EGYPT AWAITS YOU
Travel with the MAA on its 7th Annual Mathematical Study Tour
May 20 - June 1, 2009
Ancient Egypt will surround you with all of its fascination and intrigue while we experience the splendors of Giza which includes the Great Pyramids and mysterious Sphinx and learn of the mathematical genius that was involved in building such structures. A lecture by Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and Director of the Giza Pyramid Excavations, will begin this incredible journey.
We will gain insight into Cairo’s religious past, including visits to the oldest Christian church in Egypt, the Ibn Ezra Synagogue, and the Alabaster Mosque. A visit to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities will bring us face to face with the mask from Tutankhamun’s gold and precious stone encrusted mummy that no longer is allowed to exhibit outside of Egypt.
The magnificent temples of Karnak are an impressive example of how mathematics was used to lay out the colonnades which provides the rising sunbeams the appropriate angles for the first rays to illuminate the holy places of the temple. Navigating the Nile River will bring us to Edfu and Kom Ombo where the carvings on the temples of Sobeck and Haroeris are believed to be one of the first representations of a lunar calendar. Our tour will include Alexandria, where Hypatia, the first woman to make significant contributions to mathematics, headed the Platonist School and assisted her father, Theon of Alexandria, the mathematician and philosopher.
Jim Ritter, our expert throughout the tour and professor at the Université of Paris, will show us the different ancient Egyptian systems of measure that are evident at Ny-ankh -Knum and Khnum-hotep (the two brother’s tombs) in Sakkara.
Contact Information:
Lisa Kolbe
Development Manager, MAA
lkolbe@maa.org
202-293-1170