Welcome to Imagining Archimedes ! This blog has two main purposes, firstly, to celebrate the beauty and power of mathematics and, secondly, to provide an online service to first year engineering students studying mathematics (the subjects I teach at Swinburne University of Technology).
The site is named in honour of Archimedes (287-211 BC), one of the most brilliant mathematicians of all time, a talented inventor and engineer, a great physicist and an inspiration to anybody who has looked at thier surroundings and imagined another world beyond mere appearances. For me, mathematics is a language of the imagination, in the same way that the best poetry, art and music try to express what we feel, see and imagine. Amazingly, mathematics is also deeply practical and has underpinned finance and technology for thousands of years. In this way, mathematics is both beautiful and powerful, and for me, Archimedes is the embodiment of this ideal.
(Please see http://www.cs.drexel.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/contents.html for more about Archimedes)
Who am I ? My name is Geoff Brooks and I am a Professor of Engineering Mathematics at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne (Australia). My background is in Chemical Engineering and Process Metallurgy. I started my career as a very practical engineer, designing and building all sorts of equipment in the 1980s, before catching the research bug and doing my PhD at the University of Melbourne in the field of process metallurgy. Most of my current research is focused on using mathematical models to understand and optimise the processes for making metals. The ultimate goal of this work is to minimize the impact of metal production on the environment - the original motivation for starting my PhD. My knowledge of mathematics comes from both a deep love of the topic and from the experience of using mathematics to address practical issues.
(Please see http://www.swin.edu.au/feis/mathematics/staff/gbrooks.html for more about my research and background)
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