NOTE
Mathematics is one of the many subjects studied in the college’s interdisciplinary great books curriculum. There are no majors at St. John’s. Instead, students explore all these subjects over the course of all four years. Learn more about St. John’s classes.
What is the relation between geometry and arithmetic? How can we model the motion of the heavenly bodies? What roles do diagrams and imagination play in a demonstrative proof? What is the structure of good reasoning? Can there be mathematics of the infinite and the infinitesimal? Are there multiple geometries? Students study original and influential works of mathematics, demonstrating hundreds of theorems to one another in class, and inquiring into the foundations of geometry, mathematical physics, logic, number theory, set theory, algebra, analysis, multi-variable calculus, differential equations, and astronomy.
Archimedes 鈥淥n the Equilibrium of Planes,鈥� 鈥淥n Floating Bodies鈥�
Aristotle Poetics, Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachaen Ethics, On Generation and Corruption, Politics, Parts of Animals, Generation of Animals
Amedeo Avogadro "Essay on a Manner of Determining the Relative Masses of the Elementary Molecules of Bodies鈥�
Claude Berthollet 鈥淓xcerpt from Essai de Statique Chimique鈥�
Joseph Black 鈥淓xtracts from Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry鈥�
Stanislao Cannizzaro 鈥淟etter to Professor S. De Luca鈥�
John Dalton 鈥淓xtracts from A New System of Chemical Philosophy鈥�
Hans Driesch 鈥淭he Science and Philosophy of the Organism鈥�
Euclid Elements
Daniel Fahrenheit 鈥淭he Fahrenheit Scale鈥�
Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac 鈥淥n the Expansion of Gases by Heat,鈥� 鈥淢emoir on the Combination of Gaseous Substances with Each Other鈥�
William Harvey On The Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals
Antoine Lavoisier Elements of Chemistry
Lucretius On the Nature of Things
Edme Mariotte Essays
Dmitri Mendeleev 鈥淭he Periodic Law of the Chemical Elements鈥�
Nicomachus Arithmetic
Blaise Pascal Treatise on the Equilibrium of Liquids
J.L. Proust 鈥淓xcerpt from Sur Les Oxidations Metalliques鈥�
Ptolemy Almagest
Hans Spemann 鈥淭he Organizer-Effect in Embryonic Development鈥� (Nobel Lecture 1935), 鈥淓mbryonic Development and Induction鈥�
J. J. Thomson 鈥淓xtracts from System of Chemistry鈥�
Rudolf Virchow 鈥淐ellular Pathology Lectures鈥�
Apollonius Conics
Aristotle De Anima, On Interpretation, Prior Analytics, Categories
Francis Bacon Novum Organum
Nicolaus Copernicus On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres
Ren茅 Descartes Geometry, Discourse on Method
Johannes Kepler Astronomia Nova
Blaise Pascal Generation of Conic Sections
Ptolemy Almagest
Fran莽ois Vi猫te Introduction to the Analytical Art
Andr茅-Marie Amp猫re Essays
Daniel Bernoulli 鈥淥n the Vibrating String鈥�
Charles-Augustin Coulomb 鈥淓xcerpts from Coulomb鈥檚 M茅moires sur l鈥櫭﹍ectricit茅 et le magn茅tisme鈥�
Richard Dedekind Essay on the Theory of Numbers
Ren茅 Descartes Meditations, Rules for the Direction of the Mind
Leonhard Euler 鈥淩emarks on the Preceding Papers by Mr. Bernoulli鈥�
Michael Faraday 鈥淓xperimental Researches in Electricity鈥�
Benjamin Franklin 鈥淓xcerpt from several letters to Peter Collinson on the nature of electricity鈥�
Galileo Galilei Two New Sciences
William Gilbert 鈥淒e Magnete鈥�
David Hume Treatise on Human Nature
Christiaan Huygens Treatise on Light, On the Movement of Bodies by Impact
