Karine Chemla

Karine Chemla is a Senior Researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in the SPHERE laboratory (CNRS & University Paris Diderot). She has held significant research positions including Principal Investigator of the ERC Advanced Research Grant 'Mathematical Sciences in the Ancient Worlds' (SAW) from 2011 to 2016 and George Sarton Chair Holder at Universiteit Gent (2013-2014). She has collaborated with the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, working with Glenn Most on mathematical commentaries in the ancient world.

Chemla earned her PhD in mathematics in 1982 from University Paris XIII-Villetaneuse, with a dissertation on a thirteenth-century Chinese mathematical writing. Her education included mathematics studies at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Jeunes Filles (1976–1982) and history of mathematics at the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences in Beijing (1981).

Her research focuses on the relationship between mathematics and various cultures from a historical anthropology perspective, examining how mathematical practices emerge and evolve within specific cultural contexts. She specializes in comparative studies of mathematical traditions across civilizations, particularly ancient China, with significant work on mathematical commentaries, the transmission of mathematical knowledge, and the historical development of mathematical reasoning. Her approach integrates historical, anthropological, and philosophical perspectives to understand mathematics as a human practice deeply embedded in cultural frameworks.

Her scientific awards include the Prize Binoux of the French Academy of Science (2006), the Prize Hirayama of the Academy of Inscriptions & Belles-Lettres (2006), and the silver medal from CNRS (2008). She is an elected member of both the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina (2005) and the Academia Europaea (2013).

Chemla has led significant research initiatives including the ERC Advanced Grant SAW project, which investigated mathematical practices across ancient civilizations. Her scholarly activities include numerous invited lectures at prestigious institutions including the Hans Rausing Lecture at Uppsala University (2017) and a plenary lecture at the European Congress of Mathematicians (2016).

She is affiliated with the SPHERE laboratory (Science, Philosophy, History of Science), a joint research unit of CNRS and University Paris Diderot, which provides an interdisciplinary environment for her work on the historical and cultural dimensions of scientific practices.