Francis Lavigne
Synopsis of Historical Math figures from my History Notebook.
Thales of Miletus (634-546 B.C.)
He was a Greek Philosopher who is considered the founder of Greek Science, Mathematics and Philosophy. Proclus attributed the following theorems to Thales: a circle is bisected by a diameter, the base angles of an isosceles triangle are equal, pairs of vertical angles formed by two intersecting lines are equal and angle side angle for triangles. Thales theorem states that an inscribed angle in a semicircle is a right angle.
Internet Site: scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Thales.html
Erostothenes lived in Alexandria Egypt around 300 B.C.
He was an ancient Greek philosopher who focused on discovering prime numbers. The Sieve of Erostosthenes algorithm was designed to separate numbers into primes and non primes. His interests varied from astronomy to theater critic. He was the head librarian of the library in Alexandria Erostosthenes researched that on the longest day of the year at noontime, a vertical stick cast no shadow in Syrene, a city to the south of Alexandria. He asked his friend to walk from Alexandria to Syrene. The distance was 500 miles. With this measurement and his knowledge of Geometry, Erostothenes determined the circumference of the earth to be about 25,00 miles.
Internet Site: members.aol.com/edyanks23/earth.html
Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
Descarttes was an important physicist, physiologist and mathematician. He argued that there must be a God only because we clearly and evidently perceive that he does. Descartes was the founder of analytical geometry. He also wrote a treatise on dioptics and composed one of the first scientific treatises on meteorology. In 1637 Descartes published his work on dioptrics, geometry and meteorology. These became part of the modern History of Science. He was born in La Haye, France and he became known as the father of modern philosophy.
Internet Site: www.utm.edu/search/iep/descarte.htm
Pythagoras of Samos (569 B.B.-475 B.C.)
Pythagoras is described as the first pure mathematician. There are no records of his writing. He was often referred to as having divine powers. Two important figures who influenced his mathematical ideas were Thales and of his students, Anaximander. Through his studies, Pythagoras developed the theorem attributed to him which states: if a triangle is a right triangle with legs a and b and hypotenuse c, then a2+b2=c2.
Internet Site: www.utm.edu/research/iep/pythagor.htm
Archimedes (born in Syracuse, Sicily 287 B.C. died in Syracuse, Sicily 212 B.C.)
Archimedes obtained initial fame by his mechanical inventions such as the pulley. Archimedes inventions were due in part to his love for geometry. He is considered by most historians of mathematics to be one of the greatest mathematicians. He perfected a method of Integration which allowed him to find areas, volumes and surface areas of many bodies. Archimedes considered that his most significant accomplishments were those concerning a cylinder circumscribing a sphere and his results on the ratio of the two.
Internet Site: www-groups.dcs.standac.uk/history/Mathematicians/Archimedes.html
The Birth of Algebra in Sequence
1. Elements of Algebra began in ancient Babylonia
2. Ancient Greekks developed geometric Algebra
3. The birth of Literal Algebra
4. Algebra in the Middle Ages in the Arabic East and in Europe
5. First achievements of Algebra in Europe
6. Algebra evolves in the 17th and 18th century
7. Number theory and the birth of Commutative Algebra
8. Modern world of Linear and Commutative Algebra
This is from the Book The Beginnings and Evolution of Algebra by Isabella Bashmakova and Galina Smirnova
Internet Site: www.mac.org/pubs/books/dol/23.html
John Harrison (1693-1776)
John was born in Yorkshire. At the age of 21 he began to make strides in his craft of ship clock making. He invented a new escarpment mechanism and a bimetallic temperature compensator for a ship’s longitude clock. His test run from Lisbon to London was within one and a half degrees. Throughout his life, John built more and better clocks. Finally he perfected longitude time keeper and at the age of 80 won the Royal Society’s prize for the best longitude keeper.
