Tribute to John Fauvel, on behalf of the international community of those interested in the History and Pedagogy of Mathematics, spoken at John's funeral 23rd May 2001, on a beautiful sunny day at Oakley Wood (Warwickshire)
Good people, [Sometimes John would start an address like this. I think that this beginning expressed that he liked the audience and that he wanted to say some important things to it] When remembering and celebrating the life of our dear, dear John Fauvel, we are in deep grief and mourning, and in great joy at the same moment. Although it is difficult for me I want --here with you-- to stress the joy. The joy
• that we have known John,
• that we have worked with John,
• that we have laughed with John,
• that John came to visit us, wherever we were on the globe,
• that John inspired us, loved us,
• that he cooked for us, and that he has written such bright and beautiful history for the world and for us.
When I say “we” I am happy that it is truly “we”, that I speak for many colleagues and friends of John's, all over the world, who have expressed to me their feelings and memories about John. In alphabetic order of the countries these messages came from Argentina from Vicky, Australia from Gail, Belgium from Maggy, Brazil from Sergio and Ubiratan, Canada from Anna and Glen, Denmark from Mogens, France from Annie and Jean-Luc, Germany from Niels, Greece from Costas, Hong Kong from Fung-Kit and Man-Keung, Israel from Abraham, Italy from Fulvia, who is present here as the Chair of the HPM studygroup, and from Giorgio, Guido, Mariolina and Lucia, Japan from Ryosuke and Masami, the Netherlands from Barbara, Danny, Ed, Iris, Klaske, Marjolein and Matteke, New Zealand from Coralie and Geoff, Norway from Maria Luiza and Otto, Poland from Ewa, Portugal from Eduardo, Spain from Miguel, Switzerland from Daniel, the United Kingdom from Antonio, Chris, Costel, David, David, Helen, Ivor, Jackie, June, Lesley, Neil, Peter, Peter and Steve, the United States of America from Bob, Florrie, Karen D and Victor, Taiwan from Wann-Sheng.
John was a global person. He travelled and lectured around the world, and he is remembered around the world. I read greetings from New Zealand, from Coralie Daniel and Geoff Layton. With Geoff, John and Alfreda lived in the same house when John and Geoff were students.
“Geoff wanted us to be at his house at Doctor's Point (partly because of its ellipsoid design and shape). We will be there from 8p.m. (our time - 7a.m. GMT) and at least some of us will wait till after midnight. We would like you to mention our gathering here, when you speak; it seems fitting seeing that John was so keen to understand things in global ways, both as a scholar and as a traveller.” [Coralie Daniel, 16 May]
John was our colleague and coach, working for the benefit of people, for young colleagues, for learners with special needs. History of mathematics for him was a means to empower people. Several colleagues wrote to me about the great support John has always been for them. I read some lines from Man-Keung Siu in Hong Kong.
“I got acquainted with John in the summer of 1988 at Kristiansand, the same occasion when I got to know most of you in the HPM group. We all become good friends ever since. Like all others, John had been very kind and helpful to me, who for the first time joined in this HPM group. It confirms my belief that a regard for the history of mathematics can generate in one a warm and humane attitude that will show up not just in the intellectual commitment in the discipline but also in other aspects. Throughout these 13 years that I know him, he had always been so supportive in what I do and we can talk on almost anything. I will miss him very very much, along with many others.” [Man-Keung Siu, 15 May]
John was always helpful with gentle criticism, with a gentle push, with references to sources, always sending xeroxes of material that he thought was interesting for you, always disclosing the publications of others through his abstracts. John gave chances to colleagues at the start of their careers, by inviting them for lectures and by bringing them together. I strongly felt this myself, when in 1990 John gently pushed and persuaded me to give a lecture and a workshop at the first History in Mathematics Education (HIMED) Conference in Leicester. “Of course you can do this,” he said. And when I was in doubt about my ability to speak the language well enough, he said: “And what are we speaking now?” “English,” was my reply. “Precisely”, he reacted, “you can also speak English in a lecture room.” John was a source of culture, of ideas and concepts, of knowledge and of good questions. I read a line from Niels Jahnke from Germany:
“I met him at some conferences and can only agree to what you say about his unselfish way of helping others. Besides, I admired him for being one of the most cultivated persons I have ever met.” [Niels Jahnke, 15 May]
John's rich experience in many fields impressed all of us. Karen D wrote of how John, in a lecture, displayed a knowledge of American history which was amazing even for the Americans themselves. Always there were unexpected things. I think of John, standing in our garden in Groningen, telling apart the four classical roses that we have, each by its own name. “Oh gosh, you have a Lady Fletcher”, he said (the Lady being one of the roses; to be honest, I have forgotten the precise name, it could have been another Lady so-and-so). It was wonderful to work with John, as I experienced again when we edited the ICMI Study History in Mathematics Education. Many ideas, phrasings, pictures, and main lines came from John. John was a wonderful friend, always interested in the other person. It was a delight to have supper at his place, although I never understood how anything edible could come out of his kitchen. I shall end with one story of my own, and a feeling which is shared my almost everyone who wrote to me these days.
The story is about John's glasses. He was proud of the special design of his glasses, and I was too, since most of them came from Groningen, where I live. The first time John visited me, we had arranged that I would collect him from the railway station. At the time of the rendezvous, no John came out of the train. I decided to wait a bit more: maybe there would be a message, maybe he would be in the next train. And then I heard “Oh, hello Jan, is that you?”. A shortsighted John had found me. What had happened: John had found out that Groningen had a reputed sauna, so he had arrived many trains earlier and had been to the sauna first. But there he had managed to stand on his glasses and break them. So, the first thing we did together in Groningen was to buy new glasses for John. He was so happy with them, since it was the type of design --he said-- he had never seen in the UK. The feeling I want to end with is the feeling of resonance. Sometimes it happens that someone says something that starts to resound within you. It was my question at the end of John's lecture, 14 April 1987 in Amsterdam, about British Mathematics before Newton, which tremendously resounded within John that started our contact. Victor Katz beautifully expresses this feeling too when he writes about John:
“ And I will never forget when we were on the same program at an AMS meeting a few years ago. He was right before me on the program and was talking about Sylvester's life in Baltimore. He concluded by reading a very flowery introduction that Sylvester had used in a speech - and he changed it in such a way that he in fact was introducing me. I was very touched by it all - noone had ever introduced me in quite that way before.” [Victor Katz, 15 May]
“I was very touched by it all”: that is precisely how John was. And finally our young scholar Masami Isoda from Japan. John and I are very fond of his work and of him as a person. Masami wrote:
“This year, I am reading The History of Mathematics and History in Mathematics Education with my students. I want to tell his warm hart to them and others.” [Masami Isoda, 14 May]
John's spirit will continue to live through his writings and through us. Thank you, dear friend, good man.
Jan van Maanen
Groningen
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