Mathematician’s

Book
SUBMITTED BY:
BALANAY, JUSTINE LESTER S.
BALITOS, CHESTER P.
BALDERAS, MARJIELL A.
CAIYAS, KEVIN C.
DE GUZMAN, BRADLEY P.
DIMPASO, JOHN LLOYD F.
VILLAR, JOHN FELICITY

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT-IB

SUBMITTED TO: ANTHONY G. FIJO

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Sir Isaac Newton………………………………………………………………...5
Archimedes of Syracuse………………………………..………………….8
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss.……………………………………………..........12
Leonhard Euler……………………………………………………….………..15
George Friedrich Bernhard Riemann…………………………………………..17
Jules Henri Poincaré…………………………………………………………...19
Joseph-Louis Lagrange…...................................................................................21
Euclid of Alexandria……………………………………………..…………….23
David Hilbert……………………………………………………….………….25
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz……………………………………………......27
Alexandre Grothendieck……………………………………………………….29
John von Neumann…………………………………………………………….31
Pierre de Fermat………………………………………………………………..33
Évariste Galois…………………………………………………………………35
Srinivasa Ramanujan Iyengar………………………………………………….37
René Descartes…………………………………………………………………39
Karl Wilhem Theodor Weierstrass…………………………………………….41
Hermann klaushugo weyl……………………………………………………...44
Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet...........................................................................46
GEORGE CANTOR...........................................................................................48
BRAHMAGUPTA..............................................................................................51
Norwegian Mathematician……………………………………………………..53
Augustin Louis Cauchy......................................................................................56
Emmy Noether…………………………………………………………………58
ARTHUR CAYLEY…………………………………………………………...60
Pythagoras……………………………………………………………………...62
William Rowan Hamilton...................................................................................64
CARL GUSTAV JACOB JACOBI....................................................................65
Apollonius...........................................................................................................67
Leonard Fibonacci..............................................................................................69
Charles Hermite..................................................................................................71
Pierre Simon Laplace..........................................................................................73
Carl Ludwig Siegel…………………………………………………………….75
Johannes Kepler………………………………………………………………..77
Diophantus of Alexandria……………………………………………………...79
Aryabhata............................................................................................................81
Muhammed `Abu Jafar’ ibn Musâ al-Khowârizmi............................................82
Julius Wilhelm Richard Dedekind.....................................................................84
Christian Felix Klein..........................................................................................86
Kurt Gödel.........................................................................................................88
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Bháscara (II) Áchárya…………………………….……………………………90
Blaise Pascal…………………………………………………………………...92
Élie Joseph Cartan……………………………………………………………..94
Archytas of Tarentum……………………………….…………………………96
Godfrey Harold Hardy…………………………………………………………98
Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov……………………………………………100
Félix Édouard Justin Émile Borel....................................................................102
Giuseppe Peano................................................................................................104
Hipparchus of Nicaea and Rhodes....................................................................106
Alhazen-ibn al-haytham....................................................................................108
Julius Plücker....................................................................................................110
Joseph Liouville………………………………………………………………112
Jacob Bernoulli.................................................................................................114
Stefan Banach...................................................................................................116
Jean le Rond d’alembert...................................................................................118
Gotthold Eisenstein…………………………………………………………...120
Pānini................................................................................................................122
André Weil........................................................................................................124
Jean-Pierre Serre...............................................................................................126
Jacques Hadamard............................................................................................128
Sophus Lie........................................................................................................130
Jakob Steiner.....................................................................................................132
Gottlob Frege....................................................................................................134
Eudoxus of Cnidus............................................................................................136
Camille Jordan..................................................................................................138
François Viète………………………………………………………………...140
Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier……………………………………………….....142
Christiaan Huygens…………………………………………………………...144
Bonaventura Francesco de Cavalieri…………………………………………146
Hermann Günter Grassmann………………………………………………....148
Albert Eistein…………………………………………………………………150
Julius Wilhelm Richard Dedekind……………………………………………152
James C. Maxwell…………………………………………………………….153
Girolamo Cardan……………………………………………………………...155
Aristotle…...………………………………………………………………….157
Galileo Galilei………………………………………………………………...159
Michael F. Atiyah…………………………………………………………….161
Atle Selberg…………………………………………………………………..163
Alfred Taski…………………………………………………………………..165
Israel M. Gelfand……………………………………………………………..167
Alan M. Turing……………………………………………………………….169
L.E.I Brouwer………………………………………………………………...171
Johann Heinrich Lambert……………………………………………………..173

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John Edensor Littlewood……………………………………………………..175
Liu Hui………………………………………………………………………..177
Felix Hausdorff…………………………………………………….................179
Gaspard Monge……………………………………………………………….181
George Pólya………………………………………………………………….183
Henri Léon Lebesgue…………………………………………………………185
John Forbes Nash, Jr………………………………………………………….187
Ernst Eduard Kummer………………………………………………………..189
Johann Bernoulli……………………………………………………………...191
Bernard Placidus Johann Nepomuk Bolzano………………………………....193
Rafael Bombelli………………………………………………………………195
Jean-Victor Poncelet………………………………………………………….197
Adrien M. Legendre…………………………………………………………..199
James J. Sylvester…………………………………………………………….201
John Brehaut Wallis…………………………………………………………..203
Pafnuty L. Chebychev………………………………………………………...205
Simon Stevin…………….……………………………………………………207
Hermann Minowski…………………………………………………………..209
Nicolai Lobachevsky…………………………………………………………211
Andrey Markov………………………………………………………………213
Benjamin Banneker…………………………………………………………..215
Claudius Ptolemy……………………………………………………………..217
Xenocrates...………………………………………………………………….219
Anaxagoras…………………………………………………..……………….221
Hypatia………………………………………………………………………..223
Antiphon……………………………………………………………...………225
Hero of Alexandria A………………………………………………………...227
Thales of Miletus……………………………………………………………..229

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 1.Sir Isaac Newton
642-1727)

Biography
Isaac Newton was born on January 4, 1643, in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England.
The son of a farmer who died three months before he was born, Newton spent most of his early
years with his maternal grandmother after his mother remarried. His education was interrupted
by a failed attempt to turn him into a farmer, and he attended the King’s School in Grantham
before enrolling at the University of Cambridge’s Trinity College in 1661. Newton studied a
classical curriculum at Cambridge, but he became fascinated by the works of modern
philosophers such as René Descartes, even devoting a set of notes to his outside readings he
titled “Quaestiones Quaedam Philosophicae” (“Certain Philosophical Questions”). When the
Great Plague shuttered Cambridge in 1665, Newton returned home and began formulating his
theories on calculus, light and color, his farm the setting for the supposed falling apple that
inspired his work on gravity. Newton returned to Cambridge in 1667 and was elected a minor
fellow. He constructed the first reflecting telescope in 1668, and the following year he received
his Master of Arts degree and took over as Cambridge’s Lucasian Professor of Mathematics.
Asked to give a demonstration of his telescope to the Royal Society of London in 1671, he was
elected to the Royal Society the following year and published his notes on optics for his peers.
Through his experiments with refraction, Newton determined that white light was a composite
of all the colors on the spectrum, and he asserted that light was composed of particles instead
of waves. His methods drew sharp rebuke from established Society member Robert Hooke,
who was unsparing again with Newton’s follow-up paper in 1675. Known for his
temperamental defense of his work, Newton engaged in heated correspondence with Hooke
before suffering a nervous breakdown and withdrawing from the public eye in 1678. In the

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following years, he returned to his earlier studies on the forces governing gravity and dabbled
in alchemy
.
Contribution

Isaac Newton changed the world when he invented Calculus in 1665. We take this for
granted today, but what Newton accomplished at the age of 24 is simply astonishing. Calculus
has uses in physics, chemistry, biology, economics, pure mathematics, all branches of
engineering, and more. It’s not an overstatement to say Newton's insight in the development
of calculus has truly revolutionized our ability to pursue new branches of science and
engineering. It is used in problems when a quantity changes as a function of time, which is
how most problems behave in reality. When he invented calculus and outlined its uses, Isaac
Newton made one of the most important breakthroughs in mathematics history, and it's still
vital to this day. Newton started by trying to describe the speed of a falling object. When he
did this, he found that the speed of a falling object increases every second, but that there was
no existing mathematical explanation for this. The issue of movement and the rate of change
had not yet been explored to any significant degree in the field of mathematics, so Newton saw
a void that needed to be filled. He began work on this right way, incorporating planetary ellipses
into his theory too to try to explain the orbit of the planets. He found that by using calculus, he
could explain how planets moved and why the orbits of planets are in an ellipse. This is one
of Newton's break throughs: that the gravitational force that holds us to the ground is the same
force that causes the planets to orbit the Sun and the Moon to orbit Earth. All this shows that
when Newton came to develop the idea of calculus and its focus on the rate of change, it fed
into his previous work. He was aided by his already strong conceptual understanding of physics
and movement. It wasn't a complete departure from his other work. And this perhaps
demonstrates best of all the direct link between the field of mathematics and the field of
physics. For Newton at least, the two went hand in hand. Newton used rates of changes to form
the foundation of Calculus, and his revised theory was published in 1676. Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz is another mathematician who did a lot of work on using numbers to help describe
nature and motion. There was a dispute between the two men over who actually came up with
calculus first and who the true inventor was. Although Leibniz did come up with vital symbols
that help with the understanding of mathematical concepts, Newton's work was carried out
about eight years before Leibniz's. Both men contributed a great deal to mathematics in general
and calculus in particular. And since then, the concept has been developed even further.

Life Application
Calculus is a part of mathematics and is also used in physics. With real-life applications
of calculus, it can be found how the changing conditions of a system affect us. Students can
learn how to control a system by studying calculus. Calculus is the language of engineers,
scientists, and economists and it is one of the many instances of the application of integration
in real life. From microwaves, cell phones, TV, and car to medicine, economy, and defiance,
calculus is an integral part. Furthermore, the application of derivatives in real life is way more
than what is understood. In this article, Embibe has listed some of the applications of
differential calculus in real life. It is used for Portfolio Optimisation, i.e., how to choose the
best stocks. Some of the real-life applications of differential calculus are listed below:

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Statisticians will use calculus to evaluate survey data to help develop business plans. A survey
involves many questions with various possible answers; calculus allows a more accurate
prediction.
Credit card companies use calculus to set the minimum payments due on credit card statements
at the exact time the statement is processed.
Inorganic Chemistry: The Rate of Reaction, i.e., How fast a reaction takes place (Integration).
Integrations are applicable in various fields like engineering, where the engineers apply
integrals to determine the shape of the building. In Physics, they are used in concepts like the
centre of gravity etc. They are used in the field of graphical representation, where three-
dimensional models are demonstrated.
Study of Population: Analyzing how the population of predators and prey evolves over time. It
is done using a differential equation. Biologists use differential calculus to determine the exact
rate of growth in a bacterial culture.
Electrical Engineering: An electrical engineer uses integration to determine the exact length of
power cable needed to connect two substations that are miles apart.
Architect: An architect will use integration to determine the number of materials necessary to
construct a curved dome over a new sports arena. You can also find this in the applications of
integration in real life examples.
Space flight engineers: Space flight engineers frequently use calculus when planning lengthy
missions. To launch an exploratory probe, calculus allows each of those variables to accurately
take into account the orbiting velocities under the gravitational influences of the sun and the
moon. This is one of the most crucial instances of real-life applications of calculus.
Graphics artist: A graphics artist uses calculus to determine how different three-dimensional
models will behave when subjected to rapidly changing conditions. This use of calculus in real
life often correlates with art.

Motto

“No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess.”

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 2.Archimedes of Syracuse
(287-212 BC)

Biography

Archimedes probably spent some time in Egypt early in his career, but he
resided for most of his life in Syracuse, the principal Greek city-state in Sicily, where
he was on intimate terms with its king, Hieron II. Archimedes published his works
in the form of correspondence with the principal mathematicians of his time,
including the Alexandrian scholars Conon of Samos and Eratosth enes of Cyrene. He
played an important role in the defense of Syracuse against the siege laid by the
Romans in 213 BCE by constructing war machines so effective that they long delayed
the capture of the city. When Syracuse eventually fell to the Roman gene ral Marcus
Claudius Marcellus in the autumn of 212 or spring of 211 BCE, Archimedes was
killed in the sack of the city. Far more details survive about the life of Archimedes
than about any other ancient scientist, but they are largely anecdotal, reflecting the
impression that his mechanical genius made on the popular imagination. Thus, he is
credited with inventing the Archimedes screw, and he is supposed to have made two
“spheres” that Marcellus took back to Rome—one a star globe and the other a device
(the details of which are uncertain) for mechanically representing the motions of the
Sun, the Moon, and the planets. The story that he determined the proportion of gold
and silver in a wreath made for Hieron by weighing it in water is probably true, but
the version that has him leaping from the bath in which he supposedly got the idea
and running naked through the streets shouting “Heurēka!” (“I have found it!”) is
popular embellishment. Equally apocryphal are the stories that he used a huge array
of mirrors to burn the Roman ships besieging Syracuse; that he said, “Give me a

8
place to stand and I will move the Earth”; and that a Roman soldier killed him
because he refused to leave his mathematical diagrams —although all are popular
reflections of his real interest in catoptrics (the branch of optics dealing with the
reflection of light from mirrors, plane or curved), mechanics, and pure mathematics.
According to Plutarch (c. 46–119 CE), Archimedes had so low an opinion of the kind
of practical invention at which he excelled and to which he owed his contemporary
fame that he left no written work on such subjects. While it is true that—apart from
a dubious reference to a treatise, “On Sphere-Making”—all of his known works were
of a theoretical character, his interest in mechanics nevertheless deeply influenced
his mathematical thinking. Not only did he write works on theoretical mec hanics and
hydrostatics, but his treatise Method Concerning Mechanical Theorems shows that
he used mechanical reasoning as a heuristic device for the discovery of new
mathematical theorems.

Contribution
Exact Value of Pi
We all must have studied and used the concept of Pi in mensuration. Pi is the ratio
of circumference and diameter of a circle. We divide 22 by 7 to get the value of 3.14.
But do you know who approximated this value? It was none other than Archimedes.
To calculate this value, he used a 96-sided polygon, and he found the value of Pi
approximately between 3.1408 and 3.1429 that is widely used by all of us.

Volumes and Areas

His true love for Mathematics made him to introduce formulae for volume and areas
of different new shapes by using the previous shapes known to him by the exhaustion
method. For example, to calculate the area of circle, he enclosed the circle into a
polygon and then drawing on more polygon inside that circle. Then he tried to
calculate the area of the polygons drawn. H e tried the same procedure with other
shapes as well like enclosing the circle into triangle, square, pentagon and other
shapes known to him. He approximated the area of these shapes and reached to a
final conclusion that gave him the area of circle. This method is known as Exhaustion
method.

Quadrature of Parabola
According to Archimedes, the area enclosed by a straight line and parabola is 4/3rd
of the area of triangle enclosed in it that has the same base and height as the segment.
He used the concept of infinite geometric series by taking common ratio as 1/4. He
divided the area under parabola segment (area formed by the parabola and line) into
a infinite no. of triangles whose areas formed a geometric series. He then calculated
the sum of this geometric series and proved it to be the area of parabolic segment.

Infinitesimal
Archimedes was the first who invent integral calculus, i.e., around 2000 years before
Newton and Leibniz. Infinitesimal is that quantity that tends to infinity, means it
tends to something that does not usually exist or is unreal. With the evolution of this
concept, some other related concepts came into existence like continuity,
differentiability, limits and integration.

Sphere and Cylinder (Ratio of Volume and Surface Area)

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Archimedes was the first who came up with the ratio of volume and surface area of
sphere and cylinder. This is considered one of the most significant contributions of
Archimedes to mathematics, and even Archimedes himself considered it to be his
most valuable contribution to this field as he established a relationship between a
cylinder and a sphere (enclosed in cylinder) having same height and diameter. He
proved that volume and surface area of a sphere is 2/3rd of that of a cylinder. He
was so influenced by this discovery that he requested to build his tomb in the shape
of a cylinder having a sphere circumscribed in it.

Scientific Notation (Sand Reckoner)

He developed a method of counting numbers of zero in a given number. He proposed
that number of grains of sand in the whole universe are 1 followed by 63 zeroes,
which is very difficult to write manually. So, he introduced this method to represent
big numbers easily. In scientific notation, above expression can be written as
1x{10}^{63}10 63. In general, we write it as mx[ketax]{10}^{n}[/ketax], where
1≤m<10 and n is an integer. With the help of scientific notation, he was able to
remove Greek alphabets from counting system.

Volume of Irregular objects

Archimedes is best known for his ‘EUREKA’ moment when he c ame up with the
concept of ‘buoyancy’ which is considered one of the most valuable findings in the
field of physics. With the help of buoyancy, he was able to calculate the volume of
irregular objects. One day, he stepped into a bathtub full of water up to the edge. He
noticed that as he stepped inside, some water was displaced from the bathtub. It was
then that he realized that the volume of the body inside the water is equal to the
volume of water displaced by it, which can be easily calculated.

Archimedes Catapult
As discussed above, he used his knowledge of geometry to build various instruments
to save people of Syracuse from enemies, and one of them was catapult, which works
on the principle of projectile. It is also called stone thrower. The arrangem ent of
catapult include a beam, which is attached to a pouch in which the projectile is kept.
Then, on the opposite side of beam, a heavy weight is attached, which when released,
will project the stone kept in pouch to a far distance and can cause a lot of damage.
Initially, in place of heavy weights, the beam was pulled manually.

Life Applications

Exact Value of Pi
it can measure things like ocean wave, light waves, sound waves, river bends,
radioactive particle distribution and probability like the distribution of pennies, the
grid of nails and mountains by using a series of circles.

Volumes and Areas

You'll find many real-life cases when calculating the surface area or volume a
shape would be useful, such as the amount of water it takes to fill up a pool
(rectangular prism) or the amount of wrapping paper it takes to wrap a candle
(cylinder) or basketball (sphere).

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 Quadrature of Parabola
The shape of car headlights, mirrors in reflecting telescopes, TV and radio antenna
etc. are parabolic.

 Infinitesimal
Using infinitesimal quantities to approximate measurement of any item is an
ancient way to determine the size and shape of irregular objects.

 Sphere and Cylinder

Pencil holders – Another fine example of a cylindrical-shaped object we can see
around us is pencil holders. A pencil holder exhibits one curved surface attached to
one flat circular base and one hollow top base. Balls used in a number of bowling
games are a prominent example of a sphere geometric shape.

 Scientific Notation
Scientific notation is needed any time you need to express a number that is very
big or very small. for example, you wanted to figure out how many drops of water
were in a river 12 km long, 270 m wide, and 38 m deep (assuming one drop is one
milliliter).

 Volume of Irregular objects

Measurement of volume of irregular solid bodies both heavier and lighter than
water including those soluble in water, by displacement of water or other liquids in
a measuring cylinder.

 Archimedes Death Ray

The death ray legend has Archimedes using mirrors to concentrate sunlight to
incinerate Roman ships attacking his home of Syracuse, the ancient city -state in the
southeast Sicily.

 Archimedes Catapult
The trebuchet that utilizes a weighted beam and sling which swings in an arc,
launching heavy stones and timbers far enough to destroy moored enemy ships

Motto

“Give me a place to stand, and a lever long enough, and I will

move the world.”

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 3. Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss
(1777-1855)

Biography

Gauss was the only child of poor parents. He was rare among mathematicians in that he was a
calculating prodigy, and he retained the ability to do elaborate calculations in his head most of
his life. Impressed by this ability and by his gift for languages, his teachers and his devoted
mother recommended him to the duke of Brunswick in 1791, who granted him financial
assistance to continue his education locally and then to study mathematics at the University of
Göttingen from 1795 to 1798. Gauss’s pioneering work gradually established him as the era’s
preeminent mathematician, first in the German-speaking world and then farther afield, although
he remained a remote and aloof figure.

Contribution
Construction of Heptadecagon
Gauss constructed a regular 17-sided polygon, heptadecagon with the help of straightedge and
compass only, when he was just 19. His proof says that the number of sides of the regular
polygon is distinct Fermat primes, which are of the form {F}_{n}F n=
{2}^{[katex]{2}^{n}}[/katex] for some nonnegative integer n. Gauss discovered a general
formula for construction polygon beyond heptadecagon. He further founded, 51, 85, 255, 257
and 4, 294, 967, 295 – sided figures.
Integers as Triangular Numbers
In 1796, Gauss discovered that every positive integer can be expressed as the sum of at most
three triangular numbers. He wrote this result in his diary as, “ΕΥΡΗΚΑ num = Δ + Δ + Δ“.

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This diary was lost after 40 years of his death. Gauss was supposed to be the last person who
mastered every aspect of mathematics.
Complex Numbers
Complex numbers are known from the 16th century but Gauss was the first mathematician to
give a clear picture of complex numbers and functions of complex variables. Although Euler
worked on imaginary and complex numbers, there was still no proper explanation of how real
and imaginary numbers are related. Gauss took into practice the complex numbers and gave
the standard notation a+ib for complex numbers. Then onwards, more concepts of complex
numbers were unleashed.
Fundamental theorem of Algebra
Gauss gave the proof of a fundamental theorem of algebra when he was just 22. He stated that,
every non-constant single-variable polynomial over the complex numbers has at least one
root.” He also proved that the field of complex numbers is algebraically closed (a polynomial
with complex coefficients will yield a complex solution only) unlike the field of real numbers,
where a polynomial with real coefficients can yield a complex solution.
Number Theory
Gauss made many significant contributions to Number theory. He used to say that
“Mathematics is the queen of sciences and number theory is the queen of mathematics.” In
1801, at the age of 24, Gauss published his most famous book “Disquisitiones Arithmeticae”
which is considered the most influential book in the field of number theory.
Gauss’ Theorem
Gauss theorem is also known as the Divergence theorem or Ostrogradsky’s theorem. In vector
calculus, this theorem states that, the surface integral of a vector field over a closed surface,
which is called the flux through the surface, is equal to the volume integral of the divergence
over the region inside the surface. “This theorem establishes a relationship between the flux of
a vector field over a closed surface and the volume integral of the divergence of the field.
Graphical representation of the Gauss theorem is given by
Gauss’ Lemma
Gauss’s lemma states that the product of two primitive polynomials is primitive (a polynomial
with integer coefficients is primitive if it has 1 as the greatest common divisor of its
coefficients).

Contribution

Construction of Heptadecagon It is important part in the education of students as they teach

them how to make patterns, tessellations, how to use poly- gons to make other shapes, build on
polygons to form 3D shapes and about symmetry.
Integers as Triangular Numbers
The triangular number Tn solves the handshake problem of counting the number of handshakes
if each person in a room with n + 1 people shakes hands once with each person. In other words,
the solution to the handshake problem of n people is Tn−1.

Complex Numbers
Complex number is used in Electronics. Complex number is used in Electromagnetism.
Complex number is used to simplify the unknown roots if roots are not real for quadratic
equations. Complex numbers are used in computer science engineering.
Fundamental theorem of Algebra

13
Explains how all polynomials can be broken down, so it provides structure for abstraction into
fields like Modern Algebra. Knowledge of algebra is essential for higher math levels like
trigonometry and calculus.
Number Theory
Public key cryptography, such as the RSA algorithm. Public key cryptography in turn enables
many technologies we take for granted, such as the ability to make secure online transactions.
Gauss’ Theorem
To find out the field due to a uniformly charged Straight wire, a uniformly charged Infinite
plate sheet, a uniformly charged thin spherical shell, and a low uniformly charged sphere.

Motto

“Life stands before me like an eternal spring with new and brilliant
clothes.

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 4. Leonhard Euler
1708-1783

Biography

Euler’s mathematical ability earned him the esteem of Johann Bernoulli, one
of the first mathematicians in Europe at that time, and of his sons Daniel and Nicolas.
In 1727 he moved to St. Petersburg, where he became an associate of the St.
Petersburg Academy of Sciences and in 1733 succeeded Daniel Bernoulli to the chair
of mathematics. By means of his numerous books and memoirs that he submitted to
the academy, Euler carried integral calculus to a higher degree of pe rfection,
developed the theory of trigonometric and logarithmic functions, reduced analytical
operations to a greater simplicity, and threw new light on nearly all parts of pure
mathematics. Overtaxing himself, Euler in 1735 lost the sight of one eye. Then ,
invited by Frederick the Great in 1741, he became a member of the Berlin Academy,
where for 25 years he produced a steady stream of publications, many of which he
contributed to the St. Petersburg Academy, which granted him a pension.

Contribution

In 1748, in his Introduction in analyzing infinitorum, he developed the concept of

function in mathematical analysis, through which variables are related to each other and in
which he advanced the use of infinitesimals and infinite quantities. He did for modern analytic
geometry and trigonometry what the Elements of Euclid had done for ancient geometry, and
the resulting tendency to render mathematics and physics in arithmetical terms has continued
ever since. He is known for familiar results in elementary geometry—for example, the Euler

15
line through the orthocenter (the intersection of the altitudes in a triangle), the circumcenter
(the centre of the circumscribed circle of a triangle), and the barycenter (the “centre of gravity,”
or centroid) of a triangle. He was responsible for treating trigonometric functions—i.e., the
relationship of an angle to two sides of a triangle—as numerical ratios rather than as lengths of
geometric lines and for relating them, through the so-called Euler identity (eiθ = cos θ + i sin
θ), with complex numbers (e.g., 3 + 2Square root of√−1). He discovered the imaginary
logarithms of negative numbers and showed that each complex number has an infinite number
of logarithms.

Life Applications

Trigonometry is used to set directions such as the north south east west, it
tells you what direction to take with the compass to get on a straight direction. It is
used in navigation in order to pinpoint a location. It is also used to find the distance
of the shore from a point in the sea.
Negative numbers are commonly used in describing below freezing point
temperature, credit/due money, elevation above/below sea level, elevator level when
it is below the ground level, as a penalty in quizzes/games, etc.

Motto

“Logic is the foundation of the certainty of all the knowledge we

acquire.”

16
 5. George Friedrich Bernhard Riemann
(1826-1866)
Biography

George Friedrich Bernhard Riemann was born on September 17, 1826 in a village
Breselenz near Dannenberg in Hanoverian Kingdom (now Germany). He belonged to an
underprivileged family and his father was a pastor who fought in Napoleonic Wars. He had
five siblings and was the second of the six. His mother died before he reached his adulthood
and also suffered multiple nervous breakdowns as a child. He was an extremely timid and shy
child who perpetually suffered from social anxiety. At the same time, he displayed incredible
aptitude for mathematics. Riemann attended middle school when he went to stay at his
grandmothers in Hanover. Then he went on to study at Johanneum Luneburg high school, after
his grandmother’s death. He was seen studying Bible rigorously in high school, simultaneously
he had shown increasing interest in mathematics. His teachers were impressed by his proficient
skills in solving complex mathematical problems. Upon completion of high school, he began
planning to study philology to become a pastor like his father in order to support the family. In
1946, Riemann went to University of Göttingen to earn a degree in Theology which didn’t pan
out as he decided to switch his major to mathematics. Carl Friedrich Gauss mentored and
facilitated him in studying mathematics and also suggested him to quit his theological work
and devote all his time to the discipline of his interest. In 1847, earning his father’s permission
Riemann transferred to University of Berlin and following two years of studies he returned to
Göttingen. In 1854, he conducted lectures and ended up laying the foundation for Riemannian
geometry. It also laid the groundwork for Einstein’s general theory of relativity. The University
of Göttingen appointed him as a lecturer on a payroll in 1857, instead of a professor. However,
he was promoted to the position of head the mathematics department following the death of
Lejeune Dirichlet. Riemann got married in 1862 to Elise Koch with whom he had a daughter.
Four years later war broke out between Hanover and Prussia forcing Riemann to flee Göttingen.

17
Upon his third trip to Italy, he passed away and was buried in the cemetery in Biganzolo. Being
a Protestant minister’s son, he believed that the discipline of mathematics was another form of
serving God. He was a firm believer in Christian Faith, it is reported that he died while reciting
the Lord’s Prayer.

Contribution

The analytic number theory was one of the most prominent contributions of Riemann. He
published several works in his lifetime on complex analysis. He proposed a theorem that is
called Riemann mapping theorem. Other mathematics like Alfred Clebsch explored algebraic
curves forwarded by Riemann. Riemann wrote Fourier series which influenced Georg Cantor
to put forward the set theory. His paper on the prime-counting function is an inspiring work in
the field of analytic number theory.
Bernhard Riemann Contribution’s Life Application
The best-known application of Analytic number theory is public key cryptography, such as the
RSA algorithm...In addition to cryptography, number theory has been applied to other areas,
such as:
Error correcting codes.
Numerical integration.
Computer arithmetic.
Random and quasi-random number generation.

Motto

“The greatest strategy is doomed if it's implemented badly. Bernhard

Riemann. Strategy, Doomed, Ifs. 36 Copy.

