Contributor(s): Mitchel T. Keller | With widespread interest in tracing our family histories, what of our academic family tree - who taught our teachers? In 1997, mathematician Harry B. Coonce set out to trace his academic ancestry. His database now contains 150,000 names, stretching back to pre- Renaissance Europe. Current director of the Mathematics Genealogy project and LSE researcher Mitchel T. Keller explains how it all works, and what it means to be related to genius.
