Criticism of Bell's Writing About Mathematics
Bell wrote a book of biographical sketches titled Men of Mathematics, (one chapter of which was the first popular account of the 19th century woman mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaya) and which is still in print. The book is alleged to have inspired some people to take up mathematics. Historians of mathematics have disputed the accuracy of much of Bell's history. In fact, through most of the text, Bell does not distinguish carefully between anecdote and history. He has been much criticised for romanticizing Évariste Galois. Rothman (1982, p. 103) writes: " Bell's account, by far the most famous, is also the most fictitious."
His treatment of Georg Cantor, which reduced his relationships with his father and with Leopold Kronecker to stereotypes, has been even more severely criticized.
Bell's later book, Development of Mathematics has been less famous, but Constance Reid finds it has many fewer weaknesses. A recent study finds Bell's treatment of infinitesimals in Development of Mathematics as plagued by fictional excesses as his other historical work.
The Last Problem is a hybrid, between a social history and a history of mathematics.
Read more about this topic: Eric Temple Bell
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