Internet Site: www.uh.edu/engines/epi235.htm
The 13 Archimedean Solids
1. Cubeoctohedron
2. Icosidodecahedron
3. Rhombicubeoctahedron
4. Rhombicosidodecahedron
5. Rhombitruncated Cubeocthahedron
6. Rhombitruncated Icosidodecahedron
7. Snub Cube
8. Snub Dodecahedron
9. Truncated Cube
10. Truncated Dodecahedron
11. Truncated Icosahedron
12. Truncated Octahedron
13. Truncated Tetrahedron
Internet Site: www.scienceu.com/geometryfacts/solids
Gauss (1777-1855)
In elementary school, Carl Friedrich Gauss summed the integers 1 to 100 instantly by spotting that the sum was 50 pairs of numbers with each pair summing to 101. In 1792 Gauss entered the Brunswick Collegium Carolinum. Here he independently discovered Bode’s law, the binomial theorem , the arithmetic-geometric mean, the law of quadratic reciprosity and the prime number theorem. In 1798 Gauss discovered the construction of a regular 17 gon by ruler and compass. Gauss became interested geodesy in the 1820’s. It was also in the early 1820’s that he began to explore the possible existence of non-Euclidian geometry. He only confided his geometry discovery to Shumacher. Gauss also studied magnetism and worked with doctoral students in his later years. He was known as the Prince of Mathematics.
Internet Site: www-groupsdcs.standac.uk/~history/Mathematics/
Gauss.html
Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky (1792-1856)
During his early education, Nikolai studied medicine but changed his course work to mathematics and physics. In 1827 Nikolai became rector of Kazan University. During this time he taught many subjects including differential equations and the calculus of variations. He died blind and his new findings on Geometry weren’t recognized until after his death.
Internet Site: www-groups.dcs.st-dac.uk/~history/Mathematics/Gauss.html
Benoit Mandelbrot (1924- )
Benoit was born in Warsaw Poland. He discovered the Mandelbrot Set and coined the phrase “fractals” during the 1970’s. Fractals result in colorful graph designs. He states that the geometry of nature is fractal.
Internet Site: www.wired.cpm/wired/archive/2.08/mandelbrot-pr.html
Einstein (1879-1955)
Einstein graduated in 1900 as a teacher of mathematics and physics. In 1905 he presented a thesis entitled On a New Dimension of Molecular Dimensions. At this time he proposed the theory of relativity. Next he made important contributions to quantum theory. About 1912 he worked with his mathematician friend Marcel Grossman. The work was based in terms of the tenor calculus of Levi-Civita and Riccii Curbastro. Some of Einstein’s other accomplishments were the study of the speed of light, theories on space-time travel, black holes and gravity. His later work focused on the Bose-Einstein condensate and the gravitational lens proof.
Internet Site: www.groups.dcs.st-andac.uk.uk/~historyMathematicians/Einstein.html
Lewis Richardson (1881-1953)
Lewis Richardson’s favorite subject at Newcastle Preparatory School was the study of Euclid. He graduated from King’s College, Cambridge in 1903 with a degree in Natural Science. He later worked or taught in the field of Science, especially meteorology. He was the first to apply mathematics to predicting the weather. Weather Prediction by Numerical Process described Richardson’s work on meteorology. Richardson published about thirty papers on the mathematics of weather. He also did mathematical calculation on factors that would reduce the frequency of wars.
Internet Site: www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/
Bernhard Riemann (1826-1866)
Bernhard Riemann was a German mathematician who studied mathematics under Gauss and physics under Wilhelm Weber. He did important work in geometry, complex analysis and mathematical physics. Riemann laid the foundations for general relativity and studied the transmission of electricity. He developed the theory of quadratic forms. Riemann died from tuberculosis at the age of 39.
Internet Site: science world.wolram.com/biography/Riemann.
Gaston Julia (1893-1978)
Gaston Maurice Julia was born in Sidi Bel Abbes, Algeria. At the age of 25 he published his masterpiece, Memoire sur l’iteration des functions rationelles. He lost his nose when he was a soldier during World War 1. Gaston became a distinguished professor at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris. His work was forgotten until B. Mandelbrot revived Gaston’s work with his computer experiments during the 1970’s.
Internet Site: www-groups.dcs.st-and.acuk/~historyMathematicians/Julia.html