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Monadology, Discourse on Metaphysics, Principles of Nature and Grace, Essays
James Clerk Maxwell 鈥淥n Faraday鈥檚 Lines of Force.鈥� 鈥淥n Physical Lines of Force,鈥� 鈥淎 Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field鈥�
Isaac Newton Principia Mathematica
Jean-Antoine Nollet 鈥淥bservations on Several New Electrical Phenomena鈥�
Hans Christian 脴rsted 鈥淓xperiments concerning the efficacy of electric conflict on the magnetic needle鈥�
Brook Taylor 鈥淥n the motion of the stretched string鈥�
Alessandro Volta 鈥淥n the Electricity excited by the mere contact of conducting substances of different kinds鈥�
Thomas Young 鈥淥n the Nature of Light and Colors鈥�
Niels Bohr 鈥淥n the Spectrum of Hydrogen鈥�
Theodor Boveri Essays
Louisde Broglie 鈥淢atter Waves鈥�
Charles Darwin Origin of Species
Albert Einstein 鈥淩elativity,鈥� 鈥淥n the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies,鈥� 鈥淥n the Influence of Gravitation on the Propagation of Light,鈥� 鈥淭he Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity,鈥� 鈥淒oes the Inertia of a Body Depend upon its Energy Content?鈥�
Michael Faraday 鈥淥n the Absolute Quantity of Electricity Associated with the Particles or Atoms of Matter鈥�
Fran莽ois Jacob & Jacques Monod Essays
George Beadle & Edward Tatum Essays
G. H. Hardy 鈥淢endelian Proportions in a Mixed Population鈥�
Georg Hegel Phenomenology of Mind
Werner Karl Heisenberg 鈥淐ritique of the Physical Concepts of the Particle Picture鈥�
Edmund Husserl Crisis of the European Sciences
James Watson & Francis Crick Essays
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck 鈥淶oological Philosophy鈥�
Nikolai Lobachevsky Theory of Parallels
Gregor Mendel 鈥淓xperiments with Plant Hybridization鈥�
Robert Andrews Millikan 鈥淭he Electron鈥�
Hermann Minkowski 鈥淪pace and Time鈥�
Thomas Morgan 鈥淓volution and Genetics,鈥� 鈥淭he Chromosomes and Mendel's Two Laws,鈥� 鈥淭he Linkage Groups and the Chromosomes,鈥� 鈥淪ex-Linked Inheritance,鈥� 鈥淐rossing-Over鈥�
Max Planck 鈥淭he Quantum Hypothesis鈥�
Ernest Rutherford 鈥淭he Scattering of 伪 & 尾 Particles by Matter and the Structure of the Atom鈥�
Erwin Schr枚dinger 鈥淔our Lectures of Wave Mechanics鈥擣irst Lecture鈥�
Joel Sussman Essays
Walter Sutton Essays
J. J. Thomson 鈥淐athode Rays鈥�
Albert Einstein Essays
Richard Feynman QED
G. H. Hardy A Course of Pure Mathematics
Georg Hegel Philosophy of Nature
Bertrand Russell An Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy
Computation
Computing Technology and Human Society
Neuroscience Mathematics and Natural Science
The information presented is for illustration purposes only and may not reflect the current reading list and preceptorial and study group offerings. Works listed are studied at one or both campuses, although not always in their entirety.
During Homecoming weekend on the Santa Fe campus, the 911爆料网 Class of 2004 and friends unveiled their spectacular gift to the college: a functioning armillary sphere, the only one of its kind in the world.
Two St. John鈥檚 College alumni have a special bond as they teach math on opposite coasts.
At St. John鈥檚 College in Santa Fe, Zhen Liang (SF14) encountered the questions that continue to define her intellectual life.
Qi Zhan (A18) came to St. John's because she felt like something was missing from her education. Here, she found it.
Santa Fe tutor Topi Heikker枚 talks math as a liberal art.
Jordan Finch (SF00) is an award-winning timber framer in Virginia鈥檚 Shenandoah Valley.
