Mathematician Says Third Millennium a Year Away

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WILLIAMS COLLEGE MATHEMATICIAN SAYS THIRD MILLENNIUM A YEAR AWAY

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Dec. 10, 1999--Eager to celebrate the upcoming third millennium? Don't break out the champagne and party hats just yet. According to Williams College professor of math Frank Morgan, the new millennium begins not on Jan. 1, 2000, but on New Year's Day, 2001.

Morgan's argument is featured in the Congressional Quarterly's "The CQ Researcher" magazine (Oct. 15), which is devoted in its entirety to issues of the coming millennium. Morgan's "Researcher" material is excerpted from a chapter in his upcoming, popular "Math Chat Book."

"Imagine a vast army of soldiers, with 1,000 in each row," suggests Morgan. "In the first row are soldiers 1-1000, in the second, 1,001-2,000 and in the third, 2,001-3000. The third row starts with soldier 2,001." Hence, he explains, 2000 years will have concluded at the end of the year 2000, and the third millennium begins with 2001.

In reality, Morgan adds, we've all missed the arrival of the Christian millennium, thanks to the miscalculations of Dennis the Short, the monk who established the date of Jesus' birth nearly 1500 years ago. Jesus actually was born around 4 B.C., which would set the arrival of the new millennium least two years ago.

Morgan's investigations have also led him to search for the spot on Earth that will first experience the new millennium. Many places have made claims to this status, from Greenwich, England (located on the prime meridian) to Fiji (on the 180-degree meridian) to Tonga (on a bulge in the International Date Line). More recently the archipelago nation of Kiribati has leap-frogged ahead with an announcement of "a spectacular relocation of the date line eastward" around its far-flung islands.

But Morgan acknowledges the thrill of what Boston University professor of medieval history Richard Landes calls "the turning of the odometer" from nines to zeroes. In fact, he proposes celebrating the coming new year as introducing "the millennium of the 2000s, the years that begin with a 2.

"In other words, pop the cork whenever you see fit. Morgan already has plans of his own for December 31, 2000. "I hope to go to bed early and find a new millennium waiting for me when I awake."

Morgan, who came to Williams in 1987, starts his term as second vice-president of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) in January. His "Math Chat Book" will be published in January by the MAA. His other books include "Geometric Measure Theory: a Beginner's Guide" (1988, 1995, 2000), "Calculus Lite" (1995, 1997, 2000), and "Riemannian Geometry: a Beginner's Guide" (1993, 1998).

He has taught at MIT, Rice, Stanford, and Princeton, where he served as one of the two original 250-Anniversary Distinguished Teaching Professors in 1997-98. He earned an S.B. in mathematics from MIT in 1974 and a Ph.D. from Princeton in 1977.

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Williams College is consistently ranked one of the nation's top liberal arts colleges. Founded in 1793, it is the second oldest institution of higher learning in Massachusetts. The college of 2,000 students is located in Williamstown, which has been called the best college town in America. You can visit the college in cyberspace at http://www.williams.edu.