William Dunham

Dr. William Dunham is the Truman Koehler Professor of Mathematics at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mathematics from The Ohio State University. Before his current appointment at Muhlenberg, Dr. Dunham taught at Hanover College in Indiana, receiving teaching awards from both institutions as well as the Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching from the Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware Section of the Mathematical Association of America. He was a Visiting Professor at Ohio State and at Harvard University, where he was invited to teach an undergraduate course on the work of Leonhard Euler and to deliver the Clay Public Lecture in 2008. Dr. Dunham's great theorems approach to teaching mathematics was fostered by a 1983 summer grant from the Lilly Endowment, which also led to his first book, Journey Through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics-a Book-of-the-Month Club selection that has been translated into five languages. Other books followed in addition to articles on mathematics and its history, earning him numerous awards from the Mathematical Association of America and other organizations. He has presented popular talks on mathematics throughout the United States and has appeared on the BBC and NPR's Talk of the Nation: Science Friday.