Dr Mark McCartney

Overview

Mark McCartney has a BSc (Hons) degree in applied mathematics,  PGCE in secondary level education, and a MSc and PhD in theoretical atomic physics, all from Queen's University, Belfast.

His research in applied mathematics currently lies within chaotic dynamics and mathematical ecology, but he has also published widely in mathematics education and the history of science.

He has been involved in a number of funded research projects, including (with Tony Mann and Noel-Ann Bradshaw from the University of Greenwich) work on the use of the history within the mathematics curriculum, and (with David Glass here at the UU) work on the nature of explanation in scientific reasoning.

He has a number of roles outside the university, including being President of the British Society for the History of Mathematics (2018-2020); serving on the Education Committee of the London Mathematical Society and being associate editor of the International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science & Technology.

He has co-edited 6 books on the history of mathematics and physics, with the most recent (edited with Chris Hollings) being Oxford's Sedleian Professors of Natural Philosophy: The First 400 Years, published by Oxford University Press.