayin Bahuc, 1999 Shufra: Tel Aviv, AMOS prize), one of a group of Hebrew poets active today whose work revives formal verse and he is the co-author, together with his wife, the Israeli author Maya Arad, of a collection of essays on Israeli literature, Positions of Stress (Meqom Hata'am, 2008 Axuzat Bayit: Tel Aviv).
Academic Appointments
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Professor, Classics
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Professor (By courtesy), Philosophy
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Professor (By courtesy), History
Administrative Appointments
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Fellowship, Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Sciences (2004 - 2005)
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William H. and Frances Green Faculty Fellowship, Stanford University (2003 - 2004)
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Reid Hall Fellowship, Columbia University (2002 - 2002)
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MacNamara Faculty Fellowship, Stanford University (2000 - 2001)
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Post-Doctoral Fellowship, The Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology (1998 - 1999)
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Research Fellowship, Gonville and Cains College, Cambridge (1996 - 1999)
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Professor, Department of Classics, Stanford University (2004 - Present)
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Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (2004 - 2005)
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Associate Professor, Department of Classics, Stanford University (2003 - 2004)
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Assistant Professor, Department of Classics, Stanford University (1999 - 2003)
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Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology, M.l.T. (1998 - 1999)
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Research Fellow, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University (1996 - 1999)
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Affiliated Lecturer, Faculty of Classics, Cambridge University (1997 - 1999)
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Visiting Lecturer, Tel Aviv University (1996 - 1997)
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Invited Lecturer, Cambridge University (1995 - 1997)
Honors & Awards
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Neumann Prize, British Society for the History of Mathematics (BSHM) (2009)
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Finalist, PEN Award, PEN Center USA (2005)
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Runciman Award, Anglo-Hellenic League (2000)
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Hellenic Foundation Prize, best U.K. dissertation on ancient science and philosophy, Hellenic Foundation (1998)
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Writers and Scholars Prize, The President's Amos Foundation (1998)
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Hare Prize, University of Cambridge (1997)
Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations
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Editorial Board Member, Common Knowledge (2007)
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Editorial Board Member, Historia Mathematica (2003 - 2009)
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Visiting Member, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris (2002 - 2002)
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Visiting Member, Maison des Sciences de I 'Homme, Paris (2000 - 2000)
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Visiting Member, Maison des Sciences de I 'Homme, Paris (1996 - 1996)
Program Affiliations
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Program in History & Philosophy of Science
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Symbolic Systems Program
Professional Education
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B.A., Tel Aviv University, Ancient History (1986)
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M.A., Tel Aviv University, History and Philosophy of Science (1992)
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Ph.D., Cambridge (Christ's College), Classics (1995)
2024-25 Courses
- Advanced Greek: Reading the Archimedes Palimpsest
