https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Kim_PlofkerKim Plofker - Revision history2026-07-31T04:56:04ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Kim_Plofker&diff=509947&oldid=prevCaliber at 06:18, 5 March 20262026-03-05T06:18:37Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|American mathematician (born 1964)}}<br />
{{Infobox scientist<br />
| name = Kim Leslie Plofker<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1964|11|25}}<br />
| birth_place = Chennai, India<br />
| fields = History of mathematics<br />
| workplaces = Union College, Brown University, MIT, Utrecht University<br />
| alma_mater = Haverford College, Brown University<br />
| doctoral_advisor = David Pingree<br />
| known_for = History of Indian mathematics; Mathematics in India (2009); Sanskrit Astronomical Tables (2019)<br />
| awards = Brouwer Medal (2011)<br />
}}<br />
'''Kim Leslie Plofker''' (born November 25, 1964) is an American historian of mathematics, specializing in [[Indian mathematics]].<br />
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==Education and career==<br />
Born in Chennai, India, Plofker received her bachelor's degree in mathematics from [[Haverford College]]. She received her Ph.D. in 1995 while studying with adviser [[David Pingree]]<ref>{{MathGenealogy|id=24016|title=Kim Plofker}}</ref> (Mathematical Approximation by Transformation of Sine Functions in Medieval Sanskrit Astronomical Texts) from [[Brown University]], where she conducted research and later joined as a guest professor.<ref name="utwente">{{cite web|title=The Brouwer Lecture and the Brouwer Medal|url=http://www.utwente.nl/ewi/nmc2011/en/brouwer/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510094128/http://www.utwente.nl/ewi/nmc2011/en/brouwer/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2017-05-10|publisher=[[University of Twente]]}}</ref><br />
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In the late 1990s, she was Technical Director of the American Committee for South Asian Manuscripts of the [[American Oriental Society]], where she was also concerned with the development of programs for the text comparison. From 2000 to 2004, she was at the [[Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology]] at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]. During 2004 and 2005, she was a visiting professor in Utrecht and at the same time Fellow of the [[International Institute for Asian Studies]] in Leiden.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/muse.union.edu/dist/8/268/files/2017/09/PlofkerCV2017-09-18mhtyb.pdf|title=Curriculum vitae|access-date=2025-06-18}}</ref> She is currently an associate professor at [[Union College]] in Schenectady.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.union.edu/mathematics/faculty-staff/kim-plofker|title=Kim Plofker|work=Mathematics Faculty and Staff|publisher=Union College|access-date=2021-01-15}}</ref><br />
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==Contributions==<br />
Plofker deals with the history of Indian mathematics, the topic of her 2009 book ''[[Mathematics in India (book)|Mathematics in India]]''.<ref name="utwente" /> She is particularly interested in the exchange of mathematics and astronomy between India and Islam in the Middle Ages and generally in the exact sciences between Europe and Asia from antiquity to the 20th Century.<br />
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With [[Clemency Montelle]], she is the coauthor of ''Sanskrit Astronomical Tables'' (Springer, 2019).<ref>Reviews of ''Sanskrit Astronomical Tables'': S. G. Dani, {{MR|3929708}}; Scott Guthery, [https://www.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/sanskrit-astronomical-tables MAA Reviews]</ref><br />
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==Recognition==<br />
In 2010 she gave a plenary lecture<ref>{{cite web|title=International Congress of Mathematicians 2010, Hyderabad ยป Invited speakers|url=https://www.mathunion.org/fileadmin/IMU/ICM2010/offline/www.icm2010.in/scientific-program/invited-speakers.html|publisher=[[International Congress of Mathematicians]]|access-date=6 April 2019}}</ref> at the [[International Congress of Mathematicians]], [[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]] (Indian rules, Yavana rules: foreign identity and the transmission of mathematics). In 2011, she was awarded the [[Brouwer Medal]] of the [[Royal Dutch Mathematical Society]].<ref name="utwente" /><br />
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==References==<br />
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[[Category:1964 births]]<br />
[[Category:Living people]]<br />
[[Category:American historians of mathematics]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century American mathematicians]]<br />
[[Category:21st-century American mathematicians]]<br />
[[Category:Haverford College alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Brown University alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Brouwer Medalists]]<br />
[[Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty]]<br />
[[Category:American Indologists]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century American women mathematicians]]<br />
[[Category:21st-century American women mathematicians]]</div>Caliber