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The Four Curves of Alexis Clairaut: Acknowledgments and About the Authors

Author(s): 
Taner Kiral (Wabash College), Jonathan Murdock (Wabash College), and Colin B. P. McKinney (Wabash College)
Acknowledgements

Our work would not have been possible with the generous support of a number of individuals and institutions. They are:

  • The University of Illinois Rare Book and Manuscript Library, especially Tony Hynes, Caroline Szylowicz, and their student employees. We are especially indebted to them for the wonderful reproductions of the plates from the original book.

  • The Wabash College Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, for providing funding to support Jonathan and Taner as part of the project.

  • The Wabash College Media Center, especially Benjamin Cramer and Tu Nguyen, for their assistance in editing the photographs used in this article.

  • Google Books and Gallica (the latter run by the Bibliothèque nationale de France) for their digitization efforts. Many of the works cited and consulted would have otherwise been inaccessible. Additionally, having digital versions allowed us to clip out diagrams.

  • The two anonymous reviewers, whose keen eyes and masterful command of French have greatly improved this work and saved us from many embarrassing errors.

  • The editorial staff of Convergence for their assistance with bringing this project to a (long overdue) conclusion. And of course for their patience with Colin for being so slow to finish revisions!

About the Authors

Taner Kiral and Colin McKinney with original copy of Clairaut's article. Jonathan Murdock.
Figures 5 and 6. Taner Kiral and Colin McKinney researching Clairaut at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library,
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign; Jonathan Murdock. Photos supplied by the authors.

Colin McKinney is an associate professor of mathematics and computer science at Wabash College, and holds the rank of Captain in the United Federation of Planets’ Starfleet. He appreciates good music, good food, good math, good Greek, and good whiskey . . . preferably all at the same time. He enjoys spending time cooking and hanging out with his lovable Cairn Terrier, Mia.

Taner Kiral graduated from Wabash College in 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts in Pure and Computational Mathematics and a minor in Physics. Taner presented his work on Clairaut to the 2016 Indiana Undergraduate Math Research Conference at IUPUI Department of Mathematical Sciences, the 2017 Joint Mathematics Meetings Undergraduate Presentation Sessions, and the 2017 Wabash College Undergraduate Research Student Celebration. This work won the 2017 Wedgeworth Prize as well as the 2017 Lilly Library Award, both awarded by Wabash College. He works as a Data Engineer for Amazon and enjoys playing the Kalimba, hanging out with his dog, Lilo, and spending time with his girlfriend.

Jonathan Murdock graduated from Wabash College in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts in Financial Economics and a minor in French. Jonathan’s work on Clairaut has been featured at the 2016 Indiana Undergraduate Math Research Conference at the IUPUI Department of Mathematical Sciences, the 2017 Joint Mathematics Meetings Undergraduate Presentation Sessions, and the 2017 Wabash College Undergraduate Research Student Celebration. He now works as a Global HR Solutions Associate in the Advisory practice for PricewaterhouseCoopers. He lives in Philadelphia, PA, with his spouse-equivalent, Emma, and their two cats, Reece and Matilda, all of whom he loves very much.

Taner Kiral (Wabash College), Jonathan Murdock (Wabash College), and Colin B. P. McKinney (Wabash College), "The Four Curves of Alexis Clairaut: Acknowledgments and About the Authors," Convergence (November 2020)