CLASSICS 102G (Win) - Mousike: Ancient Music in Theory and Performance
CLASSICS 316 (Spr) -
Independent Studies (5)
- Directed Reading
HPS 199 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Directed Reading in Classics (Graduate Students)
CLASSICS 298 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Directed Readings (Undergraduate)
CLASSICS 198 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Dissertation Proposal Preparation
CLASSICS 297 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Undergraduate Thesis: Senior Research
CLASSICS 199 (Aut, Win, Spr)
- Directed Reading
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Prior Year Courses
2023-24 Courses
- Ancient Knowledge, New Frontiers: How the Greek Legacy Became Islamic Science
CLASSICS 47, COMPLIT 107A, HUMCORE 121 (Aut) - Reading the Archimedes Palimpsest
CLASSICS 185 (Aut) - Technologies of Civilization: Writing, Number and Money
CLASSICS 20N (Spr) - The Greek Invention of Mathematics
CLASSICS 136 (Spr)
2022-23 Courses
- Ancient Knowledge, New Frontiers: How the Greek Legacy Became Islamic Science
CLASSICS 47, COMPLIT 107A, HUMCORE 121 (Win) - Ancient Medicine
CLASSICS 123 (Spr) - Reading the Archimedes Palimpsest
CLASSICS 185 (Win)
2021-22 Courses
- Ancient Knowledge, New Frontiers: How the Greek Legacy Became Islamic Science
CLASSICS 47, COMPLIT 107A, HUMCORE 121 (Win) - Reading the Archimedes Palimpsest
CLASSICS 185 (Win) - The Greek Invention of Mathematics
CLASSICS 136 (Spr)
- Ancient Knowledge, New Frontiers: How the Greek Legacy Became Islamic Science
Stanford Advisees
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Doctoral Dissertation Reader (AC)
Nick Gardner, Soham Shiva -
Doctoral Dissertation Advisor (AC)
Hyunjip Kim, Verity Walsh
All Publications
- Response to Acerbi Aestimatio 2013: 68-70
- Science in Syracuse: Archimedes in Place Classical Sicily: between Greece and Rome edited by Lyons, C., et al Getty Publications. 2013: 124–133
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The Fifth Hammer: Pythagoras and the Disharmony of the World (Book Review)
COMMON KNOWLEDGE
2013; 19 (1): 138-139
View details for DOI 10.1215/0961754X-1815872
View details for Web of Science ID 000313297700017
- Authorial Presence in the Ancient Exact Sciences Writing Science: Mathematical and Medical Authorship in Ancient Greece edited by Asper, M. 2013: 217–253
- Barbed Wire: an Ecology of Modernity EUDEBA. 2013
- The Texture of Archimedes' Writings: through Heiberg's Veil The History of Mathematical Proof in ancient Traditions edited by Chemla, K. Cambridge University Press. 2012: 163–205
- The More it Changes... Reflections on the World Historical Role of Greek Mathematics Greek Science in the Long Run: Essays on the Greek Scientific Tradition edited by Gomez, P. O. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2012: 152–168
- To the Problem of Translating Eugene One gin A.S. Pushkin / Eugene Onegin, a new Hebrew translation edited by Levithan, A. 2012: 205–215
- The Archimedes Codex: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest ARSIMET'in Elyazmalari Alfa. 2012
- The Necessary: Music, and Mother Ho! 2012; 8
- Reasoning and Symbolism in Diophantus The History of Mathematical Proof in ancient Traditions Cambridge University Press. 2012: 327–361
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Duel at Dawn: Heroes, Martyrs, and the Rise of Modern Mathematics (Book Review)
COMMON KNOWLEDGE
2011; 17 (3): 533-533
View details for DOI 10.1215/0961754X-1305382
View details for Web of Science ID 000294654400005
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The Bibliosphere of Ancient Science (Outside of Alexandria) A Preliminary Survey
NTM
2011; 19 (3): 239-269
View details for DOI 10.1007/s00048-011-0057-2
View details for Web of Science ID 000295681500002
View details for PubMedID 21946891
- The Archimedes Palimpsest Vol. II: Facsimile and Transcription Cambridge University Press. 2011
- The Archimedes Palimpsest Vol. I: Catalogue and Commentmy Cambridge University Press. 2011
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WHAT DID GREEK MATHEMATICIANS FIND BEAUTIFUL?
CLASSICAL PHILOLOGY
2010; 105 (4): 426-444
View details for Web of Science ID 000287786400010
- The Transformation of Mathematics in the Early Mediterranean: from Problems to Equations Enalios. 2010
- Review of The Artist and Mathematician Common Knowledge 2010
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Imagination and Layered Ontology in Greek Mathematics
CONFIGURATIONS
2009; 17 (1-2): 19-50
