Personal profile
Biography
I graduated MA and DPhil from St Catherine's College, Oxford. My doctorate was in topology, supervised by Graeme Segal.
In forty years at St Andrews I was lucky to be able to teach a wide variety of courses. Notes for some of these courses are available from my personal home page.
Since my retirement I have amused myself with the upkeep and expansion of the MacTutor History of Mathematics archive.
My personal home page is at THIS LINK.
Research overview
My interests are now mainly in the History of Mathematics.
Other expertise
With Edmund Robertson I was one of the two developers of the award winning Mathematical MacTutor software, which pioneered the use of computing in St Andrews mathematical teaching.
Also with Edmund Robertson I am one of the maintainers of the MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive on the World Wide Web. This has won many awards for its breadth of cover and innovation.
Academic/Professional Qualification
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Paris 1907: the observer vs the administrator
Peres, T., Gomez Mena, J., Robertson, E., Falconer, I. & O'Connor, J., 1 Feb 2019, In: Astronomy & Geophysics. 60, 1, p. 1.40-1.42Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Open AccessFile -
Online resource for the history of astronomy
Talbot, G., Shand, I., Falconer, I., Robertson, E. & O'Connor, J., 1 Feb 2018, In: Astronomy and Geophysics. 59, 1, p. 1.20-1.21 aty025.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Erwin Schrödinger and quantum wave mechanics
O'Connor, J. J. & Robertson, E. F., 22 Aug 2017, In: Quanta. 6, 1, p. 48-52 5 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Symmetry and enumeration of self-similar fractals.
Falconer, K. J. & O'Connor, J. J., Apr 2007, In: Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society. 39, 2, p. 272-282 11 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Knots and Physics in 19th Century Scotland
O'Connor, J. J. & Robertson, E. F., 2005, In: OCTOGON Mathematical Magazine. 2005, p. 108-115Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Datasets
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MacTutor
Talbot, G. (Creator), Shand, I. R. (Creator), Falconer, I. J. (Creator), Robertson, E. F. (Creator) & O'Connor, J. J. (Creator), University of St Andrews, 2018
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/index.html
Dataset
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March, History of mathematics conference in Miskolc, Hungary
O'Connor, J. J. (Invited speaker)
2004 → …Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Scottish Evaluator for the LTSN Mathematics, Statistics and OR Network (External organisation)
O'Connor, J. J. (Participant)
2000 → 2001Activity: Membership types › Membership of public/government advisory/policy group or panel
Prizes
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European Academic Software Awards (Jointly with E F Robertson), , Mathematical MacTutor
O'Connor, J. J. (Recipient), 1994
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Thirty awards for the WWW MacTutor History Archive on the web (Jointly with E F Robertson)
O'Connor, J. J. (Recipient), 2010
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Undergraduate Computational Engineering and Science Award (Jointly with E F Robertson), , for "Using a computer to visualise change in biological organisms"
O'Connor, J. J. (Recipient), 1995
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Impacts
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Bringing Mathematics and its History to diverse audiences worldwide
Robertson, E. (Participant), O'Connor, J. (Participant), Falconer, I. (Participant), Craik, A. (Participant) & Roney-Dougal, C. (Participant)
Impact: Public Discourse Impact, Educational Impact (Beyond St Andrews), Practitioner Impact, Cultural, Creative Impact