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 6. Jules Henri Poincaré
(1854-1912)

Biography

Jules-Henri Poincaré was born into a wealthy family on April 29, 1854 in the city of
Nancy, France.Henri’s mother was Eugénie Launois, a notably intelligent woman from a
wealthy family. Henri’s father was Léon Poincaré, a physician and professor of medicine at the
University of Nancy who lectured in anatomy and physiology; his particular interest was
neurology. The Poincarés had two children: Henri and his younger sister Aline. Like most
French families the Poincarés were Roman Catholic. However, by age 18, Henri described
himself as a free thinker and not religious. He declared himself opposed to clerical dogmatism
and state interference; he supported equal political rights for everyone, including the rights to
carry out research and tell the truth. The Poincaré children lived in a large home with their
parents, grandparents and servants. Henri started talking when he was just nine months old.
Although the family was well-off and the children were happy, wealth and happiness could not
ward off infectious diseases: in an age with no antibiotics, these were often deadly. At age five,
Henri contracted diphtheria. He lost the ability to walk for two months and could not talk for
almost seven: diphtheria covers the back of the throat with thick mucus that blocks the airway
and causes difficulty breathing. He invented a private sign language to communicate with Aline
and his parents. Henri was noticeably shy and he preferred inventing and playing games with
Aline to competing in rougher games. This may have been a consequence of his diphtheria –
the infection can damage the heart, the kidneys and nerves permanently. In later life Henri
continued to be shy, but opened up when discussing intellectual ideas. At age eight, Henri
began school for the first time. His high school was the Lycée Nancy, now renamed the Lycée
Henri Poincaré. A teacher there told Henri’s mother that her 14-year-old son was destined to

19
become one of the world’s great mathematicians. Henri did not know what he wanted to do.
He was gifted in philosophy, physics, acting, writing literature, engineering and the arts; and
he found them all interesting. While Henri was at the Lycée, the Prussian Army invaded France.
French casualties began pouring into Nancy, a city in the line of the Prussian advance. Many
civilians fled from the city, but the Poincaré family remained. Henri’s father became a medic-
ambulance driver; the ambulance was, of course, horse-drawn. 16-year-old Henri helped treat
the wounded – a gruesome task for a boy who, until then, had led sheltered life. Nancy fell to
the Prussians in August 1870. The war ended in January 1871. Later that year France agreed
to surrender territory to the new German Empire. To the relief of the Poincaré family, Nancy
was returned to France. In his Lycée graduation exams in 1871, Henri’s overall mark was
‘good,’ a far cry from expectations. Even in mathematics, his scores were mediocre. Henri
Poincaré did not lose heart. He started to prepare for the concours, a difficult set of university
entrance examinations. He studied advanced mathematics books.

Contribution

Henri Poincaré was a mathematician, theoretical physicist and a philosopher of science

famous for discoveries in several fields and referred to as the last polymath, one who could
make significant contributions in multiple areas of mathematics and the physical sciences.
Poincaré is best known for his critique of logicism and for his geometric conventionalism. The
two traditions interpreting Poincaré’s work thus reflect, on the one hand, a philosophy of
mathematics that endorses his intuitionist tendency and his polemics against logicism or
formalism, and, on the other hand, his conventionalism both in the philosophy of science and
in a broad linguistic sense. In reality, these intuitionistic and formal aspects are two sides of
the same coin, given that Poincaré always supports a single position aimed at a reconstruction
of the process of understanding scientific theories (see Heinzmann 2010). Neither formalistic
nor intuitionist nor empiricist, Poincare opens a path lying between a realist and an anti-realist
theory of mathematical knowledge.

Life Application

Logicism can also be a good tool to analyze other people's arguments. When someone
grasps how to interpret arguments and how they should and should not be constructed, they
will uncover all types of faulty arguments out there that can damage their opponent's
conclusion, especially during debates.
Geometric conventionalism is intimately connected with visual arts and is essential in
understanding spatial relationships. It is primarily used in the fields of art, measurements, and
architecture. It is also used in navigation, surveying, astronomy, and much more.

Motto

“The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it

because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful.”

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 7. Joseph-Louis (Comte de) Lagrange
(1736-1813)

Biography

Joseph-Louis Lagrange was born into a prosperous family (his godparents were
aristocrats) in the Italian city of Turin, Piedmont on January 25, 1736. At birth his name was
Giuseppe Lodovico Lagrangia. The French form of his name is usually used because he wrote
many of his papers in French and, in the latter part of his life, settled in Paris. As a teenager in
Italy, Joseph began calling himself Lagrange. He had French ancestors on both sides of his
family, which he seems to have taken pride in, although he always considered himself
Piedmont’s rather than French. After many years in Paris he kept his strong Italian accent.
Joseph was named after his father, Giuseppe Francesco Lodovico Lagrangia, the king’s
treasurer, responsible for Turin’s fortifications and infrastructure. Joseph’s mother was Maria
Teresa Grosso, daughter of an eminent physician. Joseph was the eldest of their 11 children,
only two of whom survived childhood. In 1750, at age 14, Joseph became a student at the
University of Turin. Bored by the geometry of Euclid and Archimedes, he had no interest in
studying mathematics. He planned to follow in his father’s footsteps and study law. His father,
however, had run into financial trouble by speculating unwisely. Joseph’s interest in
mathematics was sparked when he read a paper written in the previous century by Edmund
Halley in which Halley used algebraic equations to describe the optical performance of lenses.
In contrast to geometry, something about Halley’s algebra captivated him. He drifted away
from law and began attending mathematics and physics lectures. Although he enjoyed these, it
was soaking up cutting-edge books by mathematicians such as Leonhard Euler, Daniel
Bernoulli, Colin Maclaurin, and Jean d’Alembert that catapulted him forward at a near-
miraculous rate. Lagrange did not sleep much. He got into the lifelong habit of keeping himself
awake for long hours of work with the aid of tea and coffee.

21
Contribution

In August 1755, age 19, Lagrange sent a paper to the world’s greatest living mathematician,
Leonhard Euler. He described his new method for finding maxima and minima of functions, a
brilliant leap forward in calculus. In September 1755, Euler wrote back expressing his great
admiration for Lagrange’s work. A few days later, Lagrange was offered and accepted a job as
an assistant professor of mathematics at an artillery school in Turin – the Royal Military
Academy. He left the University of Turin without a degree and began teaching calculus &
mechanics. His students were all older than him and he was not the best of teachers – he was
rather timid and his lectures were too advanced for his students. Subsequent correspondence
between Lagrange and Euler led to a new branch of mathematics – the calculus of variations.
Euler was so overwhelmed by the importance of Lagrange’s work that he proposed the young
man from Turin be elected as a foreign member of the Berlin Academy. Lagrange was duly
elected on September 2, 1756, at age 20. Lagrange always believed that founding the calculus
of variations was his greatest work. It established him, while still a teenager, as one of the
greatest mathematicians of the eighteenth century.

Life Application

Calculus of variations seeks to first the path, curve surface etc for which a given function has
a stationary value in calculus of variation. We study powerful techniques of solving problems
of optimizations of functional. Calculus of variations help to formulate Geodesic problems on
a plane and sphere. There are many laws of Physics which are written as variational principles.
The Principle of Least action is equivalent to Newton Second Law of motion in a mechanical
system. The Fermat Principle in optics is also written as variational principle it also help to
formulates Brachistochrone problem.

Motto

“If I had inherited a fortune, I should probably not have cast my lot
with mathematics.”

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 8. Euclid of Alexandria
(Ca 322-275 BC)

Biography

Euclid authored the Elements, the most famous and most published mathematical work
in history. The Elements is concerned mainly with geometry, proportion, and number theory.
Enormously influential in mathematics teaching for over two thousand years, the Elements
provided the spark that inspired many of the world’s greatest mathematicians and scientists to
embark on their remarkable intellectual journeys. Euclid is also famous for another enormously
influential book, Optics, in which he explained light’s behavior using geometrical principles
he had developed in the Elements. His theory of light was the basis of artistic perspective,
astronomical methods, and navigation methods for more than two thousand years. Little is
known about Euclid personally and we do not know what he looked like. He was born in around
325 BC, was probably educated in Plato’s school in Athens, and he taught mathematics in
Alexandria, the great new city of commerce and academia constructed in Egypt on the orders
of Alexander the Great during Euclid’s lifetime. Alexander built his city in a strategic location
where the river Nile meets the Mediterranean sea. Proclus, a 5th-century AD mathematician
and philosopher tells us Euclid lived in the time of Ptolemy I (323 to 285 BC) and wrote the
Elements, employing many of Eudoxus’ theorems and perfecting many of Theaetetus’s
concepts. Proclus also stated that the Elements proved concepts which had been only loosely
established by Euclid’s predecessors. Proclus tells us that when Ptolemy I, who was
presumably finding geometry hard work, asked if there was a shorter path to learning geometry
than Euclid’s Elements, Euclid told him: “There is no royal road to geometry.” Serenus of
Antinouplis, via Joannes Stobaeus, tells us that when a student asked Euclid what he could gain
from learning geometry, Euclid said to a servant:

23
“Give him three pence, and then he will have gained something.”

Contribution
Euclidean geometry is the study of geometrical shapes (plane and solid) and figures
based on different axioms and theorems. It is basically introduced for flat surfaces or plane
surfaces. Geometry is derived from the Greek words ‘geo’ which means earth and ‘metrein’
which means ‘to measure’. Euclidean geometry is better explained especially for the shapes of
geometrical figures and planes. This part of geometry was employed by the Greek
mathematician Euclid, who has also described it in his book, Elements. Therefore, this
geometry is also called Euclid geometry. The axioms or postulates are the assumptions that are
obvious universal truths, they are not proved. Euclid has introduced the geometry fundamentals
like geometric shapes and figures in his book elements and has stated 5 main axioms or
postulates. Here, we are going to discuss the definition of euclidean geometry, its elements,
axioms and five important postulates. Euclidean Geometry is considered an axiomatic system,
where all the theorems are derived from a small number of simple axioms. Since the term
“Geometry” deals with things like points, lines, angles, squares, triangles, and other shapes,
Euclidean Geometry is also known as “plane geometry”. It deals with the properties and
relationships between all things.

Life Application
They used geometry in different fields such as in art, measurement and architecture.
Glorious temples, palaces, dams and bridges are the results of these. In addition to construction
and measurements, it has influenced many more fields of engineering, biochemical modelling,
designing, computer graphics, and typography. Euclidean geometry has applications practical
applications in computer science, crystallography, and various branches of modern
mathematics. Differential geometry uses techniques of calculus and linear algebra to study
problems in geometry. It has applications in physics, including in general relativity.

Motto

“What has been affirmed without proof can also be denied without
proof.”

24
 9. David Hilbert
(1862-1943)

Biography

The first steps of Hilbert’s career occurred at the University of Königsberg, at which in 1885
he finished his Inaugural-Dissertation (Ph.D.); he remained at Königsberg as
a Privatdozent (lecturer, or assistant professor) in 1886–92, as an Extraordinarius (associate
professor) in 1892–93, and as an Ordinarius in 1893–95. In 1892 he married Käthe Jerosch,
and they had one child, Franz. In 1895 Hilbert accepted a professorship in mathematics at
the University of Göttingen, at which he remained for the rest of his life. The University of
Göttingen had a flourishing tradition in mathematics, primarily as the result of the contributions
of Carl Friedrich Gauss, Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, and Bernhard Riemann in the 19th
century. During the first three decades of the 20th century this mathematical tradition achieved
even greater eminence, largely because of Hilbert. The Mathematical Institute at Göttingen
drew students and visitors from all over the world. Hilbert’s intense interest in mathematical
physics also contributed to the university’s reputation in physics. His colleague and friend, the
mathematician Hermann Minkowski, aided in the new application of mathematics to physics
until his untimely death in 1909. Three winners of the Nobel Prize for Physics—Max von Laue
in 1914, James Franck in 1925, and Werner Heisenberg in 1932—spent significant parts of
their careers at the University of Göttingen during Hilbert’s lifetime.

Contribution

In a highly original way, Hilbert extensively modified the mathematics of invariants—

the entities that are not altered during such geometric changes as rotation, dilation, and

25
reflection. Hilbert proved the theorem of invariants—that all invariants can be expressed in
terms of a finite number. In his Zahlbericht (“Commentary on Numbers”), a report on algebraic
number theory published in 1897, he consolidated what was known in this subject and pointed
the way to the developments that followed. In 1899 he published the Grundlagen der Geometrie
(The Foundations of Geometry, 1902), which contained his definitive set of axioms for
Euclidean geometry and a keen analysis of their significance. This popular book, which
appeared in 10 editions, marked a turning point in the axiomatic treatment of geometry. A
substantial part of Hilbert’s fame rests on a list of 23 research problems he enunciated in 1900
at the International Mathematical Congress in Paris. In his address, “The Problems of
Mathematics,” he surveyed nearly all the mathematics of his day and endeavoured to set forth
the problems he thought would be significant for mathematicians in the 20th century. Many of
the problems have since been solved, and each solution was a noted event. Of those that remain,
however, one, in part, requires a solution to the Riemann hypothesis, which is usually
considered to be the most important unsolved problem in mathematics (see number theory).
Hilbert’s work in integral equations in about 1909 led directly to 20th-century research in
functional analysis (the branch of mathematics in which functions are studied collectively). His
work also established the basis for his work on infinite-dimensional space, later called Hilbert
space, a concept that is useful in mathematical analysis and quantum mechanics. Making use
of his results on integral equations, Hilbert contributed to the development of mathematical
physics by his important memoirs on kinetic gas theory and the theory of radiations. In 1909
he proved the conjecture in number theory that for any n, all positive integers are sums of a
certain fixed number of nth powers; for example, 5 = 22 + 12, in which n = 2. In 1910 the
second Bolyai award went to Hilbert alone and, appropriately, Poincaré wrote the glowing
tribute.

Life Application

Often it is said that one of the most useful properties of eigenvalues of a matrix is that
they are invariant under change of basis. This in turn is said to be useful in physics because
real, physical quantities represented by the matrix/tensor do not care about the coordinate
system used to measure them. Therefore, what we measure in real life needs to be independent
of the coordinate system. Components of a tensor/matrix change with a change of basis, so we
need to use the invariants of the tensor/matrix if the want to get correct results. This is what I
think is true.

Motto
“Mathematics knows no races or geographic boundaries; for
mathematics, the cultural world is one country.”

26
 10. Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz
(1646-1716)

Biography
Leibniz's father, a professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Leipzig in
Germany, died when he was only six years old. His mother raised him from that point on, but
he had access to his father's extensive library. The books in the library exposed him to the Latin
language, advanced philosophy, and theology at a young age. By the age of 14, Leibniz went
on to enroll at the University of Leipzig. He earned various school degrees, including a
bachelor's and master's in philosophy, as well as a bachelor's and a doctorate in law. Leibniz is
best known for his contributions to math, including infinitesimal calculus and the binary
number system. Gottfried Leibniz learned a lot from his father's library, which had
philosophical literature, and he helped him in getting his degrees in philosophy at a young age.
Philosopher Leibniz wrote two books on philosophy: Théodicée and Discourse on
Metaphysics. Théodicée was published while Leibniz was still alive and was based on his belief
in God. He argued that God created the world with the best available balance of good over evil
and that people have free will. Discourse on Metaphysics was not published until after Leibniz's
death. He was an optimist who believed that good will triumph over evil and that God has
already predetermined all the best possible outcomes for people and situations. Gottfried
Leibniz also developed a theory of monads as an alternative to atoms. He believed monads
make up the universe, but he also argued that they lacked spatial existence.

Contribution
Gottfried Leibniz is the self-proclaimed inventor of the binary system, which may be
his greatest contribution to mathematics. The binary, or base-2 system, is a way of writing

27
numbers using only the digits 0 and 1. It is used in computer technology and computer
programming. The base-10 system, which is what most people are familiar with, uses the digits
zero to nine and expresses place value in numbers as a power of ten (ones, tens, hundreds, and
so on). Only the digits 0 and 1 are used in the binary system, and the place value is based on
the powers of two. So, how is a base-10 number, like 13, written in the binary system? The
base-10 number, and all subsequent quotients, are divided by two until zero is reached. The
chart given below demonstrates the process. If the number that gets divided by two is even,
and there is no remainder, then the binary number is 0. If the number that gets divided by two
is odd, and there is a remainder of 1, then the binary number is 1.

Life Application
The binary (Base 2) system is based upon powers of 2. It has many applications to
situations that have only two alternatives, such as off and on, 0 and 1, yes and no. Electronics,
computers, and computer-based hardware such as cell phones and satellites use the binary
system. The binary number system is used all around the digital world, especially in computer
systems. To simply define the binary system; it is the language issued by the computer to
understand your input queries and to communicate with you in the easiest and the most
understandable way possible.

Motto

“Music is the hidden arithmetical exercise of a mind unconscious that it

is calculating.”

28
 11. Alexandre Grothendieck
(1928-2014)

Biography
Alexander Grothendieck's first name is often written as Alexandre, the form he
adopted when living in France. His parents were Alexander Schapiro (1890-1942) and Johanna
Grothendieck (1900-1957). His father was known by the standard Russian name of Sascha (for
Alexander) while his mother was called Hanka. In order to get some understanding of
Grothendieck's upbringing and personality, it is necessary to give some details about his
parents, and in particular explain why he has his mother's name of Grothendieck. Alexander
Schapiro was a Russian Jew, born in Novozybkov, a town near the point where Russia, White
Russia, and Ukraine met. At the age of fifteen he fought for the revolutionaries against the
Russian tsars in the war beginning in 1905. In 1907 he and his comrades were captured and
sentenced to death. His comrades were all shot by firing squad but Schapiro, although led to
be executed for 20 consecutive days, was eventually given life imprisonment because of his
youth. He was ten years in prison before escaping during the Revolution of 1917. He continued
to fight for the anarchists and was captured and escaped several times, on one occasion losing
his left arm. He married a Jewish woman Rachil and they had a son named Dodek. Eventually,
in 1921, he escaped to live for a while in Berlin and then in Paris under the name Alexander
Tanaroff. He made a living as a street photographer. Grothendieck's mother, Hanka
Grothendieck, was born in Hamburg, in Germany, and joined several left-wing groups. She
married Alfred Raddatz (known as Johannes) and they had a daughter named Frode, known as
Maidi, born in 1924. On a visit to Berlin, Alexander Schapiro met Hanka and they had a son,
Alexander (known as Schurik), who is the subject of this biography. His birth was recorded
under the name Alexander Raddatz since, at the time of his birth, his mother was marred to Alf
Raddatz. Alf and Hanka were divorced in 1929. Alexander Schapiro (who still called himself

29
Alexander Tanaroff) and Hanka lived with their son Schurik and his mother's daughter Maidi
in Berlin from 1928 to 1933. There they had a photographic studio which provided the family
income.Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of the German Reich on 30 January 1933.
On 1 April 1933 there was the so-called "boycott day" when Jewish shops and businesses were
boycotted. On 7 April 1933 the Nazis passed a law which, under clause three, ordered the
retirement of civil servants who were not of Aryan descent. Although Alexander Schapiro was
hiding his Jewish origins by using the name Tanaroff, he still considered that Berlin was too
dangerous a place for a Jew and he returned to Paris in May 1933. Hanka and her son Alexander
remained in Berlin until December 1933 when she arranged for five year old Alexander to be
fostered by the pastor Wilhelm Heydorn and his wife Dagmar who lived in Hamburg.

Contribution
In mathematics, he revolutionized the field known as algebraic geometry. Ever since
Descartes, we have known that geometric shapes can be described by equations. When we
write “x2 + y2 = 1,” we wish into existence a perfect circle. Indeed, each solution of this
equation is nothing but a pair of coordinates, x and y, of a point of the unit circle on a plane.
This is an example of an algebraic equation, one that involves only products of powers of
coordinates, such as x2 or x3y5. Since the number of coordinates can be arbitrarily large, such
equations may be quite daunting. But they are fundamental, and many can be found in nature.
Algebraic geometry is about them and the geometric shapes, or spaces, they describe. Right
away, one encounters a problem. The above equation gives rise to a circle only if we consider
the solutions in the domain of real numbers. But there are many other domains, such as the
complex numbers (which involve an imaginary number, the square root of minus 1). One can
show that the solutions of the same equation in complex numbers are points of an entirely
different space; namely, a plane with one point removed. For another domain, the space of
solutions could be a family of circles of different sizes: Visualize a living and breathing circle
evolving in time. Thus, for a given equation we get a whole zoo of spaces. How are they related
to one another and to the equation itself? Which came first, the equation or the space? These
questions had perplexed mathematicians for centuries.

Life Application
Applications. Algebraic geometry now finds applications in statistics, control theory, robotics,
error-correcting codes, phylogenetics and geometric modelling. There are also connections to string
theory, game theory, graph matchings, solitons and integer programming.
In real life, algebraic geometry can be used to study the dynamics properties of robotics mechanisms.
A robot can move in continuous space with an infinite set of possible actions and states.
used to advance research on topics such as the design of experiments and hypothesis testing

Motto

“One should never try to prove anything that is not almost obvious.”

30
 12. John von Neumann
(1903-1957)

Biography

Mathematician John von Neumann was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1903. As a very
young child, he impressed the people around him with his incredible memory. It was said that
he could memorize pages of the phone book and divide 8-digit numbers in his head by the age
of six. He was recognized as the best math student in Hungary in 1921. In 1925, he received
his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
(Technische Hochschule) in Zurich, and in 1926, he completed his doctoral degree in
mathematics at the University of Budapest. In 1930, von Neumann was invited to the United
States to teach at Princeton University. He settled there, became a U.S. citizen, and spent a
great deal of time during the course of his career moving among Princeton, New Jersey; Los
Alamos, New Mexico; and Washington D.C. In 1933, Princeton established the Institute for
Advanced Studies and asked von Neumann to be one of its original six professors of
mathematics. He accepted the offer, and he retained this position for the rest of his life. During
World War II, von Neumann worked at Los Alamos on the development of nuclear weapons
and energy. He also worked a great deal with early computers and began to see potential in
new and more efficient designs for these groundbreaking machines. After the war, in 1945, von
Neumann drafted a report and machine description that led to the construction of the EDVAC,
or Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer. Vo
Neumann's report marked the first conceptualization of the stored-program computer. (It
should be noted that in 1946, Maurice Wilkes of Cambridge University's Mathematical
Laboratory designed a machine that would officially become the world's first operational
stored-program computer.) Von Neumann was credited as one of the first to see computers as
devices that could be used to solve specific problems through applied mathematics. His work
31
with the Los Alamos group helped to develop synergy between computers' capabilities and the
need for computational solutions to nuclear problems. His work is said to have accelerated the
development of the hydrogen bomb.

Contribution
Von Neumann's accomplishments in the field of mathematics sealed his place in history
as one of the great mathematicians of our time. He established Game Theory, built the
foundations for quantum mechanics, and proved what is known as the Minimax Theory. After
the war, in the 1950s, von Neumann consulted for IBM on various technological projects. He
was a member of the Navy Bureau of Ordnance from 1941 to 1955 and a consultant to the Los
Alamos Scientific Laboratory from 1943 to 1955. From 1950 to 1955, he was a member of the
Armed Forces Special Weapons Project in Washington, D.C. In 1955, President Eisenhower
appointed him to the Atomic Energy Commission.

Life Application
Game theory plays an important role in different collective bargaining or negotiation
activities among different parties or participants. For example, different negotiations take place
between worker unions and the management during the situation of the strike of workers or
lockout period to increase wages.

Motto
“There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what
you're talking about”

32
 13. Pierre de Fermat
(1601-1665)

Biography

Little is known of Fermat’s early life and education. He was of Basque origin and
received his primary education in a local Franciscan school. He studied law, probably at
Toulouse and perhaps also at Bordeaux. Having developed tastes for foreign languages,
classical literature, and ancient science and mathematics, Fermat followed the custom of his
day in composing conjectural “restorations” of lost works of antiquity. By 1629 he had begun
a reconstruction of the long-lost Plane Loci of Apollonius, the Greek geometer of the 3rd
century BCE. He soon found that the study of loci, or sets of points with certain characteristics,
could be facilitated by the application of algebra to geometry through a coordinate system.
Meanwhile, Descartes had observed the same basic principle of analytic geometry, that
equations in two variable quantities define plane curves. Because Fermat’s Introduction to Loci
was published posthumously in 1679, the exploitation of their discovery, initiated in
Descartes’s Géométrie of 1637, has since been known as Cartesian geometry. In 1631 Fermat
received the baccalaureate in law from the University of Orléans. He served in the local
parliament at Toulouse, becoming councillor in 1634. Sometime before 1638 he became known
as Pierre de Fermat, though the authority for this designation is uncertain. In 1638 he was
named to the Criminal Court.

Contribution
Fermat’s last theorem, also called Fermat’s great theorem, the statement that there are
no natural numbers (1, 2, 3,…) x, y, and z such that xn + yn = zn, in which n is a natural number

33
greater than 2. For example, if n = 3, Fermat’s last theorem states that no natural numbers x, y,
and z exist such that x3 + y 3 = z3 (i.e., the sum of two cubes is not a cube). In 1637 the French
mathematician Pierre de Fermat wrote in his copy of the Arithmetica by Diophantus of
Alexandria (c. 250 CE), “It is impossible for a cube to be a sum of two cubes, a fourth power
to be a sum of two fourth powers, or in general for any number that is a power greater than the
second to be the sum of two like powers. I have discovered a truly remarkable proof [of this
theorem], but this margin is too small to contain it.” For centuries mathematicians were baffled
by this statement, for no one could prove or disprove Fermat’s last theorem. Proofs for many
specific values of n were devised, however. For example, Fermat himself did a proof of another
theorem that effectively solved the case for n = 4, and by 1993, with the help of computers, it
was confirmed for all prime numbers n < 4,000,000. By that time, mathematicians had
discovered that proving a special case of a result from algebraic geometry and number theory
known as the Shimura-Taniyama-Weil conjecture would be equivalent to proving Fermat’s last
theorem. The English mathematician Andrew Wiles (who had been interested in the theorem
since the age of 10) presented a proof of the Shimura-Taniyama-Weil conjecture in 1993. An
error was found in this proof, however, but, with help from his former student Richard Taylor,
Wiles finally devised a proof of Fermat’s last theorem, which was published in 1995 in the
journal Annals of Mathematics. That centuries had passed without a proof had led many
mathematicians to suspect that Fermat was mistaken in thinking he actually had a proof.

Life Application
Notwithstanding these incredible accomplishments, Fermat perhaps is most famous
for his Last Theorem, a theorem whose solution evaded the brightest minds of mathematics
for over 350 years, but whose solution—and quest for the same—revolutionized number
theory. According to one contemporary mathematician, the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem,
which was finally completed in the fall of 1994, is the historical and intellectual equivalent of
"splitting the atom or finding the structure of DNA."

Motto

“I am more exempt and more distant than any man in the world.

34
 14 Évariste Galois
(1811-1832)

Biography

Galois was born near Paris on October 25, 1811, to parents who were well educated but
not mathematically inclined. He was educated by his mother until the age of 12, when he was
sent to Paris to continue his studies. A minor riot took place at about the time of Galois’s arrival,
but he was not involved and survived the expulsion of dozens of his peers. He proved
particularly adept at Latin, but soon lost interest in it, his attention being caught only by
mathematics from about 1825 onward. By the time he was 15, he was able to study the original
works of Lagrange, as well as reading papers intended for working, professional
mathematicians. Despite his interest, Galois was not good at taking exams, and he failed the
entry test for the prestigious École Polytechnique in Paris in 1828. Instead, he enrolled in the
less renowned school of mathematics, the École Normale. He got on well with his professors,
and his knowledge and ability increased rapidly. By the spring of 1829, he was able to publish
his first paper, which dealt with continued fractions. Slightly later that year, he submitted two
papers on polynomial equation theory to the Academy of Sciences. The papers were evaluated
by a high-ranking mathematician but were rejected; the reasons for this remain unclear. In July
1829, Galois’s father killed himself after a scandal in which his name had been forged by a
local priest to make it look as though he were a libeler. The shame was overpowering and
suicide seemed the only way out. The young Galois was devastated, and a further attempt to
gain entry to the Polytechnique was also a failure. One version of events suggests that he was
simply making too many leaps of logic for his examiner to comprehend, although personal
grief is the most widely accepted explanation. Galois stayed at the Normale and obtained his
degree in late December of 1829. He was said to possess a “remarkable spirit of research” by

35
one examiner, although another was deeply unimpressed and stated that he had “little
intelligence.”

Contribution

Évariste Galois’s most significant contribution to mathematics by far is his

development of Galois theory. He realized that the algebraic solution to a polynomial
equation is related to the structure of a group of permutations associated with the roots of the
polynomial, the Galois group of the polynomial. He found that an equation could be solved in
radicals if one can find a series of subgroups of its Galois group, each one normal in its
successor with abelian quotient, or its Galois group is solvable. This proved to be a fertile
approach, which later mathematicians adapted to many other fields of mathematics besides
the theory of equations to which Galois originally applied it to.

Life Application

The application of Galois Theory is not just in pure mathematics, it goes beyond that.
We can use the galois fields (finite fields) in many areas of computer science especially in
cryptography or more specific in DES (Data Encryption Standard) and AES (Advanced
Encryption Standard). Galois theory is an important tool for studying the arithmetic of
``number fields'' (finite extensions of Q) and ``function fields'' (finite extensions of Fq(t)). In
particular: Generalities about arithmetic of finite normal extensions of number fields and
function fields.

Motto
“An author never does more damage to his readers than when he hides a
difficulty.”

36
 15 Srinivasa Ramanujan Iyengar
(1887-1920)

Biography

Srinivasa Ramanujan, the mathematical genius, came to be recognized only

posthumously for his incredible contribution to the world of Mathematics. Leaving this world
at the young age of 32, Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) contributed a great deal
to mathematics that only a few could overtake in their lifetime. Born in Erode (Tamil Nadu),
Ramanujan demonstrated that he had an exceptional intuitive grasp of mathematics at a very
young age. He began developing his theories in mathematics and published his first paper in
1911. Infact, he was the second Indian to be included as a Fellow of the Royal Society 9a
fellowship of the world’s most respected and famous scientists) in 1918. The field of number
theory in mathematics was enriched with his intuitive research and his vast contribution. Every
year, Srinivasa Ramanujan’s birth anniversary on December 22 is commemorated as National
Mathematics Day. Ramanujan has been recognized as one of the greatest mathematicians of
his time. Surprisingly, he never had any formal training in mathematics. Most of his
mathematics discoveries were based on sheer intuition, and most of them were proved to be
right much later. GH Hardy, a famous British Mathematician, mentored him at Cambridge and
encouraged Ramanujan to publish his findings in several papers. The Indian mathematician
had few opportunities during his lifetime to showcase his talents. Still, his passion for giving
his best to mathematics did not hold him back from leaving back his legacy for the world to
marvel at. Ramanujan died at the age of 32 after contracting tuberculosis. But he has left behind
a legacy that continues to inspire mathematicians to this day.

