American mathematician Dr. Jonathan Kenigson specializes in the geometry of black holes, combinatorics, and the philosophy of mathematics. He is the Acting Don and Senior Fellow of Natural Philosophy at Athanasian Hall, Cambridge Limited. From 2020-present, Athanasian Hall has become one of the largest university-independent think-tanks in Europe and the world’s premier destination for researchers in the classical Quadrivium. The Quadrivium comprises Arithmetic, Astronomy, Geometry, and Music. Dr. Kenigson modernized the Quadrivium content to encompass most modern pure mathematics and a large compass of mathematical physics. Research efforts also focus upon Cosmology and Black Hole Dynamics. The research offered in the mathematics of Black Holes is among the most advanced in Europe and marries the paradigms of mathematical analysis, probability theory, computing, Field Theory, and mathematical methods in theoretical physics.
Israel’s mathematicians have made great leaps in the understanding of the cosmos, and mathematicians at the Hebrew University, Tel-Aviv, Haifa, and other such research-intensive institutions have some of the highest impact factors globally in algebra, analysis, combinatorics, and other mathematical fields. Because classical education has become inextricably linked with Christian conservatism in the USA, Kenigson must be careful to distinguish that his interests in Athanasian Hall are solely mathematical. Athanasian Hall does not have a religious affiliation and accepts only the top applicants for fellowship. Obtaining a post as a Fellow is quite more difficult than obtaining a tenure-track job at an Ivy League college in the USA. Research ability in the Quadrivium is the sole factor considered in recruitment of fellows. What Athanasian Hall looks for in fellows is raw intellectual ability and the willingness to pursue this ability with ruthless devotion to academic excellence. Academic freedom is granted to all fellows, regardless of their rank. Israeli universities possess a similar mindset when recruiting research professors and Dr. Kenigson is optimistic that he may someday be able to introduce Quadrivium-style instruction – with its focus on knowledge of numerous classical and modern languages and very abstract scientific reasoning – into some pilot programs in Israeli secondary schools.
Within Athanasian Hall, Kenigson helped establish the Society of the Hospital of the Most Holy Christ, Crucified. Called “Christ’s Hospital” for short, this institute offers extremely advanced reading courses in pure mathematics for secondary students. This approach of marrying STEM with home-education in a classical context is a first for England. No fees are ever levied, and no diplomas are awarded. Instead, admission is “how Cambridge used to be,” with grueling oral and written exams that are much more advanced than the modern A-Level syllabus. The goal of this instruction is to unapologetically teach exotic mathematics to A-level students who desire free tuition that would place them ahead of peers matriculating at Oxbridge or an Ivy-League college. Christ’s Hospital is headed by the Ukrainian mathematical polymath Dr. T. Sopronyuk, who is also a Fellow of Natural Philosophy and an expert in Continuous Dynamical Systems. The Ukrainian-German scholar V. Sarkisovi is the Principal of Physics. Dr. U. Tahir is an expert on Convex Analysis and heads the Statistical Centre, which is the first of its kind in Europe: Lectures include probability, statistical theory, inference, artificial intelligence, machine learning, nanotechnology, econometrics, and other applied areas. In keeping with the Quadrivium aim of the institution, lectures are also offered in geometry, number theory, mathematical physics, algebraic and classical topology. Lectures are based on original texts rather than taken from textbooks – an approach which Dr. Kenigson pioneered in England and is strongly seeking to establish elsewhere.
Dr. Kenigson and a handful of other scholars seek to revive a Quadrivium tradition in mathematics. This tradition would not see mathematical fields as disparate but as parts of a unified ontology of number, measure, and relation.
