JOSEPH MAZUR - Biography

Biography

JOSEPH MAZUR (born in the Bronx in 1942) is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Emerson College Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts & Interdisciplinary Studies. He holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from M.I.T. and fellowships from the Guggenheim, Bogliasco, and Rockefeller Foundations, among others. His works have appeared in Nature, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, Science, and many other publications. He was profiled in media venues such as NPR's "The Hidden Brain", PRI's "Innovation Lab", CBS, the BBC, Vox, Radio Australia, Radio Ireland, and dozens of others. He is the author of Euclid in the Rainforest: Discovering Universal Truth in Mathematics; The Motion Paradox: The 2,500-Year-Old Puzzle Behind All the Mysteries of Time and Space; What's Luck Got to Do with It?; The History, Mathematics, and Psychology behind the Gambler's Illusion; Enlightening Symbols: A Short History of Mathematical Notation and Its Hidden Powers; and Fluke: The Math and Myth of Coincidence. The Clock Mirage: Our Myth of Measured Time is his latest book.

Most recent work is his journalism involvement: Read any of the hundreds of his Psychology Today blog posts that appeared since COVID-19. Or read the bimonthly column "Understanding War" in The World Financial Review.

Selected Works

The Clock Mirage: Our Myth of Measured Time

What is time? This question has fascinated philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists for thousands of years. Why does time seem to speed up with age? What is its connection with memory, anticipation, and sleep cycles?

The Clock Mirage: Our Myth of Measured Time

Fluke: The Math and Myth of Coincidences

What are the chances? This is the question we ask ourselves when we encounter the freakiest and most seemingly impossible coincidences, like the woman who won the lottery four times or the fact that Lincoln’s dreams foreshadowed his own assassination.

Enlightening Symbols: A short History of Mathematical Notation and its Hidden Powers

Hardly any math symbols were used before the sixteenth century. What did mathematicians rely on for their work before then? And how did mathematical notations evolve to what we know of today? Enlightening Symbols explains the fascinating history behind the development of our current mathematical notation system, shows how symbols were used initially, how one symbol replaced another over time, and how written math was conveyed before and after symbols became widely adopted.

What's Luck Got To Do With It?

Princeton University Press (2010). A book about the nature of gambling, emphasizing the dangers and pitfalls of feeling lucky. It will investigate the hooks of gambling and what makes gamblers feel lucky. Using both mathematics and psychology it will illustrate the misconceptions of luck, explore what it means to have a good chance, and to create an awareness of expected outcomes.

The Motion Paradox: The 2,500-Year-Old Puzzle Behind the Mysteries of Time and Space

Published by Dutton in April 2007. Now available in bookstores. "THIS is one of the most fascinating science books I have ever read . . . Mazur has succeeded in telling a fresh and untold story with clarity and style." -- The New Scientist

Euclid in the Rainforest: Discovering Universal Truth in Logic and Math

One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles of the Year 2005--
“This book is a treasure of human experience and intellectual excitement.”

--Choice

Editor of Number: The Language of Science

Editor of the revived classic by Tobias Dantzig, Number: The Language of Science.

Biography

Selected Works The Clock Mirage: Our Myth of Measured Time What is time? This question has fascinated philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists for thousands of years. Why does time seem to speed up with age? What is its connection with memory, anticipation, and sleep cycles?

Quick Links

Selected Works

The Clock Mirage: Our Myth of Measured Time

What is time? This question has fascinated philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists for thousands of years. Why does time seem to speed up with age? What is its connection with memory, anticipation, and sleep cycles?