She had a way with numbers

In Letters from a Floating World, artist and poet Siv Cedering (1939-2007) has given us a poignant portrait of astronomer (and math-woman) Caroline Herschel:
 
Letter from Caroline Herschel (1750-1848)     by Siv Cedering

William is away, and I am minding

the heavens. I have discovered

eight new comets and three nebulae

never before seen by man,

and I am preparing an Index to

Flamsteed's observations, together with

a catalogue of 560 stars omitted from

the British Catalogue, plus a list of errata

in that publication. William says 

Tribute to four teachers

Many people offer advice about education--and, in particular, about mathematics education.  I'm skeptical of general pronouncements because my encounters with learning (as student or teacher or parent) have been singular:  one mind meeting another mind for a period of exchange.  Here's a poem that recalls four of my teachers, three of them teachers of mathematics.