37
Contribution
Ramanujan compiled around 3,900 results consisting of equations and identities. One
of his most treasured findings was his infinite series for pi. This series forms the basis of many
algorithms we use today. He gave several fascinating formulas to calculate the digits of pi in
many unconventional ways. He discovered a long list of new ideas to solve many challenging
mathematical problems, which gave a significant impetus to the development of game theory.
His contribution to game theory is purely based on intuition and natural talent and remains
unrivalled to this day. He elaborately described the mock theta function, which is a concept in
the realm of modular form in mathematics. Considered an enigma till sometime back, it is now
recognized as holomorphic parts of mass forms. One of Ramanujan’s notebooks was
discovered by George Andrews in 1976 in the library at Trinity College. Later the contents of
this notebook were published as a book. 1729 is known as the Ramanujan number. It is the sum
of the cubes of two numbers 10 and 9. For instance, 1729 results from adding 1000 (the cube
of 10) and 729 (the cube of 9). This is the smallest number that can be expressed in two different
ways as it is the sum of these two cubes. Interestingly, 1729 is a natural number following 1728
and preceding 1730. Ramanujan’s contributions stretch across mathematics fields, including
complex analysis, number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions. Ramanujan’s
other notable contributions include hypergeometric series, the Riemann series, the elliptic
integrals, the theory of divergent series, and the functional equations of the zeta function.

Life Application
Like in the field of engineering, engineers use elliptic integrals to determine the shape
of building constructions or length of power cable required to connect the two substations etc.
In Science, it is used to solve many derivations of Physics topics like the center of gravity etc.

Motto

"While asleep, I had an unusual experience.”

38
 16. René Descartes
(1596-1650)

Biography

Although Descartes’s birthplace, La Haye (now Descartes), France, is in Touraine, his

family connections lie south, across the Creuse River in Poitou, where his father, Joachim,
owned farms and houses in Châtellerault and Poitiers. Because Joachim was a councillor in the
Parlement of Brittany in Rennes, Descartes inherited a modest rank of nobility. Descartes’s
mother died when he was one year old. His father remarried in Rennes, leaving him in La Haye
to be raised first by his maternal grandmother and then by his great-uncle in Châtellerault.
Although the Descartes family was Roman Catholic, the Poitou region was controlled by the
Protestant Huguenots, and Châtellerault, a Protestant stronghold, was the site of negotiations
over the Edict of Nantes (1598), which gave Protestants freedom of worship in France
following the intermittent Wars of Religion between Protestant and Catholic forces in France.
Descartes returned to Poitou regularly until 1628. In 1606 Descartes was sent to the Jesuit
college at La Flèche, established in 1604 by Henry IV (reigned 1589–1610). At La Flèche,
1,200 young men were trained for careers in military engineering, the judiciary, and
government administration. In addition to classical studies, science, mathematics, and
metaphysics—Aristotle was taught from Scholastic commentaries—they studied acting, music,
poetry, dancing, riding, and fencing. In 1610 Descartes participated in an imposing ceremony
in which the heart of Henry IV, whose assassination that year had destroyed the hope of
religious tolerance in France and Germany, was placed in the cathedral at La Flèche. In 1614
Descartes went to Poitiers, where he took a law degree in 1616. At this time, Huguenot Poitiers
was in virtual revolt against the young King Louis XIII (reigned 1610–43). Descartes’s father
probably expected him to enter Parlement, but the minimum age for doing so was 27, and
Descartes was only 20. In 1618 he went to Breda in the Netherlands, where he spent 15 months

39
as an informal student of mathematics and military architecture in the peacetime army of the
Protestant stadtholder, Prince Maurice (ruled 1585–1625). In Breda, Descartes was encouraged
in his studies of science and mathematics by the physicist Isaac Beeckman (1588–1637), for
whom he wrote the Compendium of Music (written 1618, published 1650), his first surviving
work.

Contribution
The rise of early modern rationalism – as a highly systematic school of philosophy in
its own right for the first time in history – exerted an immense and profound influence on
modern Western thought in general, with the birth of two influential rationalistic philosophical
systems of Descartes (Cartesianism) and Spinoza (Spinozism). It was the 17th-century arch-
rationalists like Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz who have given the "Age of Reason" its name
and place in history. Leibniz, Spinoza,[23] and Descartes were all well-versed in mathematics
as well as philosophy, and Descartes and Leibniz contributed greatly to science as well.[24]
Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) continues to be a standard text at most
university philosophy departments. Descartes' influence in mathematics is equally apparent;
the Cartesian coordinate system was named after him. He is credited as the father of analytic
geometry—used in the discovery of infinitesimal calculus and analysis. Descartes was also one
of the key figures in the Scientific Revolution.

Life Application
Cartesian coordinates are also essential tools for most applied disciplines that deal
with geometry, including astronomy, physics, engineering and many more. They are the most
common coordinate system used in computer graphics, computer-aided geometric design and
other geometry-related data processing.

Motto
“Intelligence and Intellectuals. It is not enough to have a good mind.”

40
 17. Karl Wilhem Theodor Weierstrass
(1815-1897)

Biography

was a German mathematician often cited as the "father of modern analysis". Despite
leaving university without a degree, he studied mathematics and trained as a school teacher,
eventually teaching mathematics, physics, botany and gymnastics. He later received an
honorary doctorate and became professor of mathematics in Berlin. Among many other
contributions, Weierstrass formalized the definition of the continuity of a function, proved
the intermediate value theorem and the Bolzano–Weierstrass theorem, and used the latter to
study the properties of continuous functions on closed bounded intervals. Weierstrass was born
into a Roman Catholic family in Ostenfelde, a village near Ennigerloh, in the Province of
Westphalia. Weierstrass was the son of Wilhelm Weierstrass, a government official, and
Theodora Vonderforst both of whom were catholic Rhinelanders. His interest in mathematics
began while he was a gymnasium student at the Theodorianum in Paderborn. He was sent to
the University of Bonn upon graduation to prepare for a government position. Because his
studies were to be in the fields of law, economics, and finance, he was immediately in conflict
with his hopes to study mathematics. He resolved the conflict by paying little heed to his
planned course of study but continuing private study in mathematics. The outcome was that he
left the university without a degree. He then studied mathematics at the Münster
Academy (which was even then famous for mathematics) and his father was able to obtain a
place for him in a teacher training school in Münster. Later he was certified as a teacher in that
city. During this period of study, Weierstrass attended the lectures of Christoph
Gudermann and became interested in elliptic functions.

41
 In 1843 he taught in Deutsch Krone in West Prussia and since 1848 he taught at
the Lyceum Hosianum in Braunsberg. Besides mathematics he also taught physics, botany, and
gymnastics. Weierstrass may have had an illegitimate child named Franz with the widow of
his friend Carl Wilhelm Borchardt. After 1850 Weierstrass suffered from a long period of
illness, but was able to publish mathematical articles that brought him fame and distinction.
The University of Königsberg conferred an honorary doctor's degree on him on 31 March
1854. In 1856 he took a chair at the Gewerbeinstitut in Berlin (an institute to educate technical
workers which would later merge with the Bauakademie to form the Technical University of
Berlin). In 1864 he became professor at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin, which later
became the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. In 1870, at the age of fifty-five, Weierstrass
met Sofia Kovalevsky whom he tutored privately after failing to secure her admission to the
University. They had a fruitful intellectual, but troubled personal, relationship that "far
transcended the usual teacher-student relationship". The misinterpretation of this relationship
and Kovalevsky's early death in 1891 was said to have contributed to Weierstrass' later ill-
health. He was immobile for the last three years of his life, and died in Berlin from pneumonia.

Contribution
Known as the father of modern analysis, Weierstrass devised tests for the convergence
of series and contributed to the theory of periodic functions, functions of real variables, elliptic
functions, Abelian functions, converging infinite products, and the calculus of variations.
Weierstrass was interested in the soundness of calculus, and at the time there were somewhat
ambiguous definitions of the foundations of calculus so that important theorems could not be
proven with sufficient rigour. Although Bolzano had developed a reasonably rigorous
definition of a limit as early as 1817 (and possibly even earlier) his work remained unknown
to most of the mathematical community until years later, and many mathematicians had only
vague definitions of limits and continuity of functions. The basic idea behind Delta-
epsilon proofs is, arguably, first found in the works of Cauchy in the 1820s. Cauchy did not
clearly distinguish between continuity and uniform continuity on an interval. Notably, in his
1821 Cours d'analyse, Cauchy argued that the (pointwise) limit of (pointwise) continuous
functions was itself (pointwise) continuous, a statement that is false in general. The correct
statement is rather that the uniform limit of continuous functions is continuous (also, the
uniform limit of uniformly continuous functions is uniformly continuous). This required the
concept of uniform convergence, which was first observed by Weierstrass's advisor, Christoph
Gudermann, in an 1838 paper, where Gudermann noted the phenomenon but did not define it
or elaborate on it. Weierstrass saw the importance of the concept, and both formalized it and
applied it widely throughout the foundations of calculus. The formal definition of continuity of
a function, as formulated by Weierstrass, is as follows: is continuous at if such that for
every in the domain of , In simple English, is continuous at a point if for each close enough
to , the function value is very close to , where the "close enough" restriction typically depends
on the desired closeness of to Using this definition, he proved the Intermediate Value
Theorem. He also proved the Bolzano–Weierstrass theorem and used it to study the properties
of continuous functions on closed and bounded intervals.
Calculus of variations
Weierstrass also made advances in the field of calculus of variations. Using the
apparatus of analysis that he helped to develop, Weierstrass was able to give a complete
reformulation of the theory that paved the way for the modern study of the calculus of
variations. Among several axioms, Weierstrass established a necessary condition for the
existence of strong extrema of variational problems. He also helped devise the Weierstrass–

42
Erdmann condition, which gives sufficient conditions for an extremal to have a corner along a
given extremum and allows one to find a minimizing curve for a given integral.

Life Application
Among many other contributions, Weierstrass formalized the definition of the
continuity of a function, proved the intermediate value theorem and the Bolzano–Weierstrass
theorem, and used the latter to study the properties of continuous functions on closed bounded
intervals.

Motto

“A mathematician who is not also something of a poet will never be a

complete mathematician.”

43
 18. Hermann klaushugo weyl
(1885-1955)

Biography
Hermann Klaus Hugo Weyl, a German mathematician, theoretical
physicist and philosopher. Although much of his working life was spent
in Zürich, Switzerland, and then Princeton, New Jersey, he is associated with the University of
Göttingen tradition of mathematics, represented by Carl-Friedrich Gauß, David
Hilbert and Hermann Minkowski.
His research has had major significance for theoretical physics as well as purely
mathematical disciplines including number theory. He was one of the most influential
mathematicians of the twentieth century, and an important member of the Institute for
Advanced Study during its early years.
Weyl contributed to an exceptionally wide range of fields, including works
on space, time, matter, philosophy, logic, symmetry and the history of mathematics. He was
one of the first to conceive of combining general relativity with the laws
of electromagnetism. Freeman Dyson wrote that Weyl alone bore comparison with the "last
great universal mathematicians of the nineteenth century", Poincaré and Hilbert.[8] Michael
Atiyah, in particular, has commented that whenever he examined a mathematical topic, he
found that Weyl had preceded him.

contributions
Hermann Weyl was a great and versatile mathematician of the 20th century. His work
had a vast range, encompassing analysis, algebra, number theory, topology, differential
geometry, spacetime theory, quantum mechanics, and the foundations of mathematics. His
scientific writing is informed by a rare literary and artistic sensibility—in his words,
44
“Expression and shape mean almost more to me than knowledge itself”. He was unusual among
scientists and mathematicians of his time in being attracted to idealist philosophy: his idealist
leanings can be seen particularly in his work on the foundations of mathematics. In his youth,
Kant’s doctrines made a great impression on him; later he was stirred both by Fichte’s
metaphysical idealism and by Husserlian phenomenology. Although Weyl came to question
the certainties claimed by idealism, he cleaved always to the primacy of intuition he had first
learned from Kant, and to its expression by Fichte as the “inner light” of individual
consciousness.

Life application
His research has had major significance for theoretical physics as well as purely
mathematical disciplines including number theory. He was one of the most influential
mathematicians of the twentieth century, and an important member of the Institute for
Advanced Study during its early years. Weyl contributed to an exceptionally wide range of
fields, including works on space, time, matter, philosophy, logic, symmetry and the history of
mathematics. He was one of the first to conceive of combining general relativity with the laws
of electromagnetism. Freeman Dyson wrote that Weyl alone bore comparison with the "last
great universal mathematicians of the nineteenth century", Poincaré and Hilbert. Michael
Atiyah, in particular, has commented that whenever he examined a mathematical topic, he
found that Weyl had preceded him.

Motto

“Besides language and music mathematics is one of the primary

manifestations of the free creative power of the human mind.”

45
 19. Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet
(1805-1859)

Biogrraphy

Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet was a German mathematician who made deep
contributions to number theory, and to the theory of Fourier series and other topics in
mathematical analysis; he is credited with being one of the first mathematicians to give the
modern formal definition of a function. Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet was born on 13 February
1805 in Düren, a town on the left bank of the Rhine which at the time was part of the First
French Empire, reverting to Prussia after the Congress of Vienna in 1815. His father Johann
Arnold Lejeune Dirichlet was the postmaster, merchant, and city councilor. His paternal
grandfather had come to Düren from Richelette (or more likely Richelle), a small community
5 km (3 miles) north east of Liège in Belgium, from which his surname "Lejeune Dirichlet"
("le jeune de Richelette", French for "the youth from Richelette") was derived.

Although his family was not wealthy and he was the youngest of seven children, his
parents supported his education. They enrolled him in an elementary school and then private
school in hope that he would later become a merchant. The young Dirichlet, who showed a
strong interest in mathematics before age 12, persuaded his parents to allow him to continue
his studies. In 1817 they sent him to the Gymnasium Bonn [de] under the care of Peter Joseph
Elvenich, a student his family knew. In 1820 Dirichlet moved to the Jesuit
Gymnasium in Cologne, where his lessons with Georg Ohm helped widen his knowledge in
mathematics. He left the gymnasium a year later with only a certificate, as his inability to speak
fluent Latin prevented him from earning the Abitur.

46
Contribution

Dirichlet made notable contributions still associated with his name in many fields
of mathematics. In number theory he proved the existence of an infinite number of primes in
any arithmetic series a + b, 2a + b, 3a + b, . . ., na + b, in which a and b are not divisible by
one another. He developed the general theory of units in algebraic number theory.
His Vorlesungen über Zahlentheorie (1863; “Lectures Concerning Number Theory”), with
later addenda, contains some material important to the theory of ideals.

Life application
A German mathematician who made deep contributions to number theory (including
creating the field of analytic number theory), and to the theory of Fourier series and other
topics in mathematical analysis; he is credited with being one of the first mathematicians to
give the modern formal definition of a function.

Motto

“What we really need is compassion of the mind - compassion for

others that is directed intelligently and produces truly compassionate
results.”

47
 20. GEORGE CANTOR
(1845-1918)

Biography

Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor was a German mathematician. He played

a pivotal role in the creation of set theory, which has become a fundamental theory in
mathematics. Cantor established the importance of one-to-one correspondence between the
members of two sets, defined infinite and well-ordered sets, and proved that the real
numbers are more numerous than the natural numbers. In fact, Cantor's method of proof of this
theorem implies the existence of an infinity of infinities. He defined
the cardinal and ordinal numbers and their arithmetic. Cantor's work is of great philosophical
interest, a fact he was well aware of.

Originally, Cantor's theory of transfinite numbers was regarded as counter-intuitive –

even shocking. This caused it to encounter resistance from mathematical contemporaries such
as Leopold Kronecker and Henri Poincaré and later from Hermann Weyl and L. E. J.
Brouwer, while Ludwig Wittgenstein raised philosophical objections; see Controversy over
Cantor's theory. Cantor, a devout Lutheran Christian, believed the theory had been
communicated to him by God. Some Christian theologians (particularly neo-Scholastics) saw
Cantor's work as a challenge to the uniqueness of the absolute infinity in the nature of God –
on one occasion equating the theory of transfinite numbers with pantheism – a proposition that
Cantor vigorously rejected. It is important to note that not all theologians were against Cantor's
theory; prominent neo-scholastic philosopher Constantin Gutberlet was in favor of it and
Cardinal Johann Baptist Franzelin accepted it as a valid theory (after Cantor made some
important clarifications). The objections to Cantor's work were occasionally fierce: Leopold
Kronecker's public opposition and personal attacks included describing Cantor as a "scientific

48
charlatan", a "renegade" and a "corrupter of youth". Kronecker objected to Cantor's proofs that
the algebraic numbers are countable, and that the transcendental numbers are uncountable,
results now included in a standard mathematics curriculum. Writing decades after Cantor's
death, Wittgenstein lamented that mathematics is "ridden through and through with the
pernicious idioms of set theory", which he dismissed as "utter nonsense" that is "laughable"
and "wrong". Cantor's recurring bouts of depression from 1884 to the end of his life have been
blamed on the hostile attitude of many of his contemporaries, though some have explained
these episodes as probable manifestations of a bipolar disorder.

The harsh criticism has been matched by later accolades. In 1904, the Royal
Society awarded Cantor its Sylvester Medal, the highest honor it can confer for work in
mathematics. David Hilbert defended it from its critics by declaring, "No one shall expel us
from the paradise that Cantor has created."

contribution

Cantor's work between 1874 and 1884 is the origin of set theory.[35] Prior to this work, the
concept of a set was a rather elementary one that had been used implicitly since the beginning
of mathematics, dating back to the ideas of Aristotle. No one had realized that set theory had
any nontrivial content. Before Cantor, there were only finite sets (which are easy to understand)
and "the infinite" (which was considered a topic for philosophical, rather than mathematical,
discussion). By proving that there are (infinitely) many possible sizes for infinite sets, Cantor
established that set theory was not trivial, and it needed to be studied. Set theory has come to
play the role of a foundational theory in modern mathematics, in the sense that it interprets
propositions about mathematical objects (for example, numbers and functions) from all the
traditional areas of mathematics (such as algebra, analysis, and topology) in a single theory,
and provides a standard set of axioms to prove or disprove them. The basic concepts of set
theory are now used throughout mathematics.[36]
In one of his earliest papers,[37] Cantor proved that the set of real numbers is "more numerous"
than the set of natural numbers; this showed, for the first time, that there exist infinite sets of
different sizes. He was also the first to appreciate the importance of one-to-one
correspondences (hereinafter denoted "1-to-1 correspondence") in set theory. He used this
concept to define finite and infinite sets, subdividing the latter into denumerable (or countably
infinite) sets and nondenumerable sets (uncountably infinite sets).[38]
Cantor developed important concepts in topology and their relation to cardinality. For
example, he showed that the Cantor set, discovered by Henry John Stephen Smith in
1875,[39] is nowhere dense, but has the same cardinality as the set of all real numbers, whereas
the rationals are everywhere dense, but countable. He also showed that all countable
dense linear orders without end points are order-isomorphic to the rational numbers.
Cantor introduced fundamental constructions in set theory, such as the power set of a set A,
which is the set of all possible subsets of A. He later proved that the size of the power set of A is
strictly larger than the size of A, even when A is an infinite set; this result soon became known
as Cantor's theorem. Cantor developed an entire theory and arithmetic of infinite sets,
called cardinals and ordinals, which extended the arithmetic of the natural numbers. His
notation for the cardinal numbers was the Hebrew letter.
(aleph) with a natural number subscript; for the ordinals he employed the Greek letter ω
(omega). This notation is still in use today.
The Continuum hypothesis, introduced by Cantor, was presented by David Hilbert as the first
of his twenty-three open problems in his address at the 1900 International Congress of

49
Mathematicians in Paris. Cantor's work also attracted favorable notice beyond Hilbert's
celebrated encomium.[15] The US philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce praised Cantor's set
theory and, following public lectures delivered by Cantor at the first International Congress of
Mathematicians, held in Zürich in 1897, Adolf Hurwitz and Jacques Hadamard also both
expressed their admiration. At that Congress, Cantor renewed his friendship and
correspondence with Dedekind. From 1905, Cantor corresponded with his British admirer and
translator Philip Jourdain on the history of set theory and on Cantor's religious ideas. This was
later published, as were several of his expository works.

Life Application

Georg Cantor was a Russian-born mathematician who can be considered as the founder
of set theory and introduced the concept of infinite numbers with his discovery of cardinal
numbers. He also advanced the study of trigonometric series.

Motto
“My beautiful proof lies all in ruins.” ... “The essence of mathematics is in its freedom.” ...
“In Mathematics the art of proposing a question must be held of higher value than solving it.”
... “Some infinites are bigger than other infinites.”

50
 21 BRAHMAGUPTA
(C, 598 - C, 668)

Biography

Brahmagupta (c. 598 – c. 668 CE) was an Indian mathematician and astronomer. He

is the author of two early works on mathematics and astronomy:
the Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta (BSS, "correctly established doctrine of Brahma", dated 628), a
theoretical treatise, and the Khaṇḍakhādyaka ("edible bite", dated 665), a more practical text.

Brahmagupta was the first to give rules for computing with zero. The texts composed
by Brahmagupta were in elliptic verse[clarification needed] in Sanskrit, as was common
practice in Indian mathematics. As no proofs are given, it is not known how Brahmagupta's
results were derived.In 628 CE, Brahmagupta first described gravity as an attractive force,
and used the term "gurutvākarṣaṇam (गुरुत्वाकर्षणम्)" in Sanskrit to describe it.

Brahmagupta was born in 598 CE according to his own statement. He lived

in Bhillamāla in Gurjaradesa (modern Bhinmal in Rajasthan, India) during the reign of
the Chavda dynasty ruler, Vyagrahamukha. He was the son of Jishnugupta and was a Hindu
by religion, in particular, a Shaivite. He lived and worked there for a good part of his
life. Prithudaka Svamin, a later commentator, called him Bhillamalacharya, the teacher from
Bhillamala.

Bhillamala was the capital of the Gurjaradesa, the second-largest kingdom of Western
India, comprising southern Rajasthan and northern Gujarat in modern-day India. It was also a
centre of learning for mathematics and astronomy. He became an astronomer of
the Brahmapaksha school, one of the four major schools of Indian astronomy during this

51
period. He studied the five traditional Siddhantas on Indian astronomy as well as the work of
other astronomers including Aryabhata I, Latadeva, Pradyumna, Varahamihira, Simha,
Srisena, Vijayanandin and Vishnuchandra.

In the year 628, at the age of 30, he composed

the Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta ("improved treatise of Brahma") which is believed to be a
revised version of the received Siddhanta of the Brahmapaksha school of astronomy.
Scholars state that he incorporated a great deal of originality into his revision, adding a
considerable amount of new material. The book consists of 24 chapters with 1008 verses in
the ārya metre. A good deal of it is astronomy, but it also contains key chapters on
mathematics, including algebra, geometry, trigonometry and algorithmics, which are believed
to contain new insights due to Brahmagupta himself.

Later, Brahmagupta moved to Ujjaini, Avanti, a major centre for astronomy in central
India. At the age of 67, he composed his next well-known work Khanda-khādyaka, a
practical manual of Indian astronomy in the karana category meant to be used by students.
Brahmagupta died in 668 CE, and he is presumed to have died in Ujjain.

contribution

Brahmagupta (ad 628) was the first mathematician to provide the formula for the area of a
cyclic quadrilateral. His contributions to geometry are significant. He is the first person to
discuss the method of finding a cyclic quadrilateral with rational sides. His celebrated theorems
on the circumdiameter of a triangle and on obtaining the diagonals of a cyclic quadrilateral are
now well known. Bhaskara II (ad 1150) is so much charmed of Brahmagupta’s intellect that he
respectfully refers to him as “Mahamatiman” (very intelligent person) and even confers the
unique “Ganita Chakra Chudamani” (the gem of the circle of mathematicians) title on
Brahmagupta.

Life Application

Brahmagupta (ad 628) was the first mathematician to provide the formula for the area of a
cyclic quadrilateral. His contributions to geometry are significant. He is the first person to
discuss the method of finding a cyclic quadrilateral with rational sides.

Motto

“Bodies fall towards the earth as it is in the nature of the earth to

attract bodies, just as it is in the nature of water to flow.”

52
 22 Norwegian Mathematician
(1802-1829)

Biography
Niels Abel's life was dominated by poverty and we begin by putting this in context by
looking briefly at the political problems which led to economic problems in Norway. At the
end of the 18th century Norway was part of Denmark and the Danish tried to remain neutral
through the Napoleonic wars. However a neutrality treaty in 1794 was considered a aggressive
act by Britain and, in 1801, the British fleet destroyed most of the Danish fleet in a battle in the
harbour at Copenhagen. Despite this Denmark-Norway avoided the war until 1807 when
Britain feared that the Danish fleet might be used by the French to invade. Using the philosophy
that attack is the best form of defence, the English attacked and captured the whole Danish fleet
in October 1807.

Denmark then joined the alliance against Britain. The continental powers blockaded Britain,
and as a counter to this Britain blockaded Norway. The twin blockade was a catastrophe to
Norway preventing their timber exports, which had been largely to Britain, and preventing their
grain imports from Denmark. An economic crisis in Norway followed with the people suffering
hunger and extreme poverty. In 1813 Sweden attacked Denmark from the south and, at the
treaty of Kiel in January 1814, Denmark handed over Norway to Sweden. An attempt at
independence by Norway a few months later led to Sweden attacking Norway in July 1814.
Sweden gained control of Norway, setting up a complete internal self-government for Norway
with a government in Christiania (which is called Oslo today)..

53
 When a new mathematics teacher Bernt Holmboë joined the school in 1817 things
changed markedly for Abel. The previous mathematics teacher had been dismissed for
punishing a boy so severely that he had died. Abel began to study university level mathematics
texts and, within a year of Holmboë's arrival, Abel was reading the works
of Euler, Newton, Lalande and d'Alembert. Holmboë was convinced that Abel had great talent
and encouraged him greatly taking him on to study the works of Lagrange and Laplace.
However, in 1820 tragedy struck Abel's family when his father died.

Abel's father had ended his political career in disgrace by making false charges against his
colleagues in the Storting after he was elected to the body again in 1818. His habits of drinking
to excess also contributed to his dismissal and the family was therefore in the deepest trouble
when he died. There was now no money to allow Abel to complete his school education, nor
money to allow him to study at university and, in addition, Abel had the responsibility of
supporting his mother and family.

Holmboë was able to help Abel gain a scholarship to remain at school and Abel was able to
enter the University of Christiania in 1821, ten years after the university was
founded. Holmboë had raised money from his colleagues to enable Abel to study at the
university and he graduated in 1822. While in his final year at school, however, Abel had begun
working on the solution of quintic equations by radicals. He believed that he had solved the
quintic in 1821 and submitted a paper to the Danish mathematician Ferdinand Degen, for
publication by the Royal Society of Copenhagen. Degen asked Abel to give a numerical
example of his method and, while trying to provide an example, Abel discovered the mistake
in his paper. Degen had given Abel some important advice that was to set him working on an
area of mathematics.

Contribution

Abel showed that there is no general algebraic solution for the roots of a quintic equation, or
any general polynomial equation of degree greater than four, in terms of explicit algebraic
operations. To do this, he invented (independently of Galois) a branch of mathematics known
as group theory, which is invaluable not only in many areas of mathematics, but for much
of physics as well. Abel sent a paper on the unsolvability of the quintic equation to Carl
Friedrich Gauss, who proceeded to discard without a glance what he believed to be the
worthless work of a crank.[12]
As a 16-year-old, Abel gave a rigorous proof of the binomial theorem valid for all numbers,
extending Euler's result which had held only for rationals.[13][14] Abel wrote a fundamental
work on the theory of elliptic integrals, containing the foundations of the theory of elliptic
functions. While travelling to Paris he published a paper revealing the double periodicity of
elliptic functions, which Adrien-Marie Legendre later described to Augustin-Louis Cauchy as
"a monument more lasting than bronze" (borrowing a famous sentence by the Roman
poet Horatius). The paper was, however, misplaced by Cauchy.[12]
While abroad Abel had sent most of his work to Berlin to be published in the Crelle's Journal,
but he had saved what he regarded as his most important work for the French Academy of
Sciences, a theorem on addition of algebraic differentials. The theorem was put aside and
forgotten until his death. While in Freiberg, Abel did research in the theory of functions,
particularly, elliptic, hyperelliptic, and a new class now known as abelian functions.
In 1823 Abel wrote a paper titled "a general representation of the possibility to integrate all
differential formulas" (Norwegian: en alminnelig Fremstilling af Muligheten at integrere alle

54
mulige Differential-Formler). He applied for funds at the university to publish it. However the
work was lost, while being reviewed, never to be found thereafter.[6]
Abel said famously of Carl Friedrich Gauss's writing style, "He is like the fox, who effaces his
tracks in the sand with his tail." Gauss replied to him by saying, "No self-respecting architect
leaves the scaffolding in place after completing his building."

Life Application
Abel's greatest work was in the theory of elliptic and transcendental functions… The
study of elliptic functions inaugurated by Abel was to occupy many of the best mathematicians
for the remainder of the 19th century. He also made very important contributions to the theory
of infinite series.”

Motto

“It appears to me that if one wants to make progress in mathematics,

one should study the masters and not the pupils”

55
 23 Augustin Louis Cauchy
(1789-1857)
Biography

Baron Augustin-Louis Cauchy FRS FRSE (/koʊˈʃiː/, koh-SHEE;[1] French: [oɡystɛ̃

lwi koʃi]; 21 August 1789 – 23 May 1857) was a French mathematician, engineer,
and physicist who made pioneering contributions to several branches of mathematics,
including mathematical analysis and continuum mechanics. He was one of the first to state and
rigorously prove theorems of calculus, rejecting the heuristic principle of the generality of
algebra of earlier authors. He almost singlehandedly founded complex analysis and the study
of permutation groups in abstract algebra.

A profound mathematician, Cauchy had a great influence over his contemporaries and
successors;[2] Hans Freudenthal stated: "More concepts and theorems have been named for
Cauchy than for any other mathematician (in elasticity alone there are sixteen concepts and
theorems named for Cauchy)."[3] Cauchy was a prolific writer; he wrote approximately eight
hundred research articles and five complete textbooks on a variety of topics in the fields of
mathematics and mathematical physics.