View details for Web of Science ID 000277912900002
- The Archimedes Codex: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest O Kodikas lou Archimede Alexandria. 2009
- The Exact Sciences The Oxford Handbook of Hellenic Studies edited by Stones, B., et al 2009: 579–596
- Ludic Proof: Greek Mathematics and the Alexandrian Aesthetic Cambridge University Press. 2009
- The Archimedes Codex: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest Archimeduv Kodex Deus. 2009
- Positions of Stress: Essays on Israeli Literature Between Sound and History Achuzat Bayit. 2008
- The Archimedes Codex: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest Kaidoku! Arukimedesu shahon: yohishi kara yomigaetta tensai sugakusha Kobunsha. 2008
- The entries Archimedes, Apollonius Encyclopaedia of Ancient Natural Sciences 2008
- The Archimedes Codex: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest Le codex d'Archimede: Les secrets du manuscript le plus celebre de Ia science JC Lattes. 2008
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The 'Archimedes codex' - Revealing the secrets of the world's greatest palimpsest (Book Review)
TLS-THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
2007: 34-34
View details for Web of Science ID 000250275200052
- The Archimedes Codex: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest Widenfeld and Nicholson. 2007
- The Archimedes Codex: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest Ha-Kodeks Shel Archimedes Yedioth Achronot. 2007
- The Obscenity of Rhyme Ho! 2007; 5
- The Archimedes Codex: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest De Archimedes-Codex Polak & Van Gennep. 2007
- The Archimedes Codex: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest II Codice Perduto di Archimede. La storia di un libro ritrovato e dei suoi segreti matematici Rizzoli. 2007
- The Archimedes Codex: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest Kodeks Archimedes Tajemnice najslynniejszego palimpsestu swiata Magnum. 2007
- The Archimedes Codex: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest El Codigo de Arquimedes Temas de Hoy. 2007
- The Archimedes Codex: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest O Codex Arquimedes Edicoes 70. 2007
- The Archimedes Codex: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest The Archimedes Codex: How a Medieval Prayer Book is Revealing the True Genius of Antiquity's Greatest Scientist Da Capo. 2007
- The Archimedes Codex: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest Der Kodex des Archimedes: das berhümteste Palimpsest der Welt wird entschülsselt C.H. Beck. 2007
- On a Generation that has Squandered its Poets Ho! 2006; 3: 172-191
- Khayyam in Between Ho! 2006; 4: 197 - 202
- Coiled, Together Mitaa'am 2006; 5: 95 - 108
- The Carnival of Masks Ho! 2006; 4: 140 - 166
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The aesthetics of mathematics: A study
Meeting on Mathematics as Rational Activity
SPRINGER. 2005: 251–293
View details for Web of Science ID 000230449500009
- The Limits of Text in Greek Mathematics History of Science, History of Text edited by Chemla, K. 2005: 161–176
- Uniforms off: on New Verse Poetry Ho! 2005; 2: 116-140
- Euclid's Data or The Importance of Being Given Classical Review 2005
- Eudemus of Rhodes, Hippocrates of Chios and the Earliest Form of a Greek Mathematical Text Centaurus 2005: 243-286
- The Pythagoreans Mathematics and Views of the Divine, a Historical Study edited by Bergmans, L., Koetsier, T. Elsevier: Amsterdam. 2005: 77–97
- On Two Types of intertextuality Revue d'Histoire des Mathematiques 2005: 143-155
- Towards a Reconstruction of Archimedes' Stomachion: Preliminary Evidence from the Archimedes Palimpsest Sciamvs 2004: 67-99
- Ancient Mathematics: some Ways of Re-Writing Science in Context 2004; 16: 275 - 286
- The Transformation of Mathematics in the Early Mediterranean: from Problems to Equations Cambridge University Press. 2004
- Archimedes: Translation and Commentary, with a Critical Edition of the Diagrams and a Translation of Eutocius' commentaries, Vol. 1: The Sphere and the Cylinder Cambridge University Press. 2004
- How Propositions Begin: towards an Interpretation of Hupothesis in Plato's Divided Line Hyperboreus 2004: 295-317
- On Reading Alterman (that is, on Pasternak) Ho! 2004; 1: 192-217
- The Goal of Archimedes' Sand-Reckoner Apeiron 2004: 251-290
- Review of G. E. R. Lloyd, Ancient Worlds, Modern Reflections Times Literary Supplement 2004
