The World of Blind Mathematicians (2002) [pdf]

The article ends by mentioning Zachary J. Battles. I knew him both at Penn State and Oxford. (We were computer science students who overlapped by a few years.)<p>He is one of the most impressive people I have ever met, and also very personable. When I went to Oxford for my interview, he arranged meetings with higher-ups in the department and then took me on a tour of the city.<p>He moved to Australia a couple of years before I moved there myself; unfortunately I lost touch with him at that point. I don&#x27;t know what he&#x27;s up to these days, but I hope he&#x27;s crushing it in life.

For anyone curious about blind mathematicians, I would encourage you to read about my mom, Caryn Navy. She has been completely blind for most of her life and has made notable contributions to the fields of mathematics and software. She also taught at Bucknell University.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Caryn_Navy" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Caryn_Navy</a>

Related, <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arxiv.org&#x2F;abs&#x2F;1508.03058" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arxiv.org&#x2F;abs&#x2F;1508.03058</a>: &quot;Along the way a paradox is exposed: The seemingly unintuitive mathematical tools, often associated to higher dimensional topology, have their origins in three dimensional contexts but in the hands of late-onset visually impaired topologists.&quot;

I was a graduate student at CU Boulder right before Dr. Larry Baggett retired. Once, while studying for my analysis prelim I asked him a question off an old exam I was struggling with and he immediately whipped out a piece of paper and pen and starting writing down integrals without skipping a beat. What a truly amazing and brilliant person, thanks Dr. Baggett!