Contribution
The genius of Cauchy was illustrated in his simple solution of the problem of Apollonius—describing
a circle touching three given circles—which he discovered in 1805, his generalization of Euler's
formula on polyhedra in 1811, and in several other elegant problems. More important is his memoir
on wave propagation, which obtained the Grand Prix of the French Academy of Sciences in

56
1816. Cauchy's writings covered notable topics. In the theory of series he developed the notion
of convergence and discovered many of the basic formulas for q-series. In the theory of
numbers and complex quantities, he was the first to define complex numbers as pairs of real
numbers. He also wrote on the theory of groups and substitutions, the theory of functions,
differential equations and determinants.[2]

Life Application
In calculus, Cauchy made his presence known by formulating conditions and proving
propositions such as the Cauchy criterion for convergence, that a continuous function has a
zero between the endpoints where its signs are different, and ``invented what is now called the
Jacobian,'' which he restricted to two and three.

Motto

”Men pass away, but their deeds abide”

57
 24. Emmy Noether
(1882-1935)

Biography

Noether was born to a Jewish family in the Franconian town of Erlangen; her father
was the mathematician Max Noether. She originally planned to teach French and English after
passing the required examinations, but instead studied mathematics at the University of
Erlangen, where her father lectured. After completing her doctorate in 1907[5] under the
supervision of Paul Gordan, she worked at the Mathematical Institute of Erlangen without pay
for seven years. At the time, women were largely excluded from academic positions. In 1915,
she was invited by David Hilbert and Felix Klein to join the mathematics department at
the University of Göttingen, a world-renowned center of mathematical research. The
philosophical faculty objected, however, and she spent four years lecturing under Hilbert's
name. Her habilitation was approved in 1919, allowing her to obtain the rank
of Privatdozent.[5]

Contribution
Noether's work in abstract algebra and topology was influential in mathematics, while in
physics, Noether's theorem has consequences for theoretical physics and dynamical systems.
She showed an acute propensity for abstract thought, which allowed her to approach problems
of mathematics in fresh and original ways.[21] Her friend and colleague Hermann
Weyl described her scholarly output in three epochs:
Emmy Noether's scientific production fell into three clearly distinct epochs:
(1) the period of relative dependence, 1907–1919
58
(2) the investigations grouped around the general theory of ideals 1920–1926
(3) the study of the non-commutative algebras, their representations by linear transformations,
and their application to the study of commutative number fields and their arithmetics

Life Application
In 1918 she proved two theorems that were basic for both general relativity and elementary
particle physics. One is still known as "Noether's Theorem." During the 1920s Noether did
foundational work on abstract algebra, working in group theory, ring theory, group
representations, and number theory.

Motto

“If one proves the equality of two numbers a and b by showing first
that “a is less than or equal to b” and then “a is greater than or equal to
b”, it is unfair, one should instead show that they are really equal by
disclosing the inner ground for their equality.”

59
 25. ARTHUR CAYLEY
(1821-1895)

Biography

Arthur Cayley was a prolific British mathematician who worked mostly on algebra. He
helped found the modern British school of pure mathematics.
As a child, Cayley enjoyed solving complex maths problems for amusement. He
entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he excelled in Greek, French, German, and Italian,
as well as mathematics. He worked as a lawyer for 14 years.
He postulated the Cayley–Hamilton theorem—that every square matrix is a root of its
own characteristic polynomial, and verified it for matrices of order 2 and 3.[1] He was the first
to define the concept of a group in the modern way—as a set with a binary operation satisfying
certain laws.[2] Formerly, when mathematicians spoke of "groups", they had
meant permutation groups. Cayley tables and Cayley graphs as well as Cayley's theorem are
named in honour of Cayley.

Contribution

Cayley made important contributions to the algebraic theory of curves and surfaces, group
theory, linear algebra, graph theory, combinatorics, and elliptic functions. He formalized the
theory of matrices. Among Cayley’s most important papers were his series of 10 “Memoirs on
Quantics” (1854–78). A quantic, known today as an algebraic form, is a polynomial with the
same total degree for each term; for example, every term in the following polynomial has a
total degree of 3:x3 + 7x2y − 5xy2 + y3.Alongside work produced by his friend James Joseph

60
Sylvester, Cayley’s study of various properties of forms that are unchanged (invariant) under
some transformation, such as rotating or translating the coordinate axes, established a branch
of algebra known as invariant theory.

Life Application
algebraic theory of curves and surfaces, group theory, linear algebra, graph theory,
combinatorics, and elliptic functions.

Motto

“So much the worse, it may be, for a particular meeting: but the
meeting is the individual, which on evolution principles, must be
sacrificed for the development of the race.”

61
 26. Pythagoras
He was born: Samos, Greece
He Died: Metapontum Village Italy

Biography

Pythagoras of Samos[a] (Ancient Greek: Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος, romanized: Pythagóras

ho Sámios, lit. 'Pythagoras the Samian', or simply Πυθαγόρας; Πυθαγόρης in Ionian
Greek; c. 570 – c. 495 BC)[b] was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher and the eponymous
founder of Pythagoreanism. His political and religious teachings were well known in Magna
Graecia and influenced the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and, through them, the West in
general. Knowledge of his life is clouded by legend, but he appears to have been the son of
Mnesarchus, a gem-engraver on the island of Samos.

Contribution

The so-called Pythagoreans, who were the first to take up mathematics, not only advanced this
subject, but saturated with it, they fancied that the principles of mathematics were the principles
of all things.
— Aristotle, Metaphysics 1–5, c. 350
According to Aristotle, the Pythagoreans used mathematics for solely mystical reasons, devoid
of practical application.[132] They believed that all things were made of
numbers.[133][134] The number one (the monad

62
Life Application

In antiquity, Pythagoras was credited with many mathematical and scientific

discoveries, including the Pythagorean theorem, Pythagorean tuning, the five regular solids,
the Theory of Proportions, the sphericity of the Earth, and the identity of the morning and
evening stars as the planet Venus.

Motto

“Silence is better than unmeaning words”

63
 27. William Rowan Hamilton
(1805-1865)

Biography
Sir William Rowan Hamilton LL.D, DCL, MRIA, FRAS (3/4 August 1805 – 2
September 1865)[1][2] was an Irish mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. He was
the Andrews Professor of Astronomy at Trinity College Dublin, and Royal Astronomer of
Ireland, living at Dunsink Observatory.

Hamilton's scientific career included the study of geometrical optics, ideas from Fourier
analysis, and his work on quaternions which made him one of the founders of modern linear
algebra.[3] He made major contributions in optics, classical mechanics and abstract algebra.
His work was fundamental to modern theoretical physics, particularly his reformulation
of Newtonian mechanics, now called Hamiltonian mechanics. It is now central both
to electromagnetism and to quantum mechanics.

Contribution
Hamilton's mathematical studies seem to have been undertaken and carried to their full
development without collaboration, and his writings do not belong to any particular school. He
was intended by the university authorities who elected him to the Professorship of Astronomy
to spend his time as he best could for the advancement of science, without restrictions.

Life Application
“contributed to the development of optics, dynamics, and algebra”

64
 28. CARL GUSTAV JACOB JACOBI
(1804-1851)
Biography
Carl Jacobi came from a Jewish family but he was given the French style name
Jacques Simon at birth. His father, Simon Jacobi, was a banker and his family were
prosperous. Carl was the second son of the family, the eldest being Moritz Jacobi who
eventually became a famous physicist. Moritz Jacobi has an entry in his own right in [1].
There was a sister, Therese Jacobi, and a third brother, Eduard Jacobi, who was younger than
Carl. Eduard did not pursue an academic career, but followed instead his father's profession
as a banker.

Contribution
One of Jacobi's greatest accomplishments was his theory of elliptic functions and their
relation to the elliptic theta function. This was developed in his great treatise Fundamenta nova
theoriae functionum ellipticarum (1829), and in later papers in Crelle's Journal. Theta functions
are of great importance in mathematical physics because of their role in the inverse problem
for periodic and quasi-periodic flows. The equations of motion are integrable in terms
of Jacobi's elliptic functions in the well-known cases of the pendulum, the Euler top, the
symmetric Lagrange top in a gravitational field and the Kepler problem (planetary motion in a
central gravitational field).
He also made fundamental contributions in the study of differential equations and to classical
mechanics, notably the Hamilton–Jacobi theory

65
Life Application

“Number theory and his work with elliptic functions”

Motto

“Wherever Mathematics is mixed up with anything, which is outside its field,

you will find attempts to demonstrate these merely conventional propositions a
priori, and it will be your task to find out the false deduction in each case.”

66
 29. Apollonius
(c.190 BCE - c.240 BCE)
Biography
Apollonius of Perga (Greek: Ἀπολλώνιος ὁ Περγαῖος, translit. Apollṓnios ho
Pergaîos; Latin: Apollonius Pergaeus; c. 240 BCE/BC – c. 190 BCE/BC) was an Ancient
Greek geometer and astronomer known for his work on conic sections. Beginning from the
contributions of Euclid and Archimedes on the topic, he brought them to the state prior to the
invention of analytic geometry. His definitions of the terms ellipse, parabola,
and hyperbola are the ones in use today. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz stated “He who
understands Archimedes and Apollonius will admire less the achievements of the foremost
men of later times.”

Apollonius worked on numerous other topics, including astronomy. Most of this work
has not survived, where exceptions are typically fragments referenced by other authors like
Pappus of Alexandria. His hypothesis of eccentric orbits to explain the apparently aberrant
motion of the planets, commonly believed until the Middle Ages, was superseded during
the Renaissance. The Apollonius crater on the Moon is named in his honor.

Contribution
Apollonius was a prolific geometer, turning out a large number of works. Only one
survives, Conics. Of its eight books, only the first four have a credible claim to descent from
the original texts of Apollonius. Books 5-7 are only available in an Arabic translation by Thābit
ibn Qurra commissioned by the Banū Mūsā. The original Greek is lost. The status of Book VIII

67
is unknown. A first draft existed. Whether the final draft was ever produced is not known. A
"reconstruction" of it by Edmond Halley exists in Latin.

Life Application

“Gave the conic sections their names and was the first to define the two branches of the
hyperbola.”

Motto

“There's no death of anyone appearance just as it no birth of any save

only seeming.”

68
 30. Leonard Fibonacci
(1170-1240)

Biography
Fibonacci also known as Leonardo Bonacci, Leonardo of Pisa, or Leonardo
Bigollo Pisano ('Leonardo the Traveler from Pisa', was an Italian mathematician from
the Republic of Pisa, considered to be "the most talented Western mathematician of
the Middle Ages".

The name he is commonly called, Fibonacci, was made up in 1838 by the Franco-
Italian historian Guillaume Libri and is short for filius Bonacci ('son of Bonacci'). However,
even earlier in 1506 a notary of the Holy Roman Empire, Perizolo mentions Leonardo as
"Lionardo Fibonacci".

contribution

Liber Abaci posed and solved a problem involving the growth of a population of rabbits
based on idealized assumptions. The solution, generation by generation, was a sequence of
numbers later known as Fibonacci numbers. Although Fibonacci's Liber Abaci contains the
earliest known description of the sequence outside of India, the sequence had been described
by Indian mathematicians as early as the sixth century.
In the Fibonacci sequence, each number is the sum of the previous two numbers. Fibonacci
omitted the "0" and first "1" included today and began the sequence with 1, 2, 3, He carried the
calculation up to the thirteenth place, the value 233, though another manuscript carries it to the

69
next place, the value 377. Fibonacci did not speak about the golden ratio as the limit of the ratio
of consecutive numbers in this sequence.

Life Application

“The Arabic numbering system, the concept of square roots, number sequencing, and even
math word problems.”

Motto

“If by chance I have omitted anything more or less proper or necessary,

I beg forgiveness, since there is no one who is without fault and
circumspect in all matters.”

70
 31. Charles Hermite
(1822-1901)

Biography
Charles Hermite (French pronunciation: FRS FRSE MIAS (24 December 1822 – 14
January 1901) was a French mathematician who did research concerning number
theory, quadratic forms, invariant theory, orthogonal polynomials, elliptic functions,
and algebra.
Hermite polynomials, Hermite interpolation, Hermite normal form, Hermitian
operators, and cubic Hermite splines are named in his honor. One of his students was Henri
Poincaré.
He was the first to prove that e, the base of natural logarithms, is a transcendental
number. His methods were used later by Ferdinand von Lindemann to prove that π is
transcendental.
Hermite was born in Dieuze, Moselle, on 24 December 1822, with a deformity
in his right foot that would impair his gait throughout his life. He was the sixth of seven
children of Ferdinand Hermite and his wife, Madeleine née Lallemand. Ferdinand worked in
the drapery business of Madeleine's family while also pursuing a career as an artist. The drapery
business relocated to Nancy in 1828, and so did the family.
Hermite obtained his secondary education at Collège de Nancy and then, in
Paris, at Collège Henri IV and at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand.[1] He read some of Joseph-Louis
Lagrange's writings on the solution of numerical equations and Carl Friedrich Gauss's
publications on number theory.

Contribution

71
An inspiring teacher, Hermite strove to cultivate admiration for simple beauty and discourage
rigorous minutiae. His correspondence with Thomas Stieltjes testifies to the great aid he gave
those beginning scientific life. His published courses of lectures have exercised a great
influence. His important original contributions to pure mathematics, published in the major
mathematical journals of the world, dealt chiefly with Abelian and elliptic functions and
the theory of numbers.
In 1858, Hermite showed that equations of the fifth degree could be solved by elliptic functions.
In 1873, he proved that e, the base of the natural system of logarithms,
is transcendental. Techniques similar to those used in Hermite's proof of e's transcendence
were used by Ferdinand von Lindemann in 1882 to show that π is transcendental.

Life Application
“Hermite made important contributions to number theory and algebra, orthogonal
polynomials, and elliptic functions. He discovered his most significant mathematical results
over the ten years following his appointment to the École Polytechnique.”

Motto

“There exists, if I am not mistaken, an entire world which is the

totality of mathematical truths, to which we have access only with our
mind, just as a world of physical reality exists, the one like the other
independent of ourselves, both of divine creation.”

72
 32. Pierre Simon Laplace
(1749-1827)

Biography

Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace (/ləˈplɑːs/; French: [pjɛʁ simɔ̃ laplas]; 23 March

1749 – 5 March 1827) was a French scholar and polymath whose work was important to the
development of engineering, mathematics, statistics, physics, astronomy, and philosophy. He
summarized and extended the work of his predecessors in his five-volume Mécanique
céleste (Celestial Mechanics) (1799–1825). This work translated the geometric study
of classical mechanics to one based on calculus, opening up a broader range of problems. In
statistics, the Bayesian interpretation of probability was developed mainly by Laplace.

Laplace formulated Laplace's equation, and pioneered the Laplace transform which
appears in many branches of mathematical physics, a field that he took a leading role in
forming. The Laplacian differential operator, widely used in mathematics, is also named after
him. He restated and developed the nebular hypothesis of the origin of the Solar System and
was one of the first scientists to suggest an idea similar to that of a black hole.

Laplace is regarded as one of the greatest scientists of all time. Sometimes referred to
as the French Newton or Newton of France, he has been described as possessing a phenomenal
natural mathematical faculty superior to that of almost all of his contemporaries. He was
Napoleon's examiner when Napoleon attended the École Militaire in Paris in 1784. Laplace
became a count of the Empire in 1806 and was named a marquis in 1817, after the Bourbon
Restoration.

73
Contribution

Dynamic theory of tides- While Newton explained the tides by describing the tide-
generating forces and Bernoulli gave a description of the static reaction of the waters on Earth
to the tidal potential, the dynamic theory of tides, developed by Laplace in 1775, describes the
ocean's real reaction to tidal forces. Laplace's theory of ocean tides took into
account friction, resonance and natural periods of ocean basins. It predicted the
large amphidromic systems in the world's ocean basins and explains the oceanic tides that are
actually observed.

The equilibrium theory, based on the gravitational gradient from the Sun and Moon but
ignoring the Earth's rotation, the effects of continents, and other important effects, could not
explain the real ocean tides. Since measurements have confirmed the theory, many things have
possible explanations now, like how the tides interact with deep sea ridges and chains of
seamounts give rise to deep eddies that transport nutrients from the deep to the surface. The
equilibrium tide theory calculates the height of the tide wave of less than half a meter, while
the dynamic theory explains why tides are up to 15 meters. Satellite observations confirm the
accuracy of the dynamic theory, and the tides worldwide are now measured to within a few
centimeters. Measurements from the CHAMP satellite closely match the models based on
the TOPEX data. Accurate models of tides worldwide are essential for research since the
variations due to tides must be removed from measurements when calculating gravity and
changes in sea levels.

Laplace's tidal equations- In 1776, Laplace formulated a single set of linear partial
differential equations, for tidal flow described as a barotropic two-dimensional sheet
flow. Coriolis effects are introduced as well as lateral forcing by gravity. Laplace obtained
these equations by simplifying the fluid dynamic equations. But they can also be derived from
energy integrals via Lagrange's equation.

For a fluid sheet of average thickness D, the vertical tidal elevation ζ, as well as the
horizontal velocity components u and v (in the latitude φ and longitude λ directions,
respectively) satisfy Laplace's tidal equations:

Spherical harmonics- In 1783, in a paper sent to the Académie, Adrien-Marie

Legendre had introduced what are now known as associated Legendre functions. If two points
in a plane have polar co-ordinates (r, θ) and (r ', θ'), where r ' ≥ r, then, by elementary
manipulation, the reciprocal of the distance between the points, d,

Life Application

“Not only had he made major contributions to difference equations and differential
equations but he had examined applications to mathematical astronomy and to the theory of
probability, two major topics which he would work on throughout his life.”

MOTTO
“The most important questions of life are indeed, for the most part,
really only problems of probability.”

74
 33. Carl Ludwig Siegel
(1896-1981)

Biography

Carl Siegel’s father worked for the post office. Siegel entered the University of Berlin
in 1915, in the midst of World War I, and attended lectures by Frobenius and Planck. Siegel
wrote [15]:-By conducting [beginners’ classes] personally the professors could see, after only
a few lectures, which of the students were the more gifted by the work they handed in, and the
professors could direct their work accordingly. This was the way I myself first came into
contact with my teachers Frobenius and Planck …Initially his intention had been to study
astronomy, but Frobenius’s influence took him towards numbertheory which would became
the main research topic of his career. In 1917, however, he had to interrupt
his studies when he was called for military service. Most certainly military life did not suit
Siegel and he was eventually discharged from the army as one of their failures, for despite their
best efforts they had failed to have him adapt to army life. One would have to believe that
Siegel would have classed this as asuccess rather than a failure.

75
Contribution

He is known for, amongst other things, his contributions to the Thue–Siegel–Roth

theorem in Diophantine approximation, Siegel’s method, Siegel’s lemma and the Siegel mass
formula for quadratic forms. He was named as one of the most important mathematicians of
the 20 th century.

life application

Throwing a ball, shooting a cannon, diving from a platform and hitting a golf ball are all
examples of situations that can be modeled by quadratic functions.

Motto

“ One cannot guess the real difficulties of a problem before having

solved it.”

76
 34. Johannes Kepler
(1571-1630)

Biography
Johannes Kepler is now chiefly remembered for discovering the three laws of planetary
motion that bear his name published in 1609 and 1619). He also did important work in optics
(1604, 1611), discovered two new regular polyhedral (1619), gave the first mathematical
treatment of close packing of equal spheres (leading to an explanation of the shape of the cells
of a honeycomb, 1611), gave the first proof of how logarithms worked (1624), and devised a
method of finding the volumes of solids of revolution that (with hindsight!) can be seen as
contributing to the development of calculus (1615, 1616). Moreover, he calculated the most
exact astronomical tables hitherto known, whose continued accuracy did much to establish the
truth of heliocentric astronomy (Rudolphine Tables, Ulm, 1627).

A large quantity of Kepler&#39;s correspondence survives. Many of his letters are

almost the equivalent of a scientific paper (there were as yet no scientific journals), and
correspondents seem to have kept them because they were interesting. In consequence, we
know rather a lot about Kepler’s life, and indeed about his character. It is partly because of
this that Kepler has had something of a career as a more or less fictional character

Contribution

Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician and astronomer who discovered that the
Earth and planets travel about the sun in elliptical orbits. He gave three fundamental laws of
planetary motion. He also did important work in optics and geometry.

77
Life application

An ellipse is a circle which has been squashed or flattened a bit. All 8 planets in our
Solar System travel around the Sun in elliptical orbits.

Motto

“Nature uses as little as possible of anything.”

78
 35. Diophantus of Alexandria
(200-284)

Biography

Diophantus, often known as the ‘father of algebra’, is best known for his Arithmetica,
a work on the solution of algebraic equations and on the theory of numbers. However,
essentially nothing is known of his life and there has been much debate regarding the date at
which he lived.

There are a few limits which can be put on the dates of Diophantus’s life. On the one
hand Diophantus quotes the definition of a polygonal number from the work of Hypsicles so
he must have written this later than 150 BC. On the other hand Theon of Alexandria, the
father of Hypatia, quotes one of Diophantus’s definitions so this means that Diophantus wrote
no later than 350 AD. However this leaves a span of 500 years, so we have not narrowed
down Diophantus’s dates a great deal by these pieces of information.

Contribution

Diophantus is often called “the father of algebra” because he contributed greatly to

number theory, mathematical notation, and because Arithmetica contains the earliest known
use of syncopated notation.

79
Life application

The best-known application of number theory is public key cryptography, such as the
RSA algorithm.

Motto

‘Perhaps the topic [of this book] will appear fairly difficult to you
because it is not yet familiar knowledge and the understanding of
beginners is easily confused by mistakes; but with your inspiration and
my teaching it will be easy for you to master, because clear intelligence
supported by good lessons is a fast
route to knowledge.’

80
 36 Aryabhata
(476 AD, Pataliputra- 550 AD, Pataliputr)

Biography
Aryabhata, also called Aryabhata I or Aryabhata the Elder, (born 476, possibly
Ashmaka or Kusumapura, India), astronomer and the earliest Indian mathematician whose
work and history are available to modern scholars. He is also known as Aryabhata I or
Aryabhata the Elder to distinguish him from a 10 th -century Indian mathematician of the
same name. He flourished in Kusumapura—near Patalipurta (Patna), then the capital of the
Gupta dynasty—where he composed at least two works, Aryabhatiya (c.499) and the now
lost Aryabhatasiddhanta.

Contribution
Aryabhata discovered an approximation of pi, 62832/20000 = 3.1416. He also
correctly believed that the planets and the Moon shine by reflected sunlight and that the
motion of the stars is due to Earth’s rotation.

life application
Prediction of solar and lunar eclipses and an explicit statement that the apparent westward
motion of the stars is due to the spherical Earth’s rotation about its axis.

Motto
“Think Beyond Infinity”

81
 37.Muhammed `Abu Jafar’ ibn Musâ al-Khowârizmi
(Khwarazm-850 AD, Baghdad, Iraq)

Biography

al-Khwārizmī, in full Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī, (born c. 780 —died c.850),
Muslim mathematician and astronomer whose major works introduced Hindu-Arabic
numerals and the concepts of algebra into European mathematics. Latinized versions of his
name and of his most famous book title live on in the terms algorithm and algebra. Al-
Khwārizmī lived in Baghdad, where he worked at the “House of Wisdom” (Dār al-Ḥikma)
under the caliphate of al-Maʾmūn. The House of Wisdom acquired and translated scientific and
philosophic treatises, particularly Greek, as well as publishing original research. Al-
Khwārizmī’s work on elementary algebra, Al-Kitāb al-mukhtaṣar fī ḥisāb al-jabr waʾl-
muqābala (“The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing”), was
translated into Latin in the 12th century, from which the title and
term algebra derives. Algebra is a compilation of rules, together with demonstrations, for
finding solutions of linear and quadratic equations based on intuitive geometric arguments,
rather than the abstract notation now associated with the subject. Its systematic, demonstrative
approach distinguishes it from earlier treatments of the subject. It also contains sections on
calculating areas and volumes of geometric figures and on the use of algebra to solve
inheritance problems according to proportions prescribed by Islamic law. Elements within the
work can be traced from Babylonian mathematics of the early 2nd millennium BCE through
Hellenistic, Hebrew, and Hindu treatises

82
Contribution

Al-Khwarizmi&#39; s major accomplishments were the books he wrote on

mathematics and science. His mathematical books introduced the ideas of algebra and Hindu-
Arabic numerals to Western mathematicians during the Middle Ages. His scientific works
concerned geography and astronomy.

Life application

The Hindu-Arabic numerals paved the way for the development of Algebra and the
Decimal System, two major forms of math. A course that teaches the Hindu-Arabic numerals
today, is Algebra. The methods and symbols of this numeral system helped develop and
improve Algebra.

Motto

“The poet knows himself only on the condition that things resound in
him, and that in him, at a single awakening, they and he come forth
together out of sleep.”

83
 38. Julius Wilhelm Richard Dedekind
(1831-1916)

Biography
Richard Dedekind&#39;s father was a professor at the Collegium Carolinum in
Brunswick. His mother was the daughter of a professor who also worked at the Collegium
Carolinum. Richard was the youngest of four children and never married. He was to live with
one of his sisters, who also remained unmarried, for most of his adult life. He attended school
in Brunswick from the age of seven and at this stage mathematics was not his main interest.
The school, Martino-Catharineum, was a good one and Dedekind studied science, in particular
physics and chemistry. However, physics became less than satisfactory to Dedekind with what
he considered an imprecise logical structure and his attention turned towards mathematics. The
Collegium Carolinum was an educational institution between a high school and a university
and he entered it in 1848 at the age of 16. There he was to receive a good understanding of
basic mathematics studying differential and integral calculus, analytic geometry and the
foundations of analysis. He entered the University of Göttingen in the spring of 1850 with a
solid grounding in mathematics.

Göttingen was a rather disappointing place to study mathematics at this time, and it had
not yet become the vigorous research centre that it turned into soon afterwards. Mathematics
was directed by M A Stern and G Ulrich. Gauss also taught courses in mathematics, but mostly
at an elementary level. The physics department was directed by Listing and Wilhelm Weber.
The two departments combined to initiate a seminar which Dedekind joined from its beginning.
There he learnt number theory which was the most advanced material he studied. His other
courses covered material such as the differential and integral calculus, of which he already had
a good understanding. The first course to really make Dedekind enthusiastic was, rather

84
surprisingly, a course on experimental physics taught by Weber. More likely it was Weber who
inspired Dedekind rather than the topic of the course.

Contribution
While teaching there, Dedekind developed the idea that both rational and irrational
numbers could form a continuum (with no gaps) of real numbers, provided that the real
numbers have a one-to-one relationship with points on a line.

life application

pi=3.141592654 people uses it dealing with circle, sphere, check computer accuracy.
Rational numbers are used all the time! From buying and selling products using money and
terminating decimals to cooking with fractions, people use rational numbers just about
every day!

Motto

“That such comparisons with non-arithmetic notions have furnished

the immediate occasion for the extension of the number-concept may, in
a general way, be granted (though this was certainly not the case in the
introduction of complex numbers); but this surely is no sufficient
ground for introducing these foreign notions into arithmetic, the science
of numbers.”

85
 39. Christian Felix Klein
(1849-1925)
Biography

Felix Klein is best known for his work in non-euclidean geometry, for his work on the
connections between geometry and group theory, and for results in function theory. He was
born on 25/4/1849 and delighted in pointing out that each of the day (5^{2}52),
month (2^{2}22), and year (43^{2}432) was the square of a prime. Klein&#39;s father was
secretary to the head of the government. There is a colourful description of Felix&#39;s birth
in his obituary in the Proceedings of the Royal Society:- Without, the cannon thundered on the
barricades raised by the insurgent Rhinelanders against their hated Prussian rulers. Within,
although all had been prepared for flight, there was no thought of departure; on that night was
born a son to the stern Prussian secretary. That son was Felix Klein. The revolution against the
Prussians, which resulted in such a dramatic birth for Felix Klein, was completely crushed by
the summer of 1849. Klein attended the Gymnasium in Düsseldorf. After graduating, he
entered the University of Bonn and studied mathematics and physics there during 1865-1866.
He started out on his career with the intention of becoming a physicist. While still studying at
the University of Bonn, he was appointed to the post of laboratory assistant
to Plücker in 1866. Plücker held a chair of mathematics and experimental physics at Bonn but,
by the time Klein became his assistant, Plücker&#39;s interests had become very firmly rooted
in geometry. Klein received his doctorate, which was supervised by Plücker, from the
University of Bonn in 1868, with a dissertation Über die Transformation der allgemeinen
Gleichung des zweiten Grades zwischen Linien- Koordinaten auf eine kanonische Form Ⓣ on
line geometry and its applications to mechanics. In his dissertation Klein classified second
degree line complexes using Weierstrass&#39;s theory of elementary divisors. However in the
year Klein received his doctorate Plücker died leaving his major work on the foundations of

86
line geometry incomplete. Klein was the obvious person to complete the second part
of Plücker&#39;s Neue Géometrie des Raumes Ⓣ and this work led him to become acquainted
with Clebsch. Clebsch had moved to Göttingen in 1868 and, during 1869, Klein made visits to
Berlin and Paris and Göttingen. In July 1870 Klein was in Paris when Bismarck, the Prussian
chancellor, published a provocative message aimed at infuriating the French government.
France declared war on Prussia on the 19 th of July and Klein felt he could no longer remain
in Paris and returned. Then, for a short period, he did military service as a medical orderly
before being appointed as a lecturer at Göttingen in early 1871.

Contribution

Christian Felix Klein (25 April RE1849 - 22 June 1925) was a German mathematician
and mathematics educator, known for his work in group theory, complex analysis, non-
Euclidean geometry, and on the connections between geometry and group theory.

Life application

Non-Euclidean Geometry in the Real World In spherical geometry, the interior angles of
triangles always add up to more than 1800. You saw this with your inflated balloon, but you
can also see it by thinking about the Earth. In spherical geometry, the interior angles of triangles
always add up to more than 1800.

Motto

“The greatest mathematicians, as Archimedes, Newton, and Gauss,

always united theory and applications in equal measure.”

