---

DEPARTMENT FACTS   FACULTY   CATALOGUE   OPPORTUNITIES   ALUMNI   MATHINFO  

---

Michael J. J. Barry

Professor of Mathematics

	My Back Pages Allegheny College Department of Mathematics 520 N. Main Street Meadville, PA 16335
	Telephone: (814) 332-5349 e-mail: mbarry@allegheny.edu Office: Carr 235
	B.A., M.A., University College, Dublin; M.S., Ph.D., University of Notre Dame. Group theory, representation theory of groups.

Instead of allowing myself to be distracted by the consensus which ruled around me on what is "serious" and what isn't, I simply had confidence, as in the past, in the humble voice of things, and in that thing within me which knows how to listen. The reward was immediate, and beyond all expectation. Within a few months, without even doing it "on purpose", I had put my finger on powerful and unsuspected tools.

Alexander Grothendieck on his discovery of the notion of "scheme"

My first goal is to introduce students to the important questions in mathematics, and to help them to understand fully the answers that mathematicians have given, sometimes after centuries of thought. A distinctive feature of mathematics is the preciseness with which its questions are posed, and the beauty and finality of its answers. My second goal is to introduce students to the intense pleasure of asking and answering their own mathematical questions.

---