Brown gets historian’s 22,000-volume collection

PROVIDENCE – The Brown University Library has acquired a collection of 22,000 volumes, publications and manuscripts from the library of the late David E. Pingree.
Pingree was an internationally renowned historian of exact sciences in antiquity and was a member of the Brown faculty from 1971 to 2005, chairing of Brown’s Department of History of Mathematics and a professor.
The collection focuses on the study of mathematics and exact sciences in the ancient world, especially India, and the relationship of Eastern mathematics to the development of mathematics and related disciplines in the West, according to a news release. It includes antiquarian books and manuscripts and items published in Sanskrit, Arabic, Hindi, and Western languages, microfilm and photocopies of manuscripts from around the world.
“David Pingree was for many years a prominent member of our Brown University faculty with worldwide respect as the absolute leader in his field,” said Thomas Banchoff, a mathematics professor, in the release. “His working collection of materials on the history of mathematics is unique and unparalleled.”