87
 40 Kurt Gödel
(1906-1978)

Biography
Kurt Gödel&#39;s father was Rudolf Gödel whose family were from Vienna. Rudolf
did not take his academic studies far as a young man, but had done well for himself becoming
managing director and part owner of a major textile firm in Brünn. Kurt&#39; s mother,
Marianne Handschuh, was from the Rhineland and the daughter of Gustav Handschuh who
was also involved with textiles in Brünn. Rudolf was 14 years older than Marianne who, unlike
Rudolf, had a literary education and had undertaken part of her school studies in France. Rudolf
and Marianne Gödel had two children, both boys. The elder they named Rudolf after his father,
and the younger was Kurt. Kurt had quite a happy childhood. He was very devoted to his
mother but seemed rather timid and troubled when his mother was not in the home. He had
rheumatic fever when he was six years old, but after he recovered life went on much as before.
However, when he was eight years old be began to read medical books about the
illness he had suffered from, and learnt that a weak heart was a possible complication. Although
there is no evidence that he did have a weak heart, Kurt became convinced that he did, and
concern for his health became an everyday worry for him.

Contribution

By the age of 25 Kurt Gödel had produced his famous “Incompleteness Theorems.”
His fundamental results showed that in any consistent axiomatic mathematical system there
are propositions that cannot be proved or disproved within the system and that the
consistency of the axioms themselves cannot be proved.

88
Life application

The theorem states that in any reasonable mathematical system there will always be true
statements that cannot be proved

Motto

“I don&#39;t believe in empirical science. I only believe in a priori

truth.”

89
 41. Bháscara (II) Áchárya
(1114- 1185)

Biography
Bhaskara is also known as Bhaskara II or as Bhaskaracharya, this latter name meaning
&quot; Bhaskara the Teacher&quot; Since he is known in India as Bhaskaracharya we will
refer to him throughout this article by that name. Bhaskaracharya&#39; s father was a Brahman
named Mahesvara. Mahesvara himself was famed as an astrologer. This happened frequently
in Indian society with generations of a family being excellent mathematicians and often acting
as teachers to other family members. Bhaskaracharya became head of the astronomical
observatory at Ujjain, the leading mathematical centre in India at that time. Outstanding
mathematicians such as Varahamihira and Brahmagupta had worked there and built up a
strong school of mathematical astronomy. In many ways Bhaskaracharya represents the peak
of mathematical knowledge in the 12 th century. He reached an understanding of the number
systems and solving equations which was not to be achieved in Europe for several centuries.
Six works by Bhaskaracharya are known but a seventh work, which is claimed to be by him, is
thought by many historians to be a late forgery. The six works are: Lilavati (The
Beautiful) which is on mathematics; Bijaganita (Seed Counting or Root Extraction) which is
on algebra; the Siddhantasiromani which is in two parts, the first on mathematical astronomy
with the second part on the sphere; the Vasanabhasya of Mitaksara which is
Bhaskaracharya&#39;s own commentary on the Siddhantasiromani ;
the Karanakutuhala (Calculation of Astronomical Wonders) or Brahmatulya which is a
simplified version of the Siddhantasiromani ; and the Vivarana which is a commentary on
the Shishyadhividdhidatantra of Lalla. It is the first three of these works which are the most
interesting, certainly from the point of view of mathematics, and we will concentrate on the
contents of these.

90
Contribution

Bhāskara II, also called Bhāskarācārya or Bhaskara the Learned, (born 1114, Biddur,
India—died c.1185, probably Ujjain), the leading mathematician of the 12th century,
who wrote the first work with full and systematic use of the decimal number system.

Life application
We use decimals every day while dealing with money, weight, length etc. Decimal
numbersare used in situations where more precision is required than the whole numbers can
provide. For example, when we calculate our weight on the weighing machine, we do not
always find the weight equal to a whole number on the scale

Motto

“A particle of tuition conveys science to a comprehensive mind: and

having reached it, expands of its own impulse. As oil poured on water,
as a secret entrusted to the vile, as alms bestowed upon the worthy,
however little, so does science infuse into a wise mind spread by
intrinsic force.”

91
 42. Blaise Pascal
(1623-1662)

Biography
Blaise Pascal was the third of Étienne Pascal&#39; s children and his only son.
Blaise&#39; s mother died when he was only three years old. In 1632 the Pascal family,
Étienne and his four children, left Clermont and settled in Paris. Blaise Pascal&#39; s father
had unorthodox educational views and decided to teach his son himself. Étienne Pascal decided
that Blaise was not to study mathematics before the age of 15 and all mathematics texts were
removed from their house. Blaise however, his curiosity raised by this, started to work on
geometry himself at the age of 12. He discovered that the sum of the angles of a triangle are
two right angles and, when his father found out, he relented and allowed Blaise a copy
of Euclid. At the age of 14 Blaise Pascal started to accompany his father to Mersenne&#39; s
meetings. Mersenne belonged to the religious order of the Minims, and his cell in Paris was a
frequent meeting place for Gassendi, Roberval, Carcavi, Auzout, Mydorge,
Mylon, Desargues and others. Soon, certainly by the time he was 15, Blaise came to admire
the work of Desargues. At the age of sixteen, Pascal presented a single piece of paper to one
of Mersenne&#39;s meetings in June 1639. It contained a number of projective
geometry theorems, including Pascal&#39; s mystic hexagon. You can see pictures of
the Mystic Hexagram at THIS LINK. In December 1639 the Pascal family left Paris to live in
Rouen where Étienne had been appointed as a tax collector for Upper Normandy. Shortly after
settling in Rouen, Blaise had his first work, Essay on Conic Sections published in
February 1640. Pascal invented the first digital calculator to help his father with his work
collecting taxes. He worked on it for three years between 1642 and 1645. The device, called
the Pascaline, resembled a mechanical calculator of the 1940s. This, almost certainly, makes

92
Pascal the second person to invent a mechanical calculator for Schickard had manufactured
one in 1624.

Contribution

Pascal invented the first digital calculator to help his father with his work collecting
taxes. He worked on it for three years between 1642 and 1645. The device, called the Pascaline,
resembled a mechanical calculator of the 1940s.

Life application

For calculations that involve several digits, including decimals, to solve number
problems, to know how to enter and interpret money and fractions, also to know how to select
the correct key sequence for calculations with more than one operation.

Motto
“The heart has its reasons which reason knows not.”

93
 43. Élie Joseph Cartan
(1869-1951)

Biography
Élie Cartan&#39;s mother was Anne Florentine Cottaz (1841-1927) and his father was
Joseph Antoine Cartan (1837-1917) who was a blacksmith. Let us trace these families back
one more generation. Anne Cottaz was the daughter of François Cottaz and Françoise Mallen
while Joseph Cartan was the son of Benoît Bordel Cartan (who was a miller) and Jeanne
Denard. Joseph and Anne Cartan had four children: Jeanne Marie Cartan (1867-1931); Élie
Joseph Cartan, the subject of this biography; Léon Cartan (1872-1956), who followed his father
and joined the family blacksmith business; and Anna Cartan (1878-1923), who became a
teacher of mathematics. Élie lived with his family in a house on Square Champ-de-Mars in
Dolomieu. He remembered his childhood spent with the (quoted in [3]):- ... blows of the anvil,
which started every morning from dawn. ... his mother, during those rare minutes when she
was free from taking care of the children and the house, was working with a spinning wheel.
The family were very poor and, as Élie Cartan later said, his parents were (quoted in [3]):- ...
unpretentious peasants who during their long lives demonstrated to their children an example
of joyful accomplished work and courageous acceptance of burdens. In late 19th century
France it was not possible for children from poor families to obtain a university education. It
was Élie&#39;s exceptional abilities, together with a lot of luck, which made a high quality
education possible for him. When he was in primary school he showed his remarkable talents
which impressed his teachers M Collomb and M Dupuis. The latter said:- Élie Cartan was a
shy boy, but his eyes shone with an unusual light of great intelligence, and this was combined
with an excellent memory.

94
 Cartan may never have become a leading mathematician were it not for the young
school inspector, later important politician, Antonin Dubost (1844-1921). Dubost was at this
time employed as an inspector of primary schools and it was on a visit to the primary school in
Dolomieu, in the French Alps, that he discovered the remarkable young Élie. Dubost
encouraged Élie to enter the competition for state funds to allow Élie to attend a Lycée. His
teacher M Dupuis prepared him to sit the competitive examinations which were held in
Grenoble. An excellent performance allowed him to enter the Collège de Vienne which he
attended for the five years 1880-1885. Throughout his school career Dubost continued to
support the young boy and obtain further financial support for him. After the Collège de
Vienne, he then studied at the Lycée in Genoble for the two years 1885-87 before completing
his school education by spending one year at the Janson-de-Sailly Lycée in Paris where he
specialised in mathematics. The state stipend was extended to allow him to study at the École
Normale Supérieure in Paris.

Contribution

Élie Cartan is one of the great architects of contemporary mathematics. Cartan was one
ofthe leading mathematicians of his generation, particularly influential for his work on
geometryand the theory of Lie Algebras. In the bleak years after World War I he was one of
the most prominent mathematicians in France.

Life application

Contemporary math classes teach basic arithmetic concepts, such as the meaning and
usage of numerical sets, and students often use math skills in context, such as how they apply
to modern social situations.

Motto

“By fidelity and love.”

95
 44. Archytas of Tarentum
(435/410 BC- 360/350 BC)
Biography

Archytas of Tarentum was a mathematician, statesman and philosopher who lived in

Tarentum in Magna Graecia, an area of southern Italy which was under Greek control in the
fifth century BC. The Pythagoreans, who had at one stage been strong throughout Magna
Graecia, were attacked and expelled until only the town of Tarentum remained a stronghold
for them. Archytas led the Pythagoreans in Tarentum and tried to unite the Greek towns in the
area to form an alliance against their non- Greek neighbours. He was commander in chief of
the forces in Tarentum for seven years despite there being a law that nobody could hold the
post for more than a year. Plato, who became a close friend, made his acquaintance while
staying in Magna Graecia. Heath writes in [4]:- ... he is said, by means of a letter, to have
saved Plato from death at the hands of Dionysius.

Contribution

Archytas was the first to solve one of the most celebrated mathematical problems in
antiquity, the duplication of the cube. We also have his proof showing that ratios of the form
(n+1) : n, which are important in music theory, cannot be divided by a mean proportional.

96
Life application

As with the related problems of squaring the circle and trisecting the angle, doubling
the cube is now known to be impossible to construct by using only a compass and
straightedge, but even in ancient times solutions were known that employed other tools.

Motto

‘If you do not hit the clay, you cannot make tile.’

97
 45. Godfrey Harold Hardy
(1877-1947)
Biography

G H Hardy&#39;s father, Isaac Hardy, was bursar and an art master at Cranleigh school.
His mother Sophia had been a teacher at Lincoln Teacher&#39;s Training School. Both parents
were highly intelligent with some mathematical skills but, coming from poor families, had not
been able to have a university education. Hardy (he was always known as Hardy except to one
or two close friends who called him Harold) attended Cranleigh School up to the age of twelve
with great success [6]:- His parents knew he was prodigiously clever, and so did he. He came
top of his class in all subjects. But, as a result of coming top of his class, he had to go in front
of the school to receive prizes: and that he could not bear. Hardy did not appear to have the
passion for mathematics that many mathematicians experience when young. Hardy himself
writes in [5]:- I do not remember having felt, as a boy, any passion for mathematics, and such
notions as I may have had of the career of a mathematician were far from noble. I thought of
mathematics in terms of examinations and scholarships: I wanted to beat other boys, and this
seemed to be the way in which I could do so most decisively. Indeed he did win a scholarship
to Winchester College in 1889, entering the College the following year. Winchester was the
best school in England for mathematical training yet, despite admitting later in life that he had
been well-educated there, Hardy disliked everything about the school other than the academic
training he received. Like all public schools it was a rough place for a frail, shy boy like Hardy.
It is significant that although he did have a passion for ball games in general and cricket in
particular, he was never coached in sport at Winchester. Somehow he failed to take part fully
in the non-academic activities. While at Winchester Hardy won an open scholarship to Trinity
College, Cambridge, which he entered in 1896. At Cambridge Hardy was assigned to the most
famous coach R R Webb. He quickly realised that the point of the training was simply to

98
achieve the best possible marks in the examinations by learning all the tricks of the trade. He
was shocked to discover that Webb was not interested in the subject of mathematics, only in
the tricks of examinations.

Contribution

Hardy&#39;s interests covered many topics of pure mathematics - Diophantine

analysis, summation of divergent series, Fourier series, the Riemann zeta function, and the
distribution of primes. His long collaboration with Littlewood produced mathematics of the
highest quality.

Life application

Real life geometric problems can involve Diophantine equations. For example, a gate
is built upright, next to a cattle-grid, such that the gate&#39;s and cattle-grid&#39;s negligibly
thin poles are all parallel and spaced by 10cm from their nearest neighbour, and there is a pole
where the gate and cattle-grid meet.

Motto

“There is no scorn more profound, or on the whole more justifiable,

than that of the menwho make for the men who explain.”

99
 46. Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov
(1903-1987)
Biography
Andrei Nikolaevich Kolmogorov&#39;s parents were not married and his father took
no part in his upbringing. His father Nikolai Kataev, the son of a priest, was an agriculturist
who was exiled. He returned after the Revolution to head a Department in the Agricultural
Ministry but died in fighting in 1919. Kolmogorov&#39;s mother also, tragically, took no part
in his upbringing since she died in childbirth at Kolmogorov&#39;s birth. His mother&#39;s
sister, Vera Yakovlena, brought Kolmogorov up and he always had the deepest affection for
her.

In fact it was chance that had Kolmogorov born in Tambov since the family had no
connections with that place. Kolmogorov&#39;s mother had been on a journey from the
Crimea back to her home in Tunoshna near Yaroslavl and it was in the home of his maternal
grandfather in Tunoshna that Kolmogorov spent his youth. Kolmogorov&#39;s name came
from his grandfather, Yakov Stepanovich Kolmogorov, and not from his own father. Yakov
Stepanovich was from the nobility, a difficult status to have in Russia at this time, and there is
certainly stories told that an illegal printing press was operated from his house. After
Kolmogorov left school he worked for a while as a conductor on the railway. In his spare time
he wrote a treatise on Newton&#39;s laws of mechanics. Then, in 1920, Kolmogorov entered
Moscow State University but at this stage he was far from committed to mathematics. He
studied a number of subjects, for example in addition to mathematics he studied metallurgy
and Russian history. Nor should it be thought that Russian history was merely a topic to fill out
his course, indeed he wrote a serious scientific thesis on the owning of property in Novgorod
in the 15 th and 16 th centuries. There is an anecdote told by D G Kendall in [10] regarding
this thesis, his teacher saying: -You have supplied one proof of your thesis, and in the
100
mathematics that you study this would perhaps suffice, but we historians prefer to have at least
ten proofs. Kolmogorov may have told this story as a joke but nevertheless jokes are only funny
if there is some truth in them and undoubtedly this is the case here.

Contribution
Andrey Kolmogorov was one of the developers of probability theory. He later used this
work to study the motion of the planets and the turbulent flow of air from a jet engine.

Kolmogorov‘s contribution in life application Perhaps the most common real life
example of using probability is weather forecasting. Probability is used by weather forecasters
to assess how likely it is that there will be rain, snow, clouds, etc. on a given day in a certain
area.

Motto

“The theory of probability as mathematical discipline can and should be

developed from axioms in exactly the same way as Geometry and
Algebra.”

101
 47. Félix Édouard Justin Émile Borel
(1871-1956)
Borel was born in Saint-Affrique, Aveyron, the son of a Protestant pastor. [3] He
studied at the Collège Sainte-Barbe and Lycée Louis-le-Grand before applying to both
the École normale supérieure and the École Polytechnique. He qualified in the first position for
both and chose to attend the former institution in 1889. That year he also won the concours
général, an annual national mathematics competition. After graduating in 1892, he placed first
in the agrégation, a competitive civil service examination leading to the position of professeur
agrégé. His thesis, published in 1893, was titled Sur quelques points de la théorie des
fonctions (&quot;On some points in the theory of functions&quot;). That year, Borel started a
four-year stint as a lecturer at the University of Lille, during which time he published 22
research papers. He returned to the École normale supérieure in 1897, and was appointed to the
chair of theory of functions, which he held until 1941. [4]

In 1901, Borel married 17-year-old Marguerite, the daughter of colleague Paul Émile
Appel; she later wrote more than 30 novels under the pseudonym Camille Marbo. Émile Borel
died in Paris on 3 February 1956.

Contribution

Félix Édouard Justin Émile Borel (French: [bɔʁɛl]; 7 January 1871 – 3 February
1956) was a French mathematician and politician. As a mathematician, he was known for
his founding work in the areas of measure theory and probability.

102
Life application

Probability plays a vital role in the day to day life. In the weather forecast, sports and
gaming strategies, buying or selling insurance, online shopping, and online games,
determining blood groups, and analyzing political strategies.

Motto

“Whatever the progress of human knowledge, there will always be

room for ignorance, hence for chance and probability.”

103
 48. Giuseppe Peano
(1858-1932)
Biography
Aritmetica generale e algebra elementare, 1902 Peano was born and raised on a farm at
Spinetta, a hamlet now belonging to Cuneo, Piedmont, Italy. He attended the Liceo classico
Cavour in Turin, and enrolled at the University of Turin in 1876, graduating in 1880 with high
honors, after which the University employed him to assist first Enrico D&#39;Ovidio, and then
Angelo Genocchi, the Chair of calculus. Due to Genocchi&#39;s poor health, Peano took over
the teaching of calculus course within two years. His first major work, a textbook on calculus,
was published in 1884 and was credited to Genocchi. A few years later, Peano published his
first book dealing with mathematical logic. Here the modern symbols for the union and
intersection of sets appeared for the first time.[2]

Giuseppe Peano and his wife Carola Crosio in 1887

In 1887, Peano married Carola Crosio, the daughter of the Turin-based painter Luigi
Crosio, known for painting the Refugium Peccatorum Madonna.[3] In 1886, he began teaching
concurrently at the Royal Military Academy, and was promoted to Professor First Class in
1889. In that year he published the Peano axioms, a formal foundation for the collection of
natural numbers. The next year, the University of Turin also granted him his full professorship.
The Peano curve was published in 1890 as the first example of a space-filling curve which
demonstrated that the unit interval and the unit square have the same cardinality. Today it is
understood to be an early example of what is known as a fractal.

In 1890 Peano founded the journal Rivista di Matematica, which published its first issue
in January 1891.[4] In 1891 Peano started the Formulario Project. It was to be an
&quot;Encyclopedia of Mathematics&quot;, containing all known formulae and theorems of
104
mathematical science using a standard notation invented by Peano. In 1897, the first
International Congress of Mathematicians was held in Zürich. Peano was a key participant,
presenting a paper on mathematical logic. He also started to become increasingly occupied with
Formulario to the detriment of his other work.

In 1898 he presented a note to the Academy about binary numeration and its ability to
be used to represent the sounds of languages. He also became so frustrated with publishing
delays (due to his demand that formulae be printed on one line) that he purchased a printing
press. Paris was the venue for the Second International Congress of Mathematicians in 1900.
The conference was preceded by the First International Conference of Philosophy where Peano
was a member of the patronage committee. He presented a paper which posed the question of
correctly formed definitions in mathematics, i.e. &quot;how do you define a definition?&quot;.
This became one of Peano&#39;s main philosophical interests for the rest of his life. At the
conference Peano met Bertrand Russell and gave him a copy of Formulario. Russell was struck
by Peano&#39;s innovative logical symbols and after the conference he retired in the country
&quot;to study quietly every word written by him or his disciples.&quot;[5]

Peano&#39;s students Mario Pieri and Alessandro Padoa had papers presented at the
philosophy congress also. For the mathematical congress, Peano did not speak, but
Padoa&#39;s memorable presentation has been frequently recalled. A resolution calling for the
formation of an &quot;international auxiliary language&quot; to facilitate the spread of
mathematical (and commercial) ideas, was proposed; Peano fully supported it.

Contribution

Peano is most famously known for his work in set theory and mathematical logic. He
is responsible for the axiomatization of the natural numbers (Peano&#39;s Axioms, 1889), but
he also made many contributions to the field of analysis.

Life application

The natural numbers are used for three main purposes: for counting, for ordering, and
for defining other concepts. Counting is the natural way to measure the quantity of a set of
several discrete, individually identifiable objects.

Motto
‘No number before zero. The numbers may go on forever, but likethe
cosmos, they have a beginning.’

105
 49. Hipparchus of Nicaea and Rhodes
(c. 190 BC- c. 120 BC)
Biography

Little is known of Hipparchus&#39;s life, but he is known to have been born in Nicaea
in Bithynia. The town of Nicaea is now called Iznik and is situated in north-western Turkey.
Founded in the 4 th Century BC, Nicaea lies on the eastern shore of Lake Iznik. Reasonably
enough Hipparchus is often referred to as Hipparchus of Nicaea or Hipparchus of Bithynia and
he is listed among the famous men of Bithynia by Strabo, the Greek geographer and historian
who lived from about 64 BC to about 24 AD. There are coins from Nicaea which depict
Hipparchus sitting looking at a globe and his image appears on coins minted under five
different Roman emperors between 138 AD and 253 AD. This seems to firmly place
Hipparchus in Nicaea and indeed Ptolemy does describe Hipparchus as observing in Bithynia,
and one would naturally assume that in fact he was observing in Nicaea. However, of the
observations which are said to have been made by Hipparchus, some were made in the north
of the island of Rhodes and several (although only one is definitely due to Hipparchus
himself) were made in Alexandria. If these are indeed as they appear we can say with certainty
that Hipparchus was in Alexandria in 146 BC and in Rhodes near the end of his career
in 127 BC and 126 BC. It is not too unusual to have few details of the life of a Greek
mathematician, but with Hipparchus the position is a little unusual for, despite Hipparchus
being a mathematician and astronomer of major importance, we have disappointingly few
definite details of his work. Only one work by Hipparchus has survived, namely Commentary
on Aratus and Eudoxus and this is certainly not one of his major works. It is however important
in that it gives us the only source of Hipparchus&#39;s own writings. Most of the information
which we have about the work of Hipparchus comes from Ptolemy&#39;s Almagest Ⓣ but, as
Toomer writes in [1]:- ... although Ptolemy obviously had studied Hipparchus&#39;s writings

106
thoroughly and had a deep respect for his work, his main concern was not to transmit it to
posterity but to use it and, where possible, improve upon it in constructing his own astronomical
system. Where one might hope for more information about Hipparchus would be in the
commentaries on Ptolemy&#39;s Almagest Ⓣ. There are two in particular by the excellent
commentators Theon of Alexandria and by Pappus, but unfortunately these
follow Ptolemy&#39;s text fairly closely and fail to add the expected information about
Hipparchus. Since when Ptolemy refers to results of Hipparchus he does so often in an obscure
way, at least he seems to assume that the reader will have access to the original writings by
Hipparchus, and it is certainly surprising that neither Theon or Pappus fills in the details. One
can only assume that neither of them had access to the information about Hipparchus on which
we would have liked them to report.Let us first summarise the main contribution of Hipparchus
and then examine them in more detail. He made an early contribution to trigonometry
producing a table of chords, an early example of a trigonometric table; indeed some historians
go so far as to say that trigonometry was invented by him. The purpose of this table of chords
was to give a method for solving triangles which avoided solving each triangle from first
principles. He also introduced the division of a circle into 360 degrees into Greece.

Contribution

Hipparchus, (b. Nicaea, Bithynia--d. after 127 BC, Rhodes?), Greek astronomer and
mathematician who discovered the precession of the equinoxes, calculated the length of the
year to within 6 1/2 minutes, compiled the first known star catalog, and made an early
formulation of trigonometry.

Life application

Because of the slow change in our orientation to the stars, the position of the Sun on
the first the day of spring (the vernal equinox) slowly shifts westward around the sky, which
also moves it around our calendar. That is why we refer to the effect as the precession of the
equinox

Motto

‘Scientific, like spiritual truth, has ever from the beginning been
descending from heaven to man.’

107
 50.Alhazen-ibn al-haytham
(965-1040)

Biography
Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) was born c. 965 to a family of Arab[13][31][32][33][34] or
Persian[35] origin in Basra, Iraq, which was at the time part of the Buyid emirate. His initial
influences were in the study of religion and service to the community. At the time, society had
a number of conflicting views of religion that he ultimately sought to step aside from religion.
This led to him delving into the study of mathematics and science.[36] He held a position with
the title vizier in his native Basra, and made a name for himself on his knowledge of applied
mathematics. As he claimed to be able to regulate the flooding of the Nile, he was invited to
meet the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim in order to realise a hydraulic project at Aswan. However,
Ibn al-Haytham was forced to concede the impracticability of his project.[37] Upon his return
to Cairo, he was given an administrative post. After he proved unable to fulfill this task as well,
he contracted the ire of the caliph al-Hakim,[38] and is said to have been forced into hiding
until the caliph&#39;s death in 1021, after which his confiscated possessions were returned to
him.[39] Legend has it that Alhazen feigned madness and was kept under house arrest during
this period.[40] During this time, he wrote his influential Book of Optics. Alhazen continued
to live in Cairo, in the neighborhood of the famous University of al-Azhar, and lived from the
proceeds of his literary production[41] until his death in c. 1040.[37] (A copy of
Apollonius&#39; Conics, written in Ibn al-Haytham&#39;s own handwriting exists in Aya
Sofya: (MS Aya Sofya 2762, 307 fob., dated Safar 415 A.H. [1024]).)[42]: Note 2  Among his
students were Sorkhab (Sohrab), a Persian from Semnan, and Abu al-Wafa Mubashir ibn
Fatek, an Egyptian prince.

108
Contribution

In mathematics, Ibn al-Haytham built on the mathematical works of Euclid and Thabit
ibn Qurra, and went on to systemize infinitesimal calculus, conic sections, number theory, and
analytic geometry after linking algebra to geometry. His contribution to mathematics was
extensive. He developed analytical geometry by establishing linkage between algebra and
geometry. He studied the mechanics of motion of a body and was the first to maintain that a
body moves perpetually unless an external force stops it or changes its direction of motion.
This is strikingly similar to the first law of motion described centuries later by Isaac Newton.
His work on catoptrics in Book V of the Book of Optics contains the important problem known
as Alhazen’s problem. It comprises drawing lines from two points in the plane of a circle
meeting at a point on the circumference and making equal angles with the normal at that point.
This leads to an equation of the fourth degree. This eventually led Ibn al-Haytham to derive
the earliest formula for the sum of fourth powers; and by using an early proof by mathematical
induction, he developed a method for determining the general formula for the sum of any
integral powers. This was fundamental to the development of infinitesimal and integral
calculus. 17 In geometry, Ibn al-Haytham developed analytical geometry by establishing the
linkage between algebra and geometry. Ibn al-Haytham also discovered a formula for adding
the first 100 natural numbers.

His contributions to number theory include his work on perfect numbers. In his
Analysis andSynthesis, Ibn al-Haytham was the first to realize that every even perfect number
is of the form 2n-1 (2n-1) where 2n-1 is prime, but he was not able to prove this result
successfully. It was proved later on in the 18th Century by Euler.17

Life application

Ibn al-Haytham made a thorough examination of the passage of light through various
media and discovered the laws of refraction. He also carried out the first experiments on the
dispersion of light into its constituent colors.

Motto

Whosoever seeks the truth will not proceed by studying the writings of
“
his predecessors and by simply accepting his own good opinion of them.
Whosoever studies works of science must, if he wants to find the truth,
transform himself into a critic of everything he reads.”

109
 51. Julius Plücker
(1801-1868)

Biography

Julius Plücker&#39;s family were descended from merchants who had originally lived
in Aachen but had settled in Elberfeld during the Reformation in the 16th Century. This meant
that Julius&#39;s background was a mixture of French and German and throughout his life it
is evident that he found both attractive. For example, much of his mathematics followed the
French style of geometry as developed by Monge. His father, Johann Peter Plücker (1771-
1844), was a businessman in Elberfeld although he later retired to Dusseldorf. Julius&#39;s
mother was Johanna Maria Lüttringhausen (1776-1843), a daughter of Johannes
Lüttringhausen. Peter and Johanna Plücker had both been born in Elberfeld and they married
in that town on 21 September 1797. They had three children: Julius Plücker, the subject of this
biography, Moritz Rudolf Plücker (1804-1876) and Emil Plücker (died 1871). We note that
almost all sources give Julius&#39;s date of birth as 16 June 1801 but the date on his gravestone
is 16 July 1801 and we have adopted this date.

Julius Plücker first attended the Normal School in Elberfeld run by Johann Friederich
Wilberg (1766-1846) who had undertaken research on the affects of different styles of teaching
on the characters of the pupils. Plücker studied there from 1806 to 1815 and his ability was
recognised by Wilberg who approached Plücker&#39;s father persuading him that his
son&#39;s talents merited further scholarly training. Wilberg recognized that geometry was an
excellent teaching tool to develop self-creative thinking and independence in his students. His
friend, the mathematician William Adolph Diesterweg (1782-1835) encouraged him in the
technical aspect of this idea. The two men had been close friends since 1807. Another of
Wilberg&#39;s friends was Friedrich Kohlrausch (1780-1865) who became a history teacher

110
at the Königlichen Gymnasium in Düsseldorf in 1814. This school had been founded as a
Lyceum by the Jesuits and had begun a process of major innovative development under a new
director Karl Wilhelm Kortum (1789-1859). The school offered an enthusiastic approach to
learning, especially science. In 1816 Plücker, following Wilberg&#39;s advice, moved to the
Königlichen Gymnasium in Düsseldorf to prepare for university studies. After graduating with
a diploma in 1819 he followed the typical path for German university students of the time,
studying at a number of different universities.

He first attended the University of Heidelberg which he entered in the summer semester
of 1891. He spent three semesters at Heidelberg where he attended the lectures of Georg
Friedrich Creuzer (1771-1858), the professor of philology and ancient history. Next he moved
to the University of Bonn beginning his studies there in the winter semester of 1820. Here he
was taught physics and chemistry by Karl Wilhelm Gottlob Kastner (1783-1857) who lectured
at Bonn from 1818 to 1821. He was also taught mathematics and physics by Karl Dietrich von
Münchow (1778-1836), the professor of astronomy, mathematics and physics, and
mathematics by Wilhelm Adolf Diesterweg who had been appointed professor of mathematics
in 1819.

