Fellows Library Entry

A BRIEF HISTORY OF INFINITY by Brian Clegg

Publication date: Unknown
Donated by: Brian Clegg

A copy of this book is available for loan.

Synopsis:


Human beings have trouble with infinity. Philosophers and mathematicians have gone mad contemplating its nature and complexity - and yet it is a concept now routinely used by schoolchildren.



In this entertaining and stimulating history, Brian Clegg takes us on a tour of that borderland between the extremely large and the ultimate, from Archimedes counting the grains of sand that would fill the universe, to the latest theories on the physical reality of the infinite.



Full of unexpected delights, the history of infinity proves to be a surprisingly human subject. Whether it's St Augustine contemplating the nature of creation, Newton and Leibniz battling over the ownership of calculus or Cantor's struggle to publicize his vision of the transfinite, infinity's fascination remains the way it brings together the everyday and the extraordinary, prosaic daily life and the esoteric. Exploring the infinite is nothing more than a journey into paradox.