Fox and Hedgehog Seminar - 'Who owns mathematics?'

At a recent conference on the global history of mathematics, a question was raised about the recurrence of Euclid in a number of the talks and the ‘Western’ bias that seemed to appear in a meeting that was ostensibly concerned with mathematics in the world as a whole. In this talk, I will discuss the misconceptions around the identities of historical figures like Euclid, the deep-rooted confusion surrounding ancient identities in general, and why it might be important for mathematical scientists of our times to be aware of them.