TheSavilianProfessorshipsinGeometryandAstronomyatOxfordUniversitywerefoundedin1619bySirHenrySavile,distinguishedscholarandWardenofMertonCollege.TheGeometrychair,inparticular,istheearliestUniversity-basedmathematicsprofessorshipinEngland,predatingthefirstCambridgeequivalentbyaboutsixtyyears.Tocelebratethe400thanniversaryofthefoundingofthegeometrychair,ameetingwasheldattheBodleianLibraryinOxford,andthetalkspresentedatthismeetinghaveformedthebasisforthisfullyeditedandlavishlyillustratedbook,whichoutlinesthefirst400yearsofOxford’sSavilianProfessorsofGeometry.StartingwithHenryBriggs,theco-inventoroflogarithms,thisvolumeproceedsviasuchfiguresasJohnWallis,afoundermemberoftheRoyalSociety,andEdmondHalley,viathe19th-centuryfiguresofStephenRigaud,BadenPowell,HenrySmith,andJamesJosephSylvester,tothe20thcenturyandthepresentday.Oxford’sSavilianProfessorsofGeometry:TheFirst400Yearsassumesnomathematicalbackground,andshouldthereforeappealtotheinterestedgeneralreaderwithaninterestinmathematicsandthesciences.ItshouldalsobeofinteresttoanyoneinterestedinthehistoryofmathematicsorofthedevelopmentofOxfordanditsnamesakeuniversity.Toalloftheseaudiencesitoffersportraitsofmathematiciansatworkandanaccessibleexpositionofhistoricalmathematicsinthecontextofitstimes.
