Virtual Event: John Stillwell at the Royal InstitutionThe Story of Proof

The Story of Proof investigates the evolution of the concept of proof—one of the most significant and defining features of mathematical thought—through critical episodes in its history. From the Pythagorean theorem to modern times, and across all major mathematical disciplines, John Stillwell demonstrates that proof is a mathematically vital concept, inspiring innovation and playing a critical role in generating knowledge.

Stillwell begins with Euclid and his influence on the development of geometry and its methods of proof, followed by algebra, which began as a self-contained discipline but later came to rival geometry in its mathematical impact. In particular, the infinite processes of calculus were at first viewed as “infinitesimal algebra,” and calculus became an arena for algebraic, computational proofs rather than axiomatic proofs in the style of Euclid. Stillwell proceeds to the areas of number theory, non-Euclidean geometry, topology, and logic, and peers into the deep chasm between natural number arithmetic and the real numbers. In its depths, Cantor, Gödel, Turing, and others found that the concept of proof is ultimately part of arithmetic. This startling fact imposes fundamental limits on what theorems can be proved and what problems can be solved.

Shedding light on the workings of mathematics at its most fundamental levels, The Story of Proof offers a compelling new perspective on the field’s power and progress.


John Stillwell was born in Melbourne, Australia, and taught at Monash University from 1970 until 2001, before moving to USF in 2002.

He was an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1994, and his mathematical writing has been honoured with the Chauvenet Prize of the Mathematical Association of America in 2005 and the book award of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities in 2009.

Among his best-known books are Mathematics and Its History and Yearning for the Impossible. His interests are history of mathematics in the 19th and 20th centuries, number theory, geometry, algebra, topology, foundations of mathematics.


Join John Stillwell as he demonstrates that proof is a mathematically vital concept, inspiring innovation and playing a critical role in generating knowledge.

In this talk, discover the areas of number theory, non-Euclidean geometry, topology, and logic, and peer into the deep chasm between natural number arithmetic and the real numbers.

The live stream will go live at 7.55pm, and the introduction will begin at 8.00pm. If you register but miss the live stream, the video will be available to you via the same link for up to a week after the event date.