Contribution

was a German mathematician and physicist. He made fundamental contributions to the

field of analytical geometry and was a pioneer in the investigations of cathode rays that led
eventually to the discovery of the electron. He also vastly extended the study of Lamé curves.

Life application

German mathematician and physicist who made fundamental contributions to analytic

andprojective geometry as well as experimental physics.

111
 52. Joseph Liouville
(1809-1882)

Biography
Joseph Liouville&#39;s father was an army captain in Napoleon&#39;s army so Joseph
had to spend the first few years of his life with his uncle. His father was certainly fortunate to
survive the wars and after Napoleon was defeated he retired to live with his family. The family
then settled in Toul where Joseph attended school. From Toul he went to the Collège St Louis
in Paris where he studied mathematics at the highest levels. After reading articles in
Gergonne&#39;s Journal he proved some geometrical results which he wrote up as papers
although they were never published.

Liouville entered the École Polytechnique in 1825 and attended Ampère&#39;s Cours
d&#39;analyse et de mécanique Ⓣ&lt;span class=&quot;non
italic&quot;&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;markup&quot;&gt;Course on analysis
and mechanics&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;non-italic&quot;&gt;)&lt;/span&gt; in
session 1825-26. He also attended courses by Arago at the École Polytechnique as well as a
second course by Ampère at the Collège de France. Although Liouville does not seem to have
attended any of Cauchy&#39;s courses, it is clear that Cauchy must have had a strong influence
on him. Liouville graduated in 1827 with de Prony and Poisson among his examiners.After
graduating from the École Polytechnique Liouville entered the École des Ponts et Chaussées.
However his health suffered when he had to undertake engineering projects and he spent some
time at his home in Toul recovering. By now Liouville was set on an academic career and he
found it impossible to study away from Paris. After a number of periods of leave, one of which
allowed him to marry and have a few days honeymoon, it became clear to him that he must
resign from the École des Ponts et Chaussées. This he did in October of 1830 but even at this
stage he had written a number of papers which he had submitted to the Paris Academy on

112
electrodynamics, partial differential equations and the theory of heat. In 1831 Liouville was
appointed to his first academic post, as assistant to Claude Mathieu who had been appointed to
Ampère&#39;s chair at the École Polytechnique. He was also appointed to a number of private
schools and to the École Centrale. It is remarkable that during this period of his life Liouville
taught between 35 and 40 hours a week at the different institutions. Perhaps with a schedule
this heavy it is not surprising that some courses would not go particularly well and it appears
that he lectured at too high a level for some of the less able students.

Contribution

His work on boundary value problems on differential equations is remembered

because of what is called today Sturm-Liouville theory which is used in solving integral
equations. This theory, which has major importance in mathematical physics, was developed
between 1829 and 1837. Sturm and Liouville examined general linear second order differential
equations and examined properties of their eigenvalues, the behaviour of the eigenfunctions
and the series expansion of arbitrary functions in terms of these eigenfunctions. Liouville
contributed to differential geometry studying conformal transformations. He proved a major
theorem concerning the measure preserving property of Hamiltonian dynamics. The result is
of fundamental importance in statistical mechanics and measure theory.

Life application

Liouville contributed to differential geometry studying conformal transformations. He

proved a major theorem concerning the measure preserving property of Hamiltonian dynamics.
The result is of fundamental importance in statistical mechanics and measure theory.

113
 53. Jacob Bernoulli
(1655-1705)

Biography
Jacob Bernoulli&#39;s father, Nicolaus Bernoulli (1623-1708) inherited the spice
business in Basel that had been set up by his own father, first in Amsterdam and then in Basel.
The family, of Belgium origin, were refugees fleeing from persecution by the Spanish rulers of
the Netherlands. Philip, the King of Spain, had sent the Duke of Alba to the Netherlands in
1567 with a large army to punish those opposed to Spanish rule, to enforce adherence to Roman
Catholicism, and to re-establish Philip&#39;s authority. Alba set up the Council of Troubles
which was a court that condemned over 12000 people but most, like the Bernoulli family who
were of the Protestant faith, fled the country. Nicolaus Bernoulli was an important citizen of
Basel, being a member of the town council and a magistrate. Jacob Bernoulli&#39;s mother
also came from an important Basel family of bankers and local councillors. Jacob Bernoulli
was the brother of Johann Bernoulli and the uncle of Daniel Bernoulli. He was compelled to
study philosophy and theology by his parents, which he greatly resented, and he graduated from
the University of Basel with a master&#39;s degree in philosophy in 1671 and a licentiate in
theology in 1676. During the time that Jacob Bernoulli was taking his university degrees he
was studying mathematics and astronomy against the wishes of his parents. It is worth
remarking that this was a typical pattern for many of the Bernoulli family who made a study of
mathematics despite pressure to make a career in other areas. However Jacob Bernoulli was
the first to go down this road so for him it was rather different in that there was no tradition of
mathematics in the family before Jacob Bernoulli. Later members of the family must have been
much influenced by the tradition of studying mathematics and mathematical physics.
Contribution

114
 In 1690 Bernoulli became the first to use the term integral in analyzing a curve of
descent. His 1691 study of the catenary, or the curve formed by a chain suspended between
its two extremities, was soon applied in the building of suspension bridges. In 1695 he also
applied calculus to the design of bridges.

Life application

Jacob Bernoulli&#39;s first important contributions were a pamphlet on the parallels

of logic and algebra published in 1685, work on probability in 1685 and geometry in 1687.
His geometry result gave a construction to divide any triangle into four equal parts with two
perpendicular lines.

Motto
“Bernoulli wanted a logarithmic spiral and the motto Eadem mutata
resurgo (&#39;Although changed, I rise again the same&#39;)
engraved on his tombstone.”

115
 54. Stefan Banach
(1892-1945)

Biography

Stefan Banach&#39;s father was Stefan Greczek. The first thing to notice is that Banach
was not his father&#39;s surname, but Banach was given his father&#39;s first name. Stefan
Greczek was a tax official who was not married to Banach&#39;s mother who vanished from
the scene after Stefan was baptised, when he was only four days old, and nothing more is known
of her. The name given as Stefan&#39;s mother on his birth certificate is Katarzyna Banach.
She is thought by some to have been the servant of Stefan&#39;s mother, while others claim
that she was a laundress who took care of Stefan when he was very young. In later life Banach
tried to find out who his mother was but his father refused to say anything except that he had
been sworn to secrecy over her identity. Stefan Greczek was born in a small village called
Ostrowsko, some 50 km south of Kraków. It was to Ostrowsko, to his grandmother&#39;s
home, that Banach was taken after his baptism. However, when Banach&#39;s grandmother
took ill, Stefan Greczek arranged for his son to be brought up by Franciszka Plowa who lived
in Kraków with her daughter Maria. Although Banach never went back to live with his
grandmother, he did visit her frequently as he grew up. Maria&#39;s guardian was a French
intellectual Juliusz Mien and he quickly recognised the talents that Banach had. Mien taught
the young boy to speak French and in general gave him an appreciation for education. Banach
attended primary school in Kraków, leaving the school in 1902 to begin his secondary
education at the Henryk Sienkiewicz Gymnasium No 4 in Kraków. By a fortunate coincidence,
one of the students in Banach&#39;s class was Witold Wilkosz who himself went on to become

116
a professor of mathematics. The school does not appear to have been a particularly good one
and in 1906 Wilkosz left to move to a better Gymnasium. Banach, however, remained at
Henryk Sienkiewicz Gymnasium No 4 although he maintained contact with Wilkosz.

Contribution

Stefan Banach was one of the world&#39;s most important mathematicians and
scientists of the 20th Century. He established the field of modern functional analysis, which as
an entirely new branch of mathematics at the time. Stefan also helped develop the theory of
topological vector spaces.

Life application

Banach founded modern functional analysis and made major contributions to the
theory of topological vector spaces. In addition, he contributed to measure theory,
integration, the theory of sets, and orthogonal series. In his dissertation, written in 1920, he
defined axiomatically what today is called a Banach space.

Motto
“A mathematician is a person who can find analogies between
theorems; a better mathematician is one who can see analogies between
proofs and the best mathematician can notice analogies between
theories.”

117
 55. Jean le Rond d’alembert
(1717- 1783)
Biography

D&#39;Alembert was the illegitimate son from one of Mme de Tencin &#39;amorous
liaisons&#39;. His father, Louis-Camus Destouches, was out of the country at the time of
d&#39;Alembert&#39;s birth and his mother left the newly born child on the steps of the
church of St Jean Le Rond. The child was quickly found and taken to a home for homeless
children. He was baptised Jean Le Rond, named after the church on whose steps he had been
found. When his father returned to Paris he made contact with his young son and arranged for
him to be cared for by the wife of a glazier, Mme Rousseau. She would always be
d&#39;Alembert&#39;s mother in his own eyes, particularly since his real mother never
recognised him as her son, and he lived in Mme Rousseau&#39;s house until he was middle-
aged. The first school that d&#39;Alembert attended was a private school, his education being
arranged by his father. His father died in 1726 when d&#39;Alembert was nine years old and
he left him just enough money to give him security. The Destouches family continued to look
after d&#39;Alembert&#39;s education and they arranged for him to enter the Jansenist
Collège des Quatre Nations. He enrolled in the name of Jean-Baptiste Daremberg but soon
changed his name to Jean d&#39;Alembert.

The Collège des Quatre Nations was an excellent place for d&#39;Alembert to study
mathematics even though the course was elementary. The mathematics course, given by
Professor Carron, was based on Varignon&#39;s lectures and d&#39;Alembert was able to
make use of the excellent mathematics library at the Collège. As well as the mathematical
training, he learnt about Descartes&#39; physical ideas at the Collège but, when he formed his
own ideas later in his life, he would have little respect for the views of Descartes.

118
Contribution

His important contributions include the d&#39;Alembert formula, describing how

strings vibrate, and the d&#39;Alembert principle, a generalization of one of Newton&#39;s
classical laws of motion.

Life application

French mathematician, philosopher, and writer, who achieved fame as a mathematician

and scientist before acquiring a considerable reputation as a contributor to and editor of the
famous Encyclopédie

Motto
”The more wit we have, the less satisfied we are with it.”

119
 56. Gotthold Eisenstein
(April 16, 1823-October 11, 1852)

Biography
Gotthold Eisenstein&#39; s father was Johan Konstantin Eisenstein and his mother was
Helene Pollack. The family was Jewish but before Gotthold, who was their first child, was born
they had converted from Judaism to become Protestants. Their family were not well off, for
Johan Eisenstein, after serving in the Prussian army for eight years, found it hard to adjust to a
steady job in civilian life. Despite trying a variety of jobs he did not find a successful occupation
for most of his life, although towards the end of his life things did go right for him. Eisenstein
suffered all his life from bad health but at least he survived childhood which none of his five
brothers and sisters succeeded in doing. All of them died of meningitis, and Gotthold himself
also contracted the disease but he survived it. This disease and the many others which he
suffered from as a child certainly had a psychological as well as a physical effect on him and
he was a hypochondriac all his life. His mother, Helene Eisenstein, had a major role in her
son&#39; s early education.
He wrote an autobiography and in it he describes the way that his mother taught him
the alphabet when he was about two years old, associating objects with each letter to suggest
their shape, like a door for O and a key for K. He also describes his early talent for mathematics
in these autobiographical writings (see for example [1]):-

120
Contribution
There are 3 major areas of mathematics to which Eisenstein contributed. He worked on
the theory of forms and higher reciprocity laws, with the aim of generalizing Gauss&#39;s
results in his Disquisitiones arithmeticae. He also made major contributions to the theory of
elliptic functions. He received many honours.

Life application
He was working on a variety of topics at this time including quadratic forms and cubic forms,
the reciprocity theorem for cubic residues, quadratic partition of prime numbers and reciprocity
laws. Crelle was appointed as referee for Eisenstein&#39;s paper and, with his usual intuition
for spotting young mathematical talent, Crelle immediately realised that here was a potential
genius. Crelle communicated with Alexander von Humboldt who also took immediate note of
the extraordinarily talented youngster. Eisenstein met von Humboldt in March 1844.

Motto
“As a boy of six I could understand the proof of a mathematical
theorem more readily than that meat had to be cut with one&#39;s
knife, not one&#39;s fork.”

121
 57. Pānini
(520 BC-460BC)

Biography

Panini was born in Shalatula, a town near to Attock on the Indus river in present day
Pakistan. The dates given for Panini are pure guesses. Experts give dates in the 4th , 5th , 6th
and 7th century BC and there is also no agreement among historians about the extent of the
work which he undertook. What is in little doubt is that, given the period in which he worked,
he is one of the most innovative people in the whole development of knowledge. We will say
a little more below about how historians have gone about trying to pinpoint the date when
Panini lived. Panini was a Sanskrit grammarian who gave a comprehensive and scientific
theory of phonetics, phonology, and morphology. Sanskrit was the classical literary language
of the Indian Hindus and Panini is considered the founder of the language and literature. It is
interesting to note that the word &quot;Sanskrit&quot; means &quot;complete&quot; or
&quot;perfect&quot; and it was thought ofas the divine language, or language of the gods.

A treatise called Astadhyayi (or Astaka ) is Panini&#39;s major work. It consists of eight
chapters,each subdivided into quarter chapters. In this work Panini distinguishes between the
language of sacred texts and the usual language of communication. Panini gives formal
production rules and definitions to describe Sanskrit grammar. Starting with about 1700 basic
elements like nouns, verbs, vowels, consonants he put them into classes. The construction of
sentences, compound nouns etc. is explained as ordered rules operating on underlying
structures in a manner similar to modern theory. In many ways Panini&#39;s constructions are
similar to the way that a mathematical function is defined today. Joseph writes in [2]:-

122
Contribution

In particular he suggests that algebraic reasoning, the Indian way of representing

numbers bywords, and ultimately the development of modern number systems in India, are
linkedthrough the structure of language.

Life application

Ashtadhyayi, Sanskrit Aṣṭādhyāyī (“Eight Chapters”), Sanskrit treatise on grammar

written in the 6th to 5th century bce by the Indian grammarian Panini. This work set the
linguistic standards for Classical Sanskrit. It sums up in 4,000 sutras the science of phonetics
and grammar that had evolved in the Vedic religion.

123
 58. André Weil
(1906-1998)

Biography
André Weil was born in Paris, the son of Jewish parents. His mother, Salomea Reinherz
(1879-1965) known as Selma, came from a family of Russian Jews who had emigrated to
Austria,while his father, Bernard Bernhard Weil (1872-1955), was a medical doctor whose
family had ived in Strasbourg, Alsace.where details are also given of André&#39;s sister
Simone Adolphine Weil (1909-1943). We should mention that the Weil family originally used
the spelling Weill, for example André&#39;s grandfather was Abraham Weill. The Weil family
being from Alsace had the right to opt for French nationality and they had done this and moved
to Paris. Bernard and Selma Weil were married in Paris in 1905. When André was born in the
following year, in addition to his parents, his paternal grandmother and several uncles were
living in Paris but his paternal grandfather Abraham Weill had died in Strasbourg.
André&#39;s maternal grandmother Hermine Reinherz, who was an excellent pianist, lived in
his family home with the Weil family which, until 1912, was on the Boulevard de Strasbourg.
André&#39;s mother supervised his education for the first few years of his life and he had
learned to read between the ages of 4 and 5. When he was six years old in 1912 [6]:- ... my
mother chose an exceptional elementary teacher, Mademoiselle Chaintreuil, who taught the
tenth form [the second class] at the Lycée Montaigne. After several months of tutoring, she
deemed me capable, even though I was a little too young, of joining her class at the lycée. After
this first year at the lycée, the family went to Ballaigues in Switzerland for their summer
holidays. The family moved from the Boulevard de Strasbourg to the Boulevard Saint-Michel
before André began his second year at the lycée. Having done so well in this first year, he
missed out a form and was put into the top section taught by M Monbeig [6]:-

124
Contribution
One of Weil&#39;s major achievements was his proof of the Riemann hypothesis for
the congruence zeta functions of algebraic function fields. In 1949 he raised certain conjectures
about the congruence zeta function of algebraic varieties over finite fields.

Life application

mathematics, the Weil conjectures were highly influential proposals by André Weil
(1949). Theyled to a successful multi-decade program to prove them, in which many leading
researchersdeveloped the framework of modern algebraic geometry and number theory.

Motto

“God exists since mathematics is consistent, and the Devil exists

since we cannot prove it.”

125
 59. Jean-Pierre Serre
(1926)

Biography

Jean-Pierre Serre&#39;s parents, Jean Serre and Adèle Diet, were both pharmacists.
His mother Adèle had been a pharmacy student at the University of Montpellier and she took
a calculus course (just for fun, she said, since she liked mathematics). In 1932 Jean-Pierre
began his primary school education at the École de Vauvert. It was at the age of seven or eight
that he began to enjoy doing mathematics. In 1937 he moved from the École de Vauvert to
study at the Lycée Alphonse-Daudet in Nîmes. His mother had kept the calculus books that she
had bough when she took the mathematics course at the University of Montpellier and Jean-
Pierre began to learn mathematics from these books [9]:- When I was 14 or 15, I used to look
at these books, and study them. This is how I learned about derivatives, integrals, series and
such (I did that in a purely formal manner - Euler&#39;s style so to speak: I did not like, and
did not understand, epsilons and deltas.) At this time mathematics wasn&#39;t the only subject
he enjoyed. Although he never took much interest in physics, he enjoyed chemistry which was
a topic that his parents, being pharmacists, knew a lot about. In particular his father had a lot
of chemistry books which Jean-Pierre read when he was fifteen or sixteen years old. In fact he
enjoyed one of these books so much that he kept a copy of it - this was the book &quot;Les
colloïdes&quot;, Gauthier-Villars, 1922 by Jacques Duclaux(1877-1978). However, as he went
deeper into chemistry he became less enthusiastic about the subject and became more
convinced that mathematics was the topic for him. He spoke about his time at the Lycée
Alphonse-Daudet in Nîmes in [9]:- In high school I used to do problems for more advanced
classes. I was then in a boarding house in Nimes, staying with children older than I was, and
they used to bully me. So to pacify them, I used to do their mathematics homework. It was as
good a training as any. At the Lycée in Nîmes in the year 1943-44 he had a good mathematics

126
teacher who was nicknamed &quot;Le Barbu&quot; since he had a beard. He was [9]:- ... very
clear, and strict; he demanded that every formula and proof be written neatly. He coached Serre
for the Concours General in mathematics which he sat in 1944 and was placed first. Also in
1944 he sat the Concours General in physics but since he spent the whole six-hour examination
using an incorrect formula, he scored poorly. Serre was awarded his Bachelier ès sciences et
ès lettres in 1944 but remained at the Lycée until 1945 preparing to take the entrance
examination to enter the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. While at the Lycée [9]:-

Contribution

Jean-Pierre Serre is a Fields Medal-winning French mathematician who has made

significant contributions in the fields of algebraic geometry, number theory and topology. Jean-
Pierre&#39;s work has successfully established a new foundation for algebraic geometry and
commutative algebra.

Life application
As do many mathematicians working at the frontiers of the discipline, Jean-Pierre Serre
pecializes in topology, the study of geometric figures whose ...

Motto

“Some mathematicians have a good ear; some not (and some prefer
the slangy expressions such as &#39;iff&#39;). That&#39;s life.”

127
 60. Jacques Hadamard
(1865-1963)

Biography

Jacques Hadamard&#39;s father, Amédée Hadamard, married Claire Marie Jeanne

Picard on 6 June 1864. Amédée Hadamard, who was of a Jewish background, was a teacher
who taught several subjects such as classics, grammar, history and geography while
Jacques&#39; mother taught piano giving private lessons in their home. At the time that
Jacques was born Amédée was teaching at the Lycée Impérial in Versailles but the family
moved to Paris when Jacques was three years old when his father took up a position at the
Lycée Charlemagne.

This was an unfortunate time for a child to be growing up in Paris. The Franco-Prussian
Warwhich began on 19 July 1870 went badly for France and on 19 September 1870 the
Prussiansbegan a siege of Paris. This was a desperate time for the inhabitants of the town who
killed their horses, cats and dogs for food. Hadamard&#39;s family, like many others, ate
elephant meat to survive. Paris surrendered on 28 January 1871 and the Treaty of Frankfurt,
signed on 10 May 1871, was a humiliation for France. Between the surrender and the signing
of the treaty there was essentially a civil war in Paris and the Hadamards&#39; house was burnt
down. The war was not the only cause of sadness for the Hadamards. Jacques&#39; young
sister Jeanne died in 1870 before the siege of Paris and another sister Suzanne, who was born
in 1871, died in 1874. Jacques began his schooling at the Lycée Charlemagne where his father
taught. In his first few years at school he was good at all subjects except mathematics. He
excelled in particular in Greek and Latin. He wrote in 1936:-... in arithmetic, until the fifth
grade, I was last or nearly last. He was not accurate in this statement, for although at first it is
true he was weak in arithmetic, by the fifth class he was placed second in his class at the Lycée.

128
By this time (1875) he was winning prizes in many subjects in the Concours Général, the
national competition for school pupils. It was a good mathematics teacher who turned him
towards mathematics and science, when he was in this fifth class.

In 1875 Hadamard&#39;s father, having acquired a poor reputation as a teacher, was

transferred to the Lycée Louis-le-Grand and Jacques attended this school from 1876. In 1882
he graduated Bachelier ès lettres et ès sciences then, in the following year, he received his
Baccalauréat ès sciences. He was awarded first prize in algebra and first prize in mechanics in
the Concours Général of 1883.

In 1884 Hadamard took the entrance examinations for École Polytechnique and École
NormaleSupérieure; he was placed first in both examinations. He chose the École Normale
Supérieure, where he soon made friends with his fellow students including Duhem and
Painlevé. Among his teachers were Jules Tannery, Hermite, Darboux, Appell, Goursat and
Émile Picard. Already at this stage he began to undertake research, investigating the problem
of finding an estimate for the determinant generated by coefficients of a power series. He
graduated from the École Normale Supérieure on 30 October 1888.

Contribution
In particular he worked on the partial differential equations of mathematical physics
producing results of outstanding importance. His famous 1898 work on geodesics on surfaces
of negative curvature laid the foundations of symbolic dynamics.

Life application

In the same year he was appointed Professor of Astronomy and Rational Mechanics in
Bordeaux. His foundational work on geometry and symbolic dynamics continued in 1898 with
the study of geodesics on surfaces of negative curvature. For his cumulative work, he was
awarded the Prix Poncelet in 1898.

Motto

“Practical application is found by not looking for it, and one can say
that the whole progress of civilization rests on that principle.”

129
 61. Sophus Lie
(1842-1899)

Biography
Sophus Lie&#39;s father was Johann Herman Lie, a Lutheran minister. His parents had six
children and Sophus was the youngest of the six. Sophus first attended school in the town of
Moss, which is a port in south-eastern Norway, on the eastern side of the Oslo Fjord. In 1857
he entered Nissen&#39;s Private Latin School in Christiania (the city which became Kristiania,
then Oslo in 1925) . While at this school he decided to take up a military career, but his eyesight
was not sufficiently good so he gave up the idea and entered University of Christiania. At
university Lie studied a broad science course. There was certainly some mathematics in this
course, and Lie attended lectures by Ludwig Sylow in 1862. Although not on the permanent
staff, Sylow taught a course, substituting for Broch, in which he explained Abel&#39;s and
Galois&#39; work on algebraic equations. Lie also attended lectures by Carl Bjerknes on
mathematics, so he certainly had teachers of considerable quality, yet he graduated in 1865
without having shown any great ability for the subject, or any great liking for it. There followed
a period when Lie could not decide what subject to pursue and he taught pupils while trying to
make his decision. The one thing he knew he wanted was an academic career and he thought
for a while that astronomy might be the right topic. He learnt some mechanics, wondered
whether botany or zoology or physics might be the right subjects and in general became rather
confused. However, there are signs that from 1866 he began to read more and more
mathematics and the library records in the University of Christiania show clearly that his
interests were steadily turning in that direction. It was during the year 1867 that Lie had his
first brilliant new mathematical idea. It came to him in the middle of the night and, filled with
excitement, he rushed to see his friend Ernst Motzfeldt, woke him up and shouted:-

130
Contribution
Lie&#39;s principal tool, and one of his greatest achievements, was the discovery that
continuous transformation groups (now called, after him, Lie groups) could be better
understood by &quot;linearizing&quot; them, and studying the corresponding generating
vector fields (the so-called infinitesimal generators).

Life application

Mathematics is a fundamental part of human thought and logic, and integral to attempts at
understanding the world and ourselves. Mathematics provides an effective way of building
mental discipline and encourages logical reasoning and mental rigor.

Motto

“It may be said that the conceptions of differential quotient and

integral, which in their origin certainly go back to Archimedes ...”

131
 62. Jakob Steiner
(1796-1863)

Biography

Jakob Steiner&#39;s parents were Anna Barbara Weber (1757-1832) and Niklaus
Steiner (1752-1826). Anna and Niklaus were married on 28 January 1780 and they had eight
children. Jakob was the youngest of the children and spent his early years helping his parents
with the small farm and business that they ran near the village of Utzenstorf, about 24 km north
of Bern. He did not learn to read and write until he was 14 but he then proved invaluable [1]:-
As a child he had to help his parents on the farm and in their business: his skill in calculation
was of great assistance. Jakob, however, wanted something better for himself but his parents
were delighted to have his help with their business. At the age of 18, against the wishes of his
parents, he left home to attend Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi&#39;s school at Yverdom at the
south-east end of the Lake of Neuchâtel. Pestalozzi ran his innovative school in the town from
1805 to 1825 and Steiner entered in the spring of 1814. The fact that Steiner was unable to pay
anything towards his education at the school was not a problem, for Pestalozzi wanted to try
out his educational methods on the poor. Pestalozzi&#39;s school had a very significant effect
on Steiner&#39;s attitude both to the teaching of mathematics and also to his philosophy when
undertaking research in mathematics. He wrote in 1826 (see for example [1]):- The method
used in Pestalozzi&#39;s school, treating the truths of mathematics as objects of independent
reflection, led me, as a student there, to seek other grounds for the theorems presented in the
courses than those provided by my teachers. Where possible I looked for

deeper bases, and I succeeded so often that my teachers preferred my proofs to their
own. As a

132
 result, after I had been there for a year and a half, it was thought that I could give
instruction in mathematics. ... Without my knowledge or wishing it, continuous concern with
teaching has intensified by striving after scientific unity and coherence. Just as related theorems
in a single branch of mathematics grow out of one another in distinct classes, so, I believed, do
the branches of mathematics itself. I glimpsed the idea of the organic unity of all the objects of
mathematics; and I believed at that time that I could find this unity in some university; if not
as an independent subject, at least in the form of specific suggestions. In the autumn of 1818,
Steiner left Yverdom and travelled to Heidelberg where he earned his living giving private
mathematics lessons. He attended lectures at the Universities of Heidelberg on combinatorial
analysis, differential and integral calculus and algebra. Also at this time he became interested
in mechanics and he wrote three unpublished manuscripts on the topic in 1821, 1824 and 1825.
At Easter 1821 he left Heidelberg and travelled to Berlin, where again he supported himself
with a very modest income from tutoring. He had no formal teaching qualifications so he
decided that he needed to sit the necessary examinations to allow him to become a mathematics
master in a gymnasium. He was not completely successful for after taking the necessary
examinations in Berlin he was only awarded a restricted license to teach. His problem was not
in mathematics but in the other subjects which were examined such as history and literature.
This restricted license was, however, sufficient to allow him to be appointed to the Werder
Gymnasium in Berlin.

Contribution

Jakob Steiner (1796–1863) was a Swiss mathematician who specialized in geometry.

Considered one of the greatest pure geometers who ever lived, he introduced the concept of
geometric forms, perfected the theory of duality in geometry, and contributed much to the
development of modern projective geometry.

Life application
He was one of the greatest contributors to projective geometry. He discovered the
&#39;Steiner surface&#39; which has a double infinity of conic sections on it. The
&#39;Steiner theorem&#39; states that the two pencils by which a conic is projected from two
of its points are projectively related.

Motto

“I don&#39;t usually read my reviews. I&#39;ve noticed older

reviewers are much more bothered by the plot complications. Younger
reviews don&#39;t seem to be bothered by the complications at all. -
Author: Heidi Julavits”

133
 63. Gottlob Frege
(1848- 1925)

Biography

Frege was born in 1848 in Wismar, Mecklenburg-Schwerin (today part of

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). His father Carl (Karl) Alexander Frege (1809–1866) was the co-
founder andheadmaster of a girls&#39; high school until his death. After Carl&#39;s death,
the school was led by Frege&#39;s mother Auguste Wilhelmine Sophie Frege (née
Bialloblotzky, 12 January 1815 – 14 October 1898); her mother was Auguste Amalia Maria
Ballhorn, a descendant of Philipp Melanchthon[17] and her father was Johann Heinrich
Siegfried Bialloblotzky, a descendant of a Polish noble family who left Poland in the 17th
century.[18] Frege was a Lutheran.[19] In childhood, Frege encountered philosophies that
would guide his future scientific career. For example, his father wrote a textbook on the
German language for children aged 9–13, entitled Hülfsbuch zum Unterrichte in der deutschen
Sprache für Kinder von 9 bis 13 Jahren (2nd ed., Wismar 1850; 3rd ed., Wismar and
Ludwigslust: Hinstorff, 1862) (Help book for teaching German to children from 9 to 13 years
old), the first section of which dealt with the structure and logic of language. Frege studied at
Große Stadtschule Wismar [de] and graduated in 1869.[20] His teacher Gustav Adolf Leo
Sachse (5 November 1843 – 1 September 1909), who was a poet, played the mostimportant
role in determining Frege&#39;s future scientific career, encouraging him to continue his
studies at the University of Jena.

