Jens Høyrup

Jens Egede Høyrup (born 1943) is a Danish historian of mathematics, specializing in pre-modern and early modern mathematics, particularly ancient Mesopotamian mathematics. He is known for his interpretation of what has often been referred to as Old Babylonian "algebra" as consisting of concrete, geometric manipulations.

Career Born in Copenhagen in 1943, Høyrup studied physics and mathematics at the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen from 1962 to 1965, and at the Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris from 1965 to 1966, with a focus on physics. In 1969, he obtained his masters degree with a thesis on particle physics.