- A Century of Greek Mathematics: Classics in Twentieth Century Historiography edited by Netz, R., Christianidis, J., et al Kluwer. 2004
- Barbed Wire: an Ecology of Modernity Wesleyan University Press. 2004
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Plato's mathematical construction
CLASSICAL QUARTERLY
2003; 53 (2): 500-509
View details for Web of Science ID 000187963900014
- The Size of the Sign: where Phonology Meets Lexical Semantics Glow Newsletter 2003
- It's not that they couldn't Revue d'Histoire des Mathematiques 2003; 8: 263-289
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Proof, amazement, and the unexpected
SCIENCE
2002; 298 (5595): 967-968
View details for Web of Science ID 000178932000033
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Counter culture: Towards a history of Greek numeracy
HISTORY OF SCIENCE
2002; 40 (129): 321-352
View details for Web of Science ID 000177874700003
- Did Plato have a Philosophy of Science? An Essay-Review on Andrew Gregory: Plato's Philosophy of Science Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 2002; 23: 247 - 263
- How does a Geometrical Problem become a Cubic Equation Farhang 2002; 14: 221-259
- Greek Mathematicians: a Group Picture Science and Mathematics in Greek Cultureed Oxford University Press. 2002: 196–216
- A New Reading of Archimedes' Use of Indivisibles: Preliminary Evidence from the Archimedes Palimpsest, part 2 Sciamus 2002; 3: I 09-125
- Collections of confinement: Thoughts on Barbed Wire Connect: Art-Politics-Theory Practice 2002; 4: 15 - 22
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On the Aristotelian paragraph
PCPS-PROCEEDINGS OF THE CAMBRIDGE PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY
2001: 211-232
View details for Web of Science ID 000173393300012
- Archimedes and Mar Saba: a Preliminary Notice The Sabaite Heritage: The Sabaite Factor in the Orthodox Church: Monastic life, Liturgy, Theology, Literature, Art and Archaeology edited by Parich, J. 2001: 195–199
- Review of Lucio Russo, La Rivoluzione Dimenticata Historia Mathematica 2001; 29: 72 - 73
- A New Reading of Archimedes' Use of Indivisibles: Preliminary Evidence from the Archimedes Palimpses, part 1 Sciamus 2001; 2: 9 - 29
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The origins of mathematical physics: New light on an old question
PHYSICS TODAY
2000; 53 (6): 32-37
View details for Web of Science ID 000087339400009
- The sections on Greek Geometry Enciclopedia Italiana della Storia della scienza 2000: 756–800
- La Construction d 'un Ideal Les Cahiers des Sciences & Vie 2000
- Ancient sources for the study of Science Endeavour 2000; 24: 53 - 54
- Barbed Wire London Review of Books 2000; 22 (14): 30 - 35
- Why did Greek Mathematicians Publish their Analyses? Memorial Volume for Wilbur Knorr edited by Mandel, H., Moravcsik, J., Suppes, P. 2000: 139–157
- Linguistic Formulae as Cognitive Tools (tr. Into Japanese) Gendai Shiso (Revue de Ia Pensee d'aujourd'hui) 2000; 28: 135-147
- Insight from Oversight: an Essay-Review on Jaap Mansfeld: Prolegomena Mathematica Apeiron 2000; 33: 171-179
- Why did Greek Mathematicians Publish their Analyses Memorial Volume for Wilbur Knorr edited by Mandel, H., Moravcsik, J., Suppes, P. 2000: 139–157
- Synthesising Aristotelian Science Classical Review 1999; 49: 117 - 120
- Linguistic Formulae as Cognitive Tools Pragmatics and Cognition 1999; 7: 147 - 176
- Deuteronomic Texts: Late Antiquity and the History of Mathematics Revue d'Histoire des Mathetmatiques 1999; 4: 261-288
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Proclus' division of the mathematical proposition into parts: How and why was it formulated?
CLASSICAL QUARTERLY
1999; 49 (1): 282-303
View details for Web of Science ID 000081023000018
- Adayin bahuc Shufra 1999
- The Shaping of Deduction in Greek Mathematics: A Study in Cognitive History Cambridge University Press. 1999
- Greek Diagrams: their Use and Their Meaning For the Learning of Mathematics 1998: 33 - 39
- The First Jewish Scientist Scripta Classica lsraelica 1998; 17: 27 - 33
- Archimedes Transformed: the Case of A Result Stating a Maximum for a Cubic Equation Archive for History of Exact Sciences 1998; 54: 1 - 47
- On a Certain Sense of Historiographical Unease: an Essay-Review on Catherine Goldetein: Un theoreme de Fermat et ses lecteurs Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 1998; 29: 491 - 499
- Classical Mathematics in the Classical Mediterranean Mediterranean Historical Review 1997; 12: 1 - 24
- Sokrates ve-hasministim Metaphora 1990