134
Contribution

His contributions include the development of modern logic in the Begriffsschrift and
work in the foundations of mathematics. His book the Foundations of Arithmetic is the seminal
text of the logicist project, and is cited by Michael Dummett as where to pinpoint the linguistic
turn. His philosophical papers &quot;On Sense and Reference&quot; and
&quot;TheThought&quot; are also widely cited. The former argues for two different types of
meaning and descriptivism. In Foundations and &quot;The Thought&quot;, Frege argues for
Platonism against psychologism or formalism, concerning numbers and propositions
respectively. Russell&#39;s paradox undermined the logicist project by showing Frege&#39;s
Basic Law V in the Foundations to be false.

Life application

Though his education and early mathematical work focused primarily on geometry,
Frege&#39;s work soon turned to logic. His Begriffsschrift, eine der arithmetischen
nachgebildete Formelsprache des reinen Denkens [Concept-Script: A Formal Language for
Pure Thought Modeled on that of Arithmetic], Halle a/S: Verlag von Louis Nebert, 1879
marked a turning point in the history of logic. The Begriffsschrift broke new ground, including
a rigorous treatment of the ideas of functions and variables. Frege&#39;s goal was to show that
mathematics grows out of logic, and in so doing, he devised techniques that separated him from
the Aristotelian syllogistic but took him rather close to Stoic propositional logic.[21]

Motto

“Every good mathematician is at least half a philosopher, and every

good philosopher is at least half a mathematician.”

135
 64. Eudoxus of Cnidus
(408BC-355BC)

Biography
Eudoxus of Cnidus was the son of Aischines. As to his teachers, we know that he
travelled to Tarentum, now in Italy, where he studied with Archytas who was a follower of
Pythagoras. The problem of duplicating the cube was one which intereste Archyta and it would
be reasonable to suppose that Eudoxus&#39;s interest in that problem was stimulated by his
teacher. Other topics that it is probable that he learnt about from Archyta include number theory
and the theory of music. Eudoxus also visited Sicily, where he studied medicine with Philiston,
before making his first visit to Athens in the company of the physician Theomedon. Eudoxus
spent two months in Athens on this visit and he certainly attended lectures on philosophy by
Plato and other philosophers at the Academy which had only been established a short time
before. Heath [3] writes of Eudoxus as a student in Athens:- ... so poor was he that he took up
his abode at the Piraeus and trudged to Athens and back on foot each day. After leaving Athens,
he spent over a year in Egypt where he studied astronomy with the priests at Heliopolis. At this
time Eudoxus made astronomical observations from an observatory which was situated
between Heliopolis and Cercesura. From Egypt Eudoxus travelled to Cyzicus in northwestern
Asia Minor on the south shore of the sea of Marmara. There he established a

School which proved very popular and he had many followers. In around 368 BC
Eudoxus made a second visit to Athens accompanied by a number of his followers. It is hard
to work out exactly what his relationship with Plato and the Academy were at this time. There
is some evidence to suggest that Eudoxus had little respect for Plato&#39;s analytic ability and
it is easy to see why that might be, since as a mathematician his abilities went far beyond those
of Plato. It is also suggested that Plato was no entirely pleased to see how successful

136
Eudoxus&#39;s School had become. Certainly there is no reason to believe that the two
philosophers had much influence on each others ideas.

Contribution in math

342–337 bce, Cnidus), Greek mathematician and astronomer who substantially

advanced proportion theory, contributed to the identification of constellations and thus to the
development of observational astronomy in the Greek world, and established the first
sophisticated, geometrical model of celestial motion.

Life application

The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle extended Eudoxus&#39; model of the universe
in the 4th century BCE. Aristotle&#39;s model of the universe was also geocentric, with the
Sun, Moon, planets, and stars all orbiting the Earth inside of Eudoxus&#39; spheres.

137
 65. Camille Jordan
(1838-1922)

Biography

Camille Jordan&#39;s father, Esprit-Alexandre Jordan (1800-1888), was an engineer

who had bee educated at the École Polytechnique. Camille&#39;s mother, Joséphine Puvis de
Chavannes, was the sister of the famous painter Pierre Puvis de Chavannes who was the
foremost French mural painter of the second half of the 19th century. Camille&#39;s
father&#39;s family were also quite well known; a grand-uncle also called Ennemond-Camille
Jordan (1771-1821) achieved a high political position while a cousin Alexis Jordan (1814-
1897) was a famous botanist. Jordan studied at the Lycée de Lyon and at the Collège
d&#39;Oullins. He entered the École Polytechnique to study mathematics in 1855. This
establishment provided training to be an engineer and Jordan, like many other French
mathematicians of his time, qualified as an engineer and took up that profession. Cauchy in
particular had been one to take this route and, like Cauchy, Jordan was able to work as a
engineer and still devote considerable time to mathematical research. Jordan&#39;s doctoral
thesis was in two parts with the first part Sur le nombre des valeurs des fonctions Ⓣ&lt;span
class=&quot;non-italic&quot;&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;spa class=&quot;markup&quot;&gt;On
the number of function values&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;non
italic&quot;&gt;)&lt;/span&gt; being on algebra. The second part entitled Sur des periodes des
fonctions inverses des intégrales des différentielles algebriques Ⓣ&lt;spa class=&quot;non-
italic&quot;&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;markup&quot;&gt;On the periods of
inverse functions of the integrals of algebraic differentials&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span
class=&quot;non-italic&quot;&gt;)&lt;/span&gt; was on integrals of the form ∫ u d z \int u dz
∫ udz where u u u is a function satisfying an algebraic equation f ( u , z) = 0 f (u, z) = 0 f(u,z)=0.

138
Jordan was examined on 14 January 1861 by Duhamel, Serret an Puiseux. In fact the topic of
the second part of Jordan&#39;s thesis had been proposed by Puiseux and it was this second
part which the examiners preferred. After the examination he continued to work as an engineer,
first at Privas, then at Chalon-sur-Saône, and finally in Paris.

Jordan married Marie-Isabelle Munet, the daughter of the deputy mayor of Lyon, in
1862. They had eight children, two daughters and six sons. From 1873 he was an examiner at
the École Polytechnique where he became professor of analysis on 25 November 1876. He was
also a professor at the Collège de France from 1883 although until 1885 he was at least
theoretically still an engineer by profession. It is significant, however, that he found more time
to undertake research when he was an engineer. Most of his original research dates from this
period. Jordan was a mathematician who worked in a wide variety of different areas essentiall
contributing to every mathematical topic which was studied at that time. The references [3],
[4],[5], [6] are to the four volumes of his complete works and the range of topics is seen from
the contents of these. Volumes 1 and 2 contain Jordan&#39;s papers on finite groups,Volume
3 contains his papers on linear and multilinear algebra and on the theory of numbers, while
Volume 4 contains papers on the topology of polyhedra, differential equations, and mechanics.

Contribution in math

Jordan is best remembered today among analysts and topologists for his proof that a
simply closed curve divides a plane into exactly two regions, now called the Jordan curve
theorem.

Life application

Jordan was a professor of mathematics at the École Polytechnique in Paris from 1876
to 1912. He also edited the Journal des mathématiques pures et appliquées (1885–1922; Journal
of Pure and Applied

139
 66. François Viète
(1540-1603)
Biography

France François Viète (or Franciscus Vieta) was a French nobleman and lawyer who
was a favorite of King Henry IV and eventually became a royal privy councilor. In one notable
accomplishment he broke the Spanish diplomatic code, allowing the French government to
read Spain’s messages and publish a secret Spanish letter; this apparently led to the end of the
Huguenot Wars of Religion. More importantly, Vieta was certainly the best French
mathematician prior to Descartes and Fermat. He laid the groundwork for modern mathematics;
his works were the primary teaching for both Descartes and Fermat; Isaac Newton also studied
Vieta. In his role as a young tutor Vieta used decimal numbers before they were popularized
by Simon Stevin and may have guessed that planetary orbits were ellipses before Kepler.

Contribution in math
François Viète. Vieta made significant contributions to trigonometry, algebra, and
geometry. His first published work, the Canon mathematics [Canon, 1579] has trigonometric
tables computed to 9 decimal places, and contains a systematic collection of trigonometric
formulas. Vieta did work in geometry, reconstructing and publishing proofs for Apollonius’
lost theorems, including all ten cases of the general Problem of Apollonius. Vieta also used his
new algebraic techniques to construct a regular heptagon; he also discovered the Vieta’s
formulas which connect a polynomial’s roots to its coefficients. He discovered several
trigonometric identities including a generalization of Ptolemy’s Formula, the latter (then called
prosthaphaeresis) providing a calculation shortcut similar to logarithms in that multiplication
is reduced to addition (or exponentiation reduced to multiplication).

140
Life Application
Trigonometry can be used to roof a house, to make the roof inclined (in the case of single
individual bungalows) and the height of the roof in buildings etc.
Engineers use algebra to calculate trajectories and velocities of moving objects.
Geometry primarily used in the fields of art, measurements, and architecture. It is also used in
navigation, surveying, astronomy, and much more.

Motto
“There is no problem that cannot be solved”

141
 67. Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier
(1768-1830)

Biography
Fourier was born at Auxerre (now in the Yonne department of France), the son of a
tailor. He was orphaned at the age of nine. Fourier was recommended to the Bishop of Auxerre
and, through this introduction, he was educated by the Benedictine Order of the Convent of St.
Mark. The commissions in the scientific corps of the army were reserved for those of good
birth, and being thus ineligible, he accepted a military lectureship on mathematics. He took a
prominent part in his own district in promoting the French Revolution, serving on the local
Revolutionary Committee. He was imprisoned briefly during the Terror but, in 1795, was
appointed to the École Normale and subsequently succeeded Joseph-Louis Lagrange at the
École Polytechnique.

Contribution in math
Joseph Fourier studied the mathematical theory of heat conduction. He established the
partial differential equation governing heat diffusion and solved it by using infinite series of
trigonometric functions.

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Life Application
Engineering, fluid mechanics, atmospheric science, climate physics, weather
forecasting, option pricing, Geophysics, solar physics, all use the heat equation to solve their
problems. With the wave equation, the heat equation is the most important equation.

Motto

“Primary causes are unknown to us; but are subject to simple and
constant laws, which may be discovered by observation, the study of
them being the object of natural philosophy”

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 68. Christiaan Huygens
(1629-1695)
Biography

Christiaan Huygens was born on 14 April 1629 in The Hague, into a rich and influential
Dutch family, the second son of Constantijn Huygens. Christiaan was named after his paternal
grandfather. His mother, Suzanna van Baerle died shortly after giving birth to Huygens's sister.
The couple had five children: Constantijn (1628), Christiaan (1629), Lodewijk (1631), Philips
(1632) and Suzanna (1637).

Contribution in math

He proposed that an object’s center of gravity moves in a straight line, and calculated
the formula for centrifugal force, the outward-pushing force on a rotating body. Huygens also
invented the first pendulum clock, with an error of less than one minute a day. He developed
laws of motion before Newton, including the inverse-square law of gravitation, centripetal
force, and treatment of solid bodies rather than point approximations; he (and Wallis) was first
to state the law of momentum conservation correctly. He advanced the wave (“undulatory”)
theory of light, a key concept being Huygens’s Principle, that each point on a wave front act as
a new source of radiation. His optical discoveries include explanations for polarization and
phenomena like haloes.

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Life Application

Huygens’s principle helps determine where the wave propagates and how it propagates.
It is also useful in linear wave propagation and spherical wave propagation. Huygens principle
provides a basic understanding of the wave nature of light. This principle by Hugyen is used to
explain the diffraction of light.

Pendulums are used to regulate the movement of clocks because the interval of time for each
complete oscillation, called the period, is constant.
Law of motion reducing the weight of racing cars to increase their speed.
Inverse-square law helps to calculate the source to film distances in X-ray techniques.
The centripetal force is provided by the frictional force between the ground and the wheels
when turning a car.
Law momentum is just about every activity that involves motion.

Motto

“The World is my country, to promote Science my religion.”

145
 69. Bonaventura Francesco de Cavalieri
(1598-1647)

Biography
Bonaventura Cavalieri was given the name Francesco when he was born. His father’s
name was Bonaventura Cavalieri but when Francesco joined the religious order of the Jesuati
in Milan in 1615 he took the name Bonaventura. He is always known by that name. The
religious order of the Jesuati, which he joined, was founded by Giovanni Colombini of Siena
and his friend Francesco Miani in 1360. Originally the Jesuati cared for those afflicted with the
Black Death, but the order recruited fewer as time went on. In 1606 an attempt was made to
encourage more young men to join. Although they had some success in recruiting, and in
particular Cavalieri joined, nevertheless the order eventually failed and was dissolved by pope
Clement IX in 1668. The order was named Jesuati because their sermons always began and
ended with the name of ‘Jesus’ being shouted out. As a Jesuati, Cavalieri would have always
worn sandals and flagellated himself daily.

Contribution
Cavalieri was largely responsible for introducing the use of logarithms as a
computational tool in Italy through his book Directorium Generale Uranometricum (1632; “A
General Directory of Uranometry”).

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Life Application
 Using Logarithmic Functions some examples of this include sound (decibel measures),
earthquakes (Richter scale), the brightness of stars, and chemistry (pH balance, a measure of acidity
and alkalinity). Let’s look at the Richter scale, a logarithmic function that is used to measure the
magnitude of earthquakes.

Motto

“Few, if any, since Archimedes, have delved as far and as deep

into the science of geometry.”

147
 70. Hermann Günter Grassmann
(1809-1877)

Biography
Hermann Grassmann was the third of 12 children of Justus Günter Grassmann, an
ordained minister who taught mathematics and physics at the Stettin Gymnasium, where
Hermann was educated. Grassmann was an undistinguished student until he obtained a high
mark on the examinations for admission to Prussian universities. Beginning in 1827, he studied
theology at the University of Berlin, also taking classes in classical languages, philosophy, and
literature. He does not appear to have taken courses in mathematics or physics.

Contribution
Grassmann was an exceptional polymath: the term Grassmann's Law is applied to two
separate facts in the fields of optics and linguistics, both discovered by Hermann Grassmann.
He also did advanced work in crystallography, electricity, botany, folklore, and also wrote on
political subjects. He had little formal training in mathematics, yet single-handedly developed
linear algebra, vector and tensor calculus, multi-dimensional geometry, new results about cubic
surfaces, the theory of extension, and exterior algebra; most of this work was so innovative it
was not properly appreciated in his own lifetime. (Heaviside rediscovered vector analysis many
years later.) Grassmann's exterior algebra, and the associated concept of Grassmannian
manifold, provide a simplifying framework for many algebraic calculations. Recently their use
led to an important simplification in quantum physics calculations.

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Life Application
• Linear algebra for calculation of speed, distance, or time.
• Vectors have many real-life applications, including situations involving force or velocity.
For example, consider the forces acting on a boat crossing a river
• Tensors have their applications to Riemannian geometry, Mechanics, Elasticity, Theory of
Relativity, Electromagnetic Theory and many other disciplines of Science and Engineering.
• Multi-dimensional Geometry measuring orbits and planetary motions.
• Exterior Algebra, exterior product or wedge product of vectors is an algebraic construction
used in geometry to study areas, volumes, and their higher-dimensional analogues.

149
 70. Albert Eistein
(1879-1955)

Biography
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be
one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for
developing the theory of relativity, but he also made important contributions to the
development of the theory of quantum mechanics.

Contribution
He discovered the Einsteinian tensor and, through his application of tensors in
general relativity theory, he urged mathematicians to develop multidimensional
geometries. He gave the first correct mathematical expression of Galilean
relativity, which was a problem that had defeated both Newton and Leibniz at that
time. He not only derived the Lorentz transformation, establishing relativity as a
mathematical theory of physics, but also adapted Differential Geometry to use the
Lorentzian metric to show that it gave the correct description of gravity. He came up
with the “Einstein summation convention.” Einstein demonstrated the bending of
light 7 and the advancement of the perihelion. It was Einstein who first recognized
that the phenomenon of entanglement was implicit in the mathematical structure of
quantum mechanics. Apart from these, many interesting mathematical problems arose
as a result of his discoveries in physics. For example, his paper on Brownian
motion 9 in 1905 led to Wiener’s development of the Wiener process, a key concept
in probability and stochastic processes. He also published many papers on important
concepts like photoelectric effect, brownian motion, special relativity, and energy
150
equivalence. Among the many math articles that he published, the two articles on
differential geometry and field equations 10 have had the greatest impact on
contemporary mathematics. In addition to introducing index notation, he made
significant contributions to the field of index notations.

Life application
Relativity Theory it's mostly used when discussing huge energies, ultra-fast speeds and
astronomical distances, all without the complications of gravity.

Motto

“To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”

151
 71. Julius Wilhelm Richard Dedekind
(1831-1916)

Biography
Richard Dedekind's father was a professor at the Collegium Carolinum in Brunswick.
His mother was the daughter of a professor who also worked at the Collegium Carolinum.
Richard was the youngest of four children and never married. He was to live with one of his
sisters, who also remained unmarried, for most of his adult life. He attended school in
Brunswick from the age of seven and at this stage mathematics was not his main interest. The
school, Martino-Catharineum, was a good one and Dedekind studied science, in particular
physics and chemistry. However, physics became less than satisfactory to Dedekind with what
he considered an imprecise logical structure and his attention turned towards mathematics. The
Collegium Carolinum was an educational institution between a high school and a university
and he entered it in 1848 at the age of 16. There he was to receive a good understanding of
basic mathematics studying differential and integral calculus, analytic geometry and the
foundations of analysis. He entered the University of Gottingen in the spring of 1850 with a
solid grounding in mathematics.

Contribution
Richard Dedekind's major contribution was a redefinition of irrational numbers in terms
of Dedekind cuts. He introduced the notion of an ideal in Ring Theory.

152
 72. James C. Maxwell
(1831-1879)
Biography
James Clerk Maxwell was one of the most influential scientists of the nineteenth
century. His theoretical work on electromagnetism and light largely determined the direction
that physics would take in the early 20th century. Indeed, according to Albert Einstein, “One
scientific epoch ended and another began with James Clerk Maxwell.” When he was born on
June 13, 1831 in Edinburgh, Scotland, the scientist-to-be was only known as James Clerk, but
the surname of Maxwell was added to his appellation when his father, an attorney, inherited an
estate from ancestors with that name. Maxwell was an only child, and his mother died from
cancer when he was 8 years old. A tutor was at first engaged to educate him, but then, in 1841,
he was enrolled at the Edinburgh Academy. His interests were wide ranging, and at the age of
14 his first paper was published. The subject was geometry, and his skill in this and other
mathematical spheres would aid him in his many scientific endeavors. Maxwell began studying
at the University of Edinburgh in 1847 and published two more papers while still a teenager.

Maxwell’s interests ranged far beyond the school syllabus, and he did not pay particular
attention to examination performance. His first scientific paper, published when he was only
14 years old, described a generalized series of oval curves that could be traced with pins and
thread by analogy with an ellipse. This fascination with geometry and with mechanical models
continued throughout his career and was of great help in his subsequent research.

At age 16 he entered the University of Edinburgh, where he read voraciously on all

subjects and published two more scientific papers. In 1850 he went to the University of
Cambridge, where his exceptional powers began to be recognized. His mathematics teacher,

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William Hopkins, was a well-known “wrangler maker” (a wrangler is one who takes first-class
honours in the mathematics examinations at Cambridge) whose students included Tait, George
Gabriel (later Sir George) Stokes, William Thomson (later Baron Kelvin), Arthur Cayley, and
Edward John Routh. Of Maxwell, Hopkins is reported to have said that he was the most
extraordinary man he had ever met, that it seemed impossible for him to think wrongly on any
physical subject, but that in analysis he was far more deficient. (Other contemporaries also
testified to Maxwell’s preference for geometrical over analytical methods.) This shrewd
assessment was later borne out by several important formulas advanced by Maxwell that
obtained correct results from faulty mathematical arguments.

Contribution
He is best known for the formulation of the theory of electromagnetism and in making
the connection between light and electromagnetic waves.

Life Application

Most of the electric appliances used in the home use electromagnetism as the basic
working principle. Some electromagnet uses in the home include an electric fan, electric
doorbell, induction cooker, magnetic locks, etc.

Motto

“Mathematicians may flatter themselves that they possess new ideas

which mere human language is as yet unable to express.”

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 73. Girolamo Cardan
(1501-1576)

Biography
Girolamo Cardan or Cardano was an Italian doctor and mathematician who is famed
for his work Ars Magna which was the first Latin treatise devoted solely to algebra. In it he
gave the methods of solution of the cubic and quartic equations which he had learnt from
Tartaglia. Girolamo or Hieronimo Cardano's name was Hieronymus Cardanus in Latin and he
is sometimes known by the English version of his name Jerome Cardan. Girolamo Cardano
was the illegitimate child of Fazio Cardano and Chiara Micheria. His father was a lawyer in
Milan but his expertise in mathematics was such that he was consulted by Leonardo da Vinci
on questions of geometry. In addition to his law practice, Fazio lectured on geometry, both at
the University of Pavia and, for a longer spell, at the Piatti foundation in Milan. When he was
in his fifties, Fazio met Chiara Micheria, who was a young widow in her thirties, struggling to
raise three children.

Cardano was the most outstanding mathematician of his time. In 1539 he published two
books on arithmetic embodying his popular lectures, the more important being Practica
arithmetica et mensurandi singularis (“Practice of Mathematics and Individual
Measurements”). His Ars magna (1545) contained the solution of the cubic equation, for which
he was indebted to the Venetian mathematician Niccolò Tartaglia, and also the solution of the
quartic equation found by Cardano’s former servant, Lodovico Ferrari. His Liber de ludo aleae
(The Book on Games of Chance) presents the first systematic computations of probabilities, a
century before Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat. Cardano’s popular fame was based largely
on books dealing with scientific and philosophical questions, especially De subtilitate rerum

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(“The Subtlety of Things”), a collection of physical experiments and inventions, interspersed
with anecdotes.

Cardano’s favourite son, having married a disreputable girl, poisoned her and was
executed in 1560. Cardano never recovered from the blow. From 1562 he was a professor in
Bologna, but in 1570 he was suddenly arrested on the accusation of heresy. After several
months in jail he was permitted to abjure privately, but he lost his position and the right to
publish books. Before his death he completed his autobiography, De propria vita (The Book of
My Life).

Contribution
He did the first calculations with complex numbers. From 1540 to 1542, Cardano
abandoned his studies and did nothing but gamble, playing chess all day. In 1545 Cardano
published his greatest mathematical work Ars Magna. In it he gave the methods of solution of
the cubic and quartic equation.

Life Application

Complex number is used in Electromagnetism. Complex number is used to simplify the

unknown roots if roots are not real for quadratic equations. Complex numbers are used in
computer science engineering. Complex number is used in mechanical and civil engineering.

Motto

“Mathematics, however, is, as it were, its own explanation; this,

although it may seem hard to accept, is nevertheless true, for the
recognition that a fact is so is the cause upon which we base the
proof.”

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 74. Aristotle
(384 BC-322 BC)

Biography
Aristotle was born in 384 B.C. in Stagira in northern Greece. Both of his parents were
members of traditional medical families, and his father, Nicomachus, served as court physician
to King Amyntus III of Macedonia. His parents died while he was young, and he was likely
raised at his family’s home in Stagira. At age 17 he was sent to Athens to enroll in Plato's
Academy. He spent 20 years as a student and teacher at the school, emerging with both a great
respect and a good deal of criticism for his teacher’s theories. Plato’s own later writings, in
which he softened some earlier positions, likely bear the mark of repeated discussions with his
most gifted student. During the later Middle Ages (c. 1300-1500 CE), he was referred to as
"The Master", most notably in Dante's Inferno where the author did not need to even identify
Aristotle by name for him to be recognized. This particular epithet is apt in that Aristotle wrote
on, and was considered a master in, disciplines as diverse as biology, politics, metaphysics,
agriculture, literature, botany, medicine, mathematics, physics, ethics, logic, and the theatre.
He is traditionally linked in sequence with Socrates and Plato in the triad of the three greatest
Greek philosophers. Plato (l. c. 428-348 BCE) was a student of Socrates (l. c. 469/470-399
BCE) and Aristotle studied under Plato. The student and teacher disagreed on a fundamental
aspect of Plato's philosophy – the insistence on a higher realm of Forms which made objective
reality possible on the earthly plane – although, contrary to the claims of some scholars this did
not cause any rift between them. Aristotle would build upon Plato's theories to advance his own
original thought and, although he rejected Plato's Theory of Forms, he never disparaged his
former master's basic philosophy.

157
 Because of its wide range and its remoteness in time, Aristotle’s philosophy defies easy
encapsulation. The long history of interpretation and appropriation of Aristotelian texts and
themes—spanning over two millennia and comprising philosophers working within a variety
of religious and secular traditions—has rendered even basic points of interpretation
controversial. The set of entries on Aristotle in this site addresses this situation by proceeding
in three tiers. First, the present, general entry offers a brief account of Aristotle’s life and
characterizes his central philosophical commitments, highlighting his most distinctive methods
and most influential achievements. Second are General Topics, which offer detailed
introductions to the main areas of Aristotle’s philosophical activity. Finally, there follow
Special Topics, which investigate in greater detail more narrowly focused issues, especially
those of central concern in recent Aristotelian scholarship.

Contribution
He made pioneering contributions to all fields of philosophy and science, he invented
the field of formal logic, and he identified the various scientific disciplines and explored their
relationships to each other. Aristotle was also a teacher and founded his own school in Athens,
known as the Lyceum. Aristotle provides several examples of such triads of terms in
mathematics, e.g., two right angles-angles about a point-triangle, or right angle-half two right
angles-angle in a semicircle. Finally, Aristotle's philosophy of mathematics provides an
important alternative to platonism. In this regard, there has been a revival of interest in recent
years because of its affinity to physicalism and fictionalisms based on physicalism. However,
his philosophy of mathematics may better be understood as a philosophy of exact or
mathematical sciences.

Life Application

A platonist might assert that the number pi exists outside of space and time and has the
characteristics it does regardless of any mental or physical activities of human beings.

Motto

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

158
 74. Galileo Galilei
(1564-1642)
Biography

Galileo was born in Pisa, Tuscany, on February 15, 1564, the oldest son of Vincenzo
Galilei, a musician who made important contributions to the theory and practice of music and
who may have performed some experiments with Galileo in 1588–89 on the relationship
between pitch and the tension of strings. The family moved to Florence in the early 1570s,
where the Galilei family had lived for generations. In his middle teens Galileo attended the
monastery school at Vallombrosa, near Florence, and then in 1581 matriculated at the
University of Pisa, where he was to study medicine. However, he became enamoured with
mathematics and decided to make the mathematical subjects and philosophy his profession,
against the protests of his father. Galileo then began to prepare himself to teach Aristotelian
philosophy and mathematics, and several of his lectures have survived. In 1585 Galileo left the
university without having obtained a degree, and for several years he gave private lessons in
the mathematical subjects in Florence and Siena. During this period he designed a new form of
hydrostatic balance for weighing small quantities and wrote a short treatise, La bilancetta (“The
Little Balance”), that circulated in manuscript form. He also began his studies on motion, which
he pursued steadily for the next two decades. At this point, however, Galileo’s career took a
dramatic turn. In the spring of 1609 he heard that in the Netherlands an instrument had been
invented that showed distant things as though they were nearby. By trial and error, he quickly
figured out the secret of the invention and made his own three-powered spyglass from lenses
for sale in spectacle makers’ shops. Others had done the same; what set Galileo apart was that
he quickly figured out how to improve the instrument, taught himself the art of lens grinding,
and produced increasingly powerful telescopes. In August of that year he presented an eight-

159
powered instrument to the Venetian Senate (Padua was in the Venetian Republic). He was
rewarded with life tenure and a doubling of his salary. Galileo was now one of the highest-paid
professors at the university. In the fall of 1609 Galileo began observing the heavens with
instruments that magnified up to 20 times. In December he drew the Moon’s phases as seen
through the telescope, showing that the Moon’s surface is not smooth, as had been thought, but
is rough and uneven. In January 1610 he discovered four moons revolving around Jupiter. He
also found that the telescope showed many more stars than are visible with the naked eye.
These discoveries were earthshaking, and Galileo quickly produced a little book, Sidereus
Nuncius (The Sidereal Messenger), in which he described them.

Contribution
He is credited with establishing the modern method of experimentation. He was the
first scientist and thinker to try to prove or disprove theory by conducting tests and observing
the results. Prior to Galileo, scientific theory was purely based on hypothesis and conjecture. It
was in the interest of conducting accurate tests and in making precise observations that Galileo
developed a number of inventions, including the hydrostatic balance (a device designed to
measure the density of objects) in about 1586, and the thermometer (one of the first measuring
devices used in science) in 1593.

Life Application

In applications, the principles of hydrostatics are used for problems relating to pressure
in deep water (pressure increases with depth) and high in the atmosphere (pressure lessens with
altitude).

Motto

“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is
to discover them."

160
 76. Michael F. Atiyah
(1929-2019)

Biography
Michael Francis Atiyah, (born April 22, 1929, London, England—died January 11,
2019). Michael Atiyah's father, Edward Selim Atiyah (1903-1964), was Lebanese and his
mother, Jean Levens, was Scottish. Edward, whose father was a medical doctor in Khartoum,
had been educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, and became a civil servant in Khartoum. He
was also an author and set up a radio broadcasting service during World War II. He was a
strong supporter of the Palestinian cause. Michael's mother Jean, although of Scottish descent,
was the daughter of a minister of a church in Yorkshire. She lived in Oxford and had studied
at the university there. It was in Oxford that Edward and Jean met. They had four children,
Michael, Patrick Selim (born 5 March 1931, who went on to become an English lawyer), and
Joseph (known as Joe, the youngest of the four children who after a mathematics degree from
Cambridge University, became a computer scientist working in computer software and
telecommunications), and a daughter Selma (who studied English at an American University
and lives in America). Although he was born in London, Michael grew up in Khartoum.
However, to avoid the summer heat there the family usually returned to England at that time.
Michael's primary school education was at the Diocesan school in Khartoum which he entered
in 1934 at the age of five. He completed his primary education in 1941. After their trip to
England, the Atiyah family returned to Lebanon via France in 1941 and Michael returned to a
French school. However, just after this began, the British and Free French began fighting to
gain control of the Lebanon. Michael was sent to Victoria College in Cairo.

