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Jessica Wynne

July 26, 2021

Mathematicians are passionate about their blackboards. Blackboards are one of the oldest tools for teaching and learning, yet many abstract mathematicians are wild about “chalk talks”. Looking at a chalkboard filled with symbols, numbers, and illustrations that you do not understand is like coming across an abstract painting in an art museum. On this episode of Inquiry, we talk with JESSICA WYNNE. She is an associate professor of photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Her new book is a wondrous collection of photographs of mathematician’s chalkboards and their statements on what they do and why they love their chalkboards: DO NOT ERASE: MATHEMATICIANS AND THEIR CHALKBOARDS.