He won a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1947. However, rather than go

straight to university, which was an option, he decided to do his two-years National Service,
which was compulsory at the time. He served as a clerical officer and took the opportunity to
read mathematics books and articles. He read Hardy and Wright's Number Theory at this time
and also read articles on group theory. He was granted special permission to cut short the final
161
year of his military service and spend it at Cambridge. There he played a lot of tennis and
avidly studied mathematics on his own in the library. He matriculated at Trinity College in the
autumn of 1949. Many of his fellow students had decided to postpone their National Service,
so Atiyah was one of the older of the students in his year. With his exceptional talent, his extra
maturity, and the studying he had done before starting his course, it is not at all surprising that
he came out ranked first despite having many very talented fellow students. While still an
undergraduate, he wrote his first paper A note on the tangents of a twisted cubic (1952). After
graduating with his BA in 1952, Atiyah continued to undertake research at Trinity College,
Cambridge obtaining his doctorate in 1955 with his thesis Some Applications of Topological
Methods in Algebraic Geometry. His thesis advisor was William V D Hodge.

Contribution

Atiyah has published a number of highly influential books: K-theory (1967); (with I G
Macdonald) Introduction to commutative algebra (1969); Vector fields on manifolds (1970);
Elliptic operators and compact groups (1974); Geometry on Yang-Mills fields (1979); (with N
J Hitchin) The geometry and dynamics of magnetic. Atiyah’s publications include K-theory
(1967); with I.G. Macdonald, Introduction to Commutative Algebra (1969); Elliptic Operators
and Compact Groups (1974); Geometry of Yang-Mills Fields (1979); with Nigel Hitchin, The
Geometry and Dynamics of Magnetic Monopoles (1988); and The Geometry and Physics of
Knots (1990). His Collected Works, in five volumes, appeared in 1988.

K-theory and the Atiyah-Singer Index Theorem Development of the theory of complex
manifold, generalizations of Riemann surfaces to several variables.

Life Application
Atiyah-Singer Index Theorem
The famous Atiyah-Singer index theorem, which characterizes the number of solutions for an
elliptic differential equation.

Motto:

“The mathematical problems that have been solved or techniques that

have arisen out of physics in the past have been the lifeblood of
mathematics.”

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 77. Atle Selberg
(1917-2007)

Biography
Atle Selberg, (born June 14, 1917, Langesund, Nor.—died Aug. 6, 2007, Princeton,
N.J., U.S.), Norwegian-born American mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in
1950 for his work in number theory. In 1986 he shared (with Samuel Eilenberg) the Wolf Prize.
Atle Selberg's parents were Ole Michael Ludvigsen Selberg (1877-1950) and Anna Kristina
Brigtsdatter Skeie (1874-1971). Ole Selberg was a school teacher of mathematics who, at age
48, was awarded his doctorate from the University of Oslo for his thesis Ein Beitrag zur Theorie
der algebraisch auflösbaren Gleichungen von Primzahlgrad. At the time Atle was born his
father was senior master at the Middle School in Langesund. By 1921 he was teaching at
Bergen County Middle School. Atle's mother, Anna Skeie, the daughter of the teacher Brigt
Arnesen Skeie (1846-1939) and Brita Hansdatter Bru (1842-1915), was also a teacher. Ole and
Anna Selberg married on 30 July 1903 in Halandsdal and they had nine children, five boys and
four girls, Atle being the youngest of them. Three of Atle's brothers also became
mathematicians. Henrik Selberg (1906-1993) was born in Bergen. He became professor of
mathematics at the University of Oslo and was interested in complex functions. The twins
Sigmund Selberg (1910-1994) and Arne Selberg (1910-1994) were born on 11 August 1910 in
Langesund. Sigmund became a professor of mathematics at the Norwegian Institute of
Technology where he was interested in prime numbers. Arne also became a professor at the
Norwegian Institute of Technology. He was an applied mathematician with a particular interest
in the design of suspension bridges. Selberg attended the University of Oslo (Ph.D., 1943) and
remained there as a research fellow until 1947. He then became a fellow at the Institute for
Advanced Study, Princeton, N.J., and a member of the faculty from 1949 until his retirement

163
in 1987. In the 1990s he became a U.S. citizen. Atle taught himself methods of solving
equations by reading the books in his father's library. In a hand-written copy that his father had
of Carl Stormer's lecture notes he came across the series.
4=1_1+1_1+…
Π 3 5 7
He remembered the occasion years later when he said it was such a very strange and
beautiful relationship that I determined that I would read that book in order to find out how that
formula came about. At this time, it was analysis that was his main interest but his brother
Sigmund suggested that he read about Chebyshev's work on the distribution of primes in his
father's copy of one of J A Serret's books. Selberg was attending high school in Gjovik at this
time while his brother Sigmund was a student at the University of Oslo. Selberg was about 17
years old when he came across Ramanujan's collected works which Sigmund had taken out of
the university library and brought home.

Contribution
In 1950 Selberg was awarded a Fields Medal at the International Congress of
Mathematicians at Harvard Riemann zeta function where he proved that a positive proportion
of its zeros satisfy the Riemann hypothesis.

Prime number theorem (with P Erdős),

In 1949 he gave an elementary proof of the prime number theorem, a result that had required
advanced theorems from analysis.
Published the Number Theory, Trace Formulas and Discrete Groups (1989). His Collected
Papers was published in 1989 and 1991.
The Selberg Trace Formula, the Selberg Sieve, the Selberg Integral, the Selberg Class, the
Rankin-Selberg L-Function, the Selberg Eigenvalue Conjecture, and the Selberg Zeta
Function.

Life Application

Prime Number Theorem (with P Erdős)

With a generalization to prime numbers in an arbitrary arithmetic progression. The history of
the prime number theorem is very interesting. The theorem states. The number of primes ≤ nn
tends to ∞ as n/(\log_{e}n) n/ (log e n).
Riemann Zeta Function
Where he proved that a positive proportion of its zeros satisfy the Riemann hypothesis.

Motto:

“The thing is, it’s very dangerous to have a fixed idea. A person with a
fixed idea will always find some way of convincing himself in the end
that he is right.”

164
 78.Alfred Taski
(1901-1983)

Biography
Alfred Tarski, original name Alfred Tajtelbaum, Tajtelbaum also spelled Teitelbaum,
(born January 14, 1901, Warsaw, Poland, Russian Empire—died October 26, 1983, Berkeley,
California, U.S.), Polish-born American mathematician and logician who made important
studies of general algebra, measure theory, mathematical logic, set theory, and met
mathematics.

Alfred Tarski's father was Ignacy Teitelbaum, a Jewish shopkeeper and businessman
who traded in wood. Ignacy Teitelbaum had married Rosa Prussak and, although Rosa never
had a career, and therefore never had the opportunity to show her intellect, it was through his
mother rather than his father that Tarski inherited his brilliance. Alfred had a brother Wacław
Teitelbaum to whom he was close as they were growing up. Alfred grew up in a well off family
who valued education. He attended the Schola Mazowiecka (the Nizina Mazowiecka is the part
of the lowland area of Poland in which Warsaw is situated) which was a High School for the
intellectuals. The school gave Alfred a broader education than he would otherwise gave
received. He studied subjects such as Russian, German, French, Greek and Latin in addition to
the standard school topics. His teachers recognized that he had extraordinary talents in that
topic, but it was not the subject that he intended to specialize in at university, rather he made
the decision to study biology. It was around 1923 that Alfred Teitelbaum changed his name to
Alfred Tarski. There were a number of reasons for the name change namely to change his
religion from the Jewish faith to become a Roman Catholic. It was not just Alfred who made

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these two major moves, for his brother Wacław took the name of Tarski and embraced Roman
Catholicism at the same time.
Tarski completed his education at the University of Warsaw (Ph.D., 1923). He taught
in Warsaw until 1939, when he moved to the United States (becoming a naturalized citizen in
1945). He joined the staff of the University of California at Berkeley in 1942, was appointed
professor of mathematics (1949), and was research professor of the Miller Institute of Basic
Research in Science there (1958–60). In succeeding years, he was responsible for influencing
the careers of many mathematics students. He became emeritus in 1968. He wrote a number of
works on algebra, geometry, and logic.

In August 1939 Tarski travelled to Harvard University in the United States to attend
another Unity of Science meeting. By this time Tarski had two children, a son Jan and a
daughter Ina, and both his wife and children had remained in Poland when he travelled to the
United States in 1939.

Contribution

Creation of the theory of models, which has become one of the four major fields of
research in mathematical logic. Known for his mathematical characterizations of the concepts
of truth and logical consequence for sentences of classical formalized languages, and to a lesser
extent for his mathematical characterization of the concept of a logical constant for expressions
of those same languages.

Tarski was honored by being elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the Royal
Netherlands Academy of Sciences, and the British Academy. He was made honorary editor of
Algebra Universalis and served as President of the Association for Symbolic Logic from 1944
to 1946 and the International Union for the History and Philosophy of Science in 1956-57. He
received honorary degrees from the Catholic University of Chile (1975) and the University of
Marseilles (1977). In 1981 Berkeley awarded him the Berkeley Citation.

His work includes Geometry (1935), Introduction to Logic and to the Methodology of
Deductive Sciences (1936), A decision method for elementary algebra and geometry (1948),
Cardinal Algebras (1949), Undecidable theories (1953), Logic, semantics, met mathematics
(1956), and Ordinal algebras (1956).

Life Application

Ordinal algebras
An algebra which captures the properties of the additive theory of order types. It differs most
strongly from the algebras which he presented in Cardinal algebras by having non-commutative
addition. He produced axioms for 'logical consequence', worked on deductive systems, the algebra
of logic and the theory of definability.

Motto:

“The sentence snow is white is true if, and only if, snow is white.”

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 79. Israel M. Gelfand
(1913-2009)

Biography
Israel Moiseevich Gelfand was born on September 2, 1913 in a small town Krasnye
Okny, in Ukraine. He attended primary school there but did not have a chance to complete his
secondary education. Gelfand recalled that he had a very good teacher in mathematics at school.
This teacher was very encouraging and kind to students. He considered Israel to be "the best
student at school" - ("naikrazshiy uchnik u shkoli" in Ukrainian language). In class, Israel was
able to solve all math problems. He said that at some point the teacher knew that there was not
much more Israel could learn from the school math curriculum and he encouraged Israel to
continue studying elsewhere. Israel had very warm and respectful feelings about this "man with
the big Ukrainian mustache". Afterwards, for about two years Gelfand studied at the so called
professional-technical school. However, he was expelled because his father operated a wind-
mill with one other worker and was considered a "non-working element" (a capitalist). At the
age of 16, in 1930, Gelfand went to Moscow where he lived with his relatives and spent his
time either unemployed or working at odd jobs. At one of these jobs he was a door-keeper at
the Lenin Library. There he got the chance to read mathematical books and work on
mathematical problems.

From 1931, Gelfand attended evening lectures at Moscow State University and at other
colleges. He was also accepted to work as a substitute teacher at the Evening Institute of
Chemical Technology. of the students were much older than he was (sometimes twice his age)
and were part-time students who took classes after work.

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 (1932—1935). In 1935, Gelfand defended his Ph.D. thesis at MSU. He was able to do
so without a college education and without completing high school. In 1940, Gelfand had
become a Doctor of Science at MSU. Gelfand worked as an Associate Professor at MSU
(1935—1940). Starting in 1939, Gelfand also worked at the Mathematical Institute of Academy
of Sciences, USSR. In 1941, Gelfand became a full Professor at MSU. He held this position
for the next 50 years until he moved to the US in 1990. In 1943, Gelfand organized a
mathematical seminar at Moscow State University. The seminar took place every Monday until
Gelfand went to the US in 1990 and became known world-wide as "Gelfand’s mathematical
seminar". From 1953, he was Head of the Department at the Institute of Applied Mathematics
of the Academy of Sciences. Since 1958, along with mathematics, Gelfand became interested
in biology and medicine. And together with M.L. Tsetlin, Gelfand organized a mathematical-
physiological seminar.

Contribution
The Book Calculus of Variations (1963)
The Gelfand–Mazur theorem in Banach algebra theory, the Gelfand–Naimark theorem, the
Gelfand–Naimark–Segal construction, Gelfand–Shilov spaces, the Gelfand–Pettis integral; the
representation theory of the complex classical Lie groups, contributions to the theory of Verma
modules in the representation theory of semisimple Lie algebras (with I. N. Bernstein and S. I.
Gelfand), contributions to distribution theory and measures on infinite-dimensional spaces, the
first observation of the connection of automorphic forms with representations (with Sergei
Fomin),conjectures about the Atiyah–Singer index theorem,ordinary differential equations
(Gelfand–Levitan theory), work on calculus of variations and soliton theory (Gelfand–Dikii
equations), contributions to the philosophy of cusp forms; Gelfand–Fuchs cohomology of Lie
algebras; Gelfand–Kirillov dimension; integral geometry; combinatorial definition of the
Pontryagin class; Coxeter functors; general hypergeometric functions; Gelfand–Tsetlin
patterns; Gelfand-Lokutsievski method.

Life Application
The Book Calculus of Variations (1963)
Which he co-authored with Sergei Fomin; Gelfand's formula, which expresses the spectral radius as a
limit of matrix norms.

Motto:

“I used to say;” Everything is Representation Theory”, Now I say:

Nothing is Representation Theory”,

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 80. Alan M. Turing
(1912-1954)

Biography
Alan Turing, in full Alan Mathison Turing, (born June 23, 1912, London, England—
died June 7, 1954, Wilmslow, Cheshire), British mathematician and logician who made major
contributions to mathematics, cryptanalysis, logic, philosophy, and mathematical biology and
also to the new areas later named computer science, cognitive science, artificial intelligence,
and artificial life.
The son of a civil servant, Turing was educated at a top private school. He entered the
University of Cambridge to study mathematics in 1931. After graduating in 1934, he was
elected to a fellowship at King’s College (his college since 1931) in recognition of his research
in probability theory. In 1936 Turing’s seminal paper “On Computable Numbers, with an
Application to the Entscheidungs problem [Decision Problem]” was recommended for
publication by the American mathematical logician Alonzo Church, who had himself just
published a paper that reached the same conclusion as Turing’s, although by a different method.
Turing’s method (but not so much Church’s) had profound significance for the emerging
science of computing. Later that year Turing moved to Princeton University to study for a Ph.D.
in mathematical logic under Church’s direction (completed in 1938).
Alan Turing was one of the leading theoreticians of digital computer science
during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Throughout his life, he used mathematics as a way to
explore whether nature, including human thought, worked like a machine. He is generally
considered to be the founder of the field of artificial intelligence.
Turing was born in London, England. His father was a colonial civil servant and his
mother came from a family of scholarly men and women. Turing received his undergraduate

169
degree in mathematics at Cambridge University in 1935. He spent the next three years doing
graduate work at Princeton University, where he worked with the logician Alonzo Church.

While at Princeton, Turing defined a theoretical machine that used a binary code to
solve mathematical problems or carry out a series of instructions one step at a time. The
machine could work with only a specified number of conditions, and it used a tape divided into
squares, each of which carried a symbol. The machine scanned one square at a time,
remembering all the symbols. The machine’s behavior at any one time depended on the number
of conditions and the number of remembered symbols. It could change its behavior by changing
either the number of conditions or by shifting from one square to another. Furthermore, the
machine could be employed for a special purpose or for universal use on any special problem,
as long as the tape carried the necessary instructions.

Turing also proved logically that some problems could not be solved by such a machine.
He soon learned that several other theorists had devised their own systems to produce an
equally strong proof. One was Church's lambda calculus, which is now used in artificial
intelligence programming. The Turing machine became a starting point for modern automata
theory, a formal mathematical study of computers and other logical machines.

Contribution
Invented the computer as part of his attempt to solve a fiendish puzzle known as the
Entscheidungs problem

Design work for the Automatic Computing Engine and ultimately created a
groundbreaking blueprint for store-program computers.
Development of Theoretical Computer Science

Life Application
Theoretical Computer Science
Providing a formalization of the concepts of algorithm and computation with the Turing
machine, which can be considered a model of a general-purpose computer.

Motto
“He theorized that the cortex at birth is an “unorganized machine”
that through “training” becomes organized “into a universal machine or
something like it.”

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 81. L.E.I Brouwer
(1881-1966)

Biography

Luitzen Egbertus Jan Brouwer, (born February 27, 1881, Overschie,

Netherlands—died December 2, 1966, Blaricum), Dutch mathematician who founded
mathematical intuitionism (a doctrine that views the nature of mathematics as mental
constructions governed by self-evident laws) and whose work completely transformed
topology, the study of the most basic properties of geometric surfaces and configurations.

Brouwer studied mathematics at the University of Amsterdam from 1897 to 1904. Even
then he was interested in philosophical matters, as evidenced by his Leven Brouwer attacked
the logical foundations of mathematics, as represented by the efforts of the German
mathematician David Hilbert and the English philosopher Bertrand Russell, and shaped the
beginnings of the intuitionist school. The following year, (“On the Untrustworthiness of the
Logical Principles”), he rejected as invalid the use in mathematical proofs of the principle of
the excluded middle (or excluded third). According to this principle, every mathematical
statement is either true or false; no other possibility is allowed. Brouwer denied that this
dichotomy applied to infinite sets.

Brouwer taught at the University of Amsterdam from 1909 to 1951. He did most of his
important work in topology between 1909 and 1913. He discovered the plane translation
theorem, which characterizes topological mappings of the Cartesian plane, and the first of his

171
fixed-point theorems, which later became important in the establishment of some fundamental
theorems in branches of mathematics such as differential equations and game theory. In view
of his remarkable contributions, many mathematicians consider Brouwer the founder of
topology.
L E J Brouwer is usually known by this form of his name with full initials, but
he was known to his friends as Bertus, an abbreviation of the second of his three forenames.
He attended high school in Hoorn, a town on the Zuiderzee north of Amsterdam. His
performance there was outstanding and he completed his studies by the age of fourteen. He had
not studied Greek or Latin at high school but both were required for entry into university, so
Brouwer spent the next two years studying these topics. During this time his family moved to
Haarlem, just west of Amsterdam, and it was in the Gymnasium there in 1897 that he sat the
entrance examinations for the University of Amsterdam.

He obtained his master's degree in 1904 and in the same year married Lize de
Holl who was eleven years older that Brouwer and had a daughter from a previous marriage.
After the marriage, which would produce no children, the couple moved to Blaricum, near
Amsterdam. Three years later Lize qualified as a pharmacist and Brouwer helped her in many
ways from doing bookkeeping to serving in the chemist’s shop. However, Brouwer did not
gain the affection of his step-daughter and relations between them was strained.

In 1909 he was appointed as a privatdocent at the University of Amsterdam. He gave

his inaugural lecture on 12 October 1909 on 'The nature of geometry' in which he outlined his
research programmer. A couple of months later he made an important visit to Paris, around
Christmas 1909, and there met Poincaré, Hadamard and Borel. Prompted by discussions in
Paris, he began working on the problem of the invariance of dimension. Brouwer was elected
to the Royal Academy of Sciences in 1912 and, in the same year, was appointed extraordinary
professor of set theory, function theory and axiomatics at the University of Amsterdam; he
would hold the post until he retired in 1951.

Contribution

Brouwer's doctoral dissertation, published in 1907, made a major contribution to the ongoing
debate between Russell and Poincaré on the logical foundations of mathematics.
Creation of intuitionism, and his deep interest in geometry, which led to his seminal work in
topology.

Life Application
Mathematical Intuitionism
Which views mathematics as the formulation of mental constructions that are governed by
self-evident laws.

Motto

“Mathematics is nothing more, nothing less, than the exact part of our
thinking.”

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 82. Johann Heinrich Lambert
(1727-1777)

Biography

Lambert had to drop out of school at age 12 to help support his family, but went on to
become a mathematician of great fame and breadth. He made key discoveries involving
continued fractions that led him to prove that π is irrational. (He proved more strongly that tan
x and ex are both irrational for any non-zero rational x. His proof for this was so remarkable
for its time, that its completeness wasn't recognized for over a century.) He also conjectured
that π and e were transcendental. He made advances in analysis (including the introduction of
Lambert's W function) and in trigonometry (introducing the hyperbolic functions sinh and
cosh); proved a key theorem of spherical trigonometry, and solved the "trinomial equation."
Lambert, whom Kant called "the greatest genius of Germany," was an outstanding polymath:
In addition to several areas of mathematics, he made contributions in philosophy, psychology,
cosmology (conceiving of star clusters, galaxies and supergalaxies), map-making (inventing
several distinct map projections), inventions (he built the first practical hygrometer and
photometer), dynamics, and especially optics (several laws of optics carry his name).

Contribution

Lambert is best known, however, for his work on π. Euler had already established
in 1737 that ee and e^{2}e2 are both irrational. However Lambert was the first to give a
rigorous proof that π is irrational. In a paper presented to the Berlin Academy in 1768 Lambert
showed that, if xx is a nonzero rational number, then neither e^{x}ex nor \tan xtanx can be
rational. Since tan (π/4) = 1 then π/4 must be irrational. In [34] there is discussion of the claim
173
that Lambert's proof is incomplete and requires a result by Legendre to complete it. Wallisser
shows that Lambert's proof is not only complete but is an outstanding mathematical
achievement for its time. In fact it was Pringsheim in 1898 who first noted that Lambert's proof
was absolutely correct and exceptional for its time, since the expansion of the tangent function
was not only written down formally, but also proved to be a convergent continued fraction.
Also, remarkably, Lambert conjectured in this paper that ee and π are transcendental. This was
not proved for another century when Hermite proved that ee is transcendental
and Lindemann proved that π is transcendental.

Life Application

Lambert made the first systematic development of hyperbolic functions. He is also

responsible for many innovations in the study of heat and light. The lambert, a measurement
of light intensity, was named in his honour. Lambert is famous for his work in geometry,
proving Lambert's Theorem (the path of rotation of a parabola tangent triangle passes through
the parabola's focus). Lagrange declared this famous identity, used to calculate cometary orbits,
to be the most beautiful and significant result in celestial motions. Lambert was first to explore
straight-edge constructions without compass. He also developed non-Euclidean geometry, long
before Bolyai and Lobachevsky did.

Motto

“The first object of my endeavors was the means to become perfect and
happy.”

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 83. John Edensor Littlewood
(1885-1977)

Biography

John Littlewood was a very prolific researcher. (This fact is obscured somewhat in that
many papers were co-authored with Hardy, and their names were always given in alphabetic
order.) The tremendous span of his career is suggested by the fact that he won Smith's Prize
(and Senior Wrangler) in 1905 and the Copley Medal in 1958. He specialized in analysis and
analytic number theory but also did important work in combinatorics, Fourier theory,
Diophantine approximations, differential equations, and other fields. He also did important
work in practical engineering, creating a method for accurate artillery fire during the First
World War, and developing equations for radio and radar in preparation for the Second War.
He worked with the Prime Number Theorem and Riemann's Hypothesis; and proved the
unexpected fact that Chebyshev's bias, and Li(x)>π(x), while true for most, and all but very
large, numbers, are violated infinitely often.

Contribution
Most of Littlewood's work was in the field of mathematical analysis. He began
research under the supervision of Ernest William Barnes, who suggested that he attempt to
prove the Riemann hypothesis: Littlewood showed that if the Riemann hypothesis is true then
the prime number theorem follows and obtained the error term. This work won him his Trinity
fellowship. However, the link between the Riemann hypothesis and the prime number theorem
had been known before in Continental Europe, and Littlewood wrote later in his book, A
Mathematician's Miscellany that his rediscovery of the result did not shed a positive light on
the isolated nature of British mathematics at the time.
175
Life Application
Theory of the distribution of prime numbers. In 1914, Littlewood published his first
result in the field of analytic number theory concerning the error term of the prime-counting
function. If π(x) denotes the number of primes up x, then the prime number theorem implies
that π(x) ~ Li(x), where Li(x)=∫2xdtlog⁡t

Motto
” before the creation, God did just pure mathematics then he thought it
would be a pleasant change to do some applied”.

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 84. Liu Hui
(ca 220-280)

Biography
Liu Hui made major improvements to Chang's influential textbook Nine Chapters,
making him among the most important of Chinese mathematicians ever. (He seems to have
been a much better mathematician than Chang, but just as Newton might have gotten nowhere
without Kepler, Vieta, Huygens, Fermat, Wallis, Cavalieri, etc., so Liu Hui might have
achieved little had Chang not preserved the ancient Chinese learnings.) Among Liu's
achievements are an emphasis on generalizations and proofs, incorporation of negative
numbers into arithmetic, an early recognition of the notions of infinitesimals and limits, the
Gaussian elimination method of solving simultaneous linear equations, calculations of solid
volumes (including the use of Cavalieri's Principle), anticipation of Horner's Method, and a
new method to calculate square roots. Like Archimedes, Liu discovered the formula for a
circle's area; however, he failed to calculate a sphere's volume, writing "Let us leave this
problem to whoever can tell the truth."

Contributions
Liu Hui was a Chinese mathematician who published a commentary in 263 CE on Jiu
Zhang Suan Shu. He was a descendant of the Marquis of Zixiang of the Eastern Han dynasty
and lived in the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China.

177
Life Application
He compiled a separate appendix in 263 AD which was known as “The Sea Island and
Mathematical Manual”; it covered many problems related to surveying. It consisted of
pragmatic geometry problems along with the measurement of the heights of Chinese pagoda
towers.

Liu Hui through his commentary on “Nine Chapter” was able to contribute thought analysis on
building canal and river dykes, which amounted up to the labour and material requirement,
alongside with the time needed for construction. His work proved to be helpful to the progress
of cartography and it was acknowledged as advancement within that period too.

In conclusion, he was a mathematician who dabbled in the field of cartography and

mathematics simultaneously, and managed to bring about mathematical revelations and ideas
in that ancient historical time.

Motto

” The majors are very important, and I would love to win one or many.
I'll continue to compete in them hard and win if I can. There's not
much more I can say”.

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 85. Felix Hausdorff
(1868-1942)
Biography

Hausdorff had diverse interests: he composed music and wrote poetry, studied
astronomy, wrote on philosophy, but eventually focused on mathematics, where he did
important work in several fields including set theory, measure theory, functional analysis, and
both algebraic and point-set topology. His studies in set theory led him to the Hausdorff
Maximal Principle, and the Generalized Continuum Hypothesis; his concepts now called
Hausdorff measure and Hausdorff dimension led to geometric measure theory and fractal
geometry; his Hausdorff paradox led directly to the famous Banach-Tarski paradox; he
introduced other seminal concepts, e.g. Hausdorff Distance and inaccessible cardinals. He also
worked in analysis, solving the Hausdorff moment problem. As Jews in Hitler's Germany,
Hausdorff and his wife committed suicide rather than submit to internment.

Contribution

He introduced the concept of a partially ordered set and from 1901 to 1909 he proved
a series of results on ordered sets. In 1907 he introduced special types of ordinals in an
attempt to prove Cantor's continuum hypothesis.

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Life Application

In the early 20th century, Mathematician Felix Hausdorff, helped make the idea of
fractional dimension clear, believing fractals to be in an in-between dimension as they were
not quite two-dimensional objects or one-dimensional mathematical structures.

Motto

“Don't worry about things that you simply cannot know. Let them fall
back and recede like the foam pushed aside by the flanks of a ship.”

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 86. Gaspard Monge
(1746-1818)

Biography
Gaspard Monge, son of a humble peddler, was an industrious and creative inventor who
astounded early with his genius, becoming a professor of physics at age 16. As a military
engineer he developed the new field of descriptive geometry, so useful to engineering that it
was kept a military secret for 15 years. Monge made early discoveries in chemistry and helped
promote Lavoisier's work; he also wrote papers on optics and metallurgy; Monge's talents were
so diverse that he became Minister of the Navy in the revolutionary government, and eventually
became a close friend and companion of Napoleon Bonaparte. Traveling with Napoleon he
demonstrated great courage on several occasions. In mathematics, Monge is called the "Father
of Differential Geometry," and it is that foundational work for which he is most praised. He
also did work in discrete math, partial differential equations, and calculus of variations. He
anticipated Poncelet's Principle of Continuity. Monge's most famous theorems of geometry are
the Three Circles Theorem and Four Spheres Theorem. His early work in descriptive geometry
has little interest to pure mathematics, but his application of calculus to the curvature of
surfaces inspired Gauss and eventually Riemann, and led the great Lagrange to say "With
[Monge's] application of analysis to geometry this devil of a man will make himself immortal."

Monge was an inspirational teacher whose students included Fourier, Chasles,

Brianchon, Ampere, Carnot, Poncelet, several other famous mathematicians, and perhaps
indirectly, Sophie Germain. Chasles reports that Monge never drew figures in his lectures, but
could make "the most complicated forms appear in space ... with no other aid than his hands,
whose movements admirably supplemented his words." The contributions of Poncelet to
synthetic geometry may be more important than those of Monge, but Monge demonstrated

181
great genius as an untutored child, while Poncelet's skills probably developed due to his great
teacher.

Contribution
He is considered the father of differential geometry because of his work Application de
l'analyse à la géométrie where he introduced the concept of lines of curvature of a surface in 3-
dimensional space. He developed a general method of applying geometry to problems of
construction.

Life application
Monge was educated at the Oratorian schools at Beaune and at Lyon, where for a time at age
16 he was a physics teacher. He made a large-scale plan of Beaune during a visit in 1762,
devising methods of observation and constructing the necessary surveying instruments.
Impressed with the plan, a military officer recommended Monge to the commandant of the
aristocratic military school of Mézières, where he was accepted as a draftsman. A further
opportunity for Monge to display his skill as a draftsman occurred when he was asked to
determine gun emplacements for a proposed fortress. At that time such an operation could be
performed only by a long arithmetic process, but Monge devised a geometric method that
enabled him to solve the problem so quickly that the commandant at first refused to receive his
solution. On later careful examination, Monge’s method was classified a military secret.
Continuing his researches at Mézières, Monge developed his general method of applying
geometry to problems of construction; this subject later became known as descriptive geometry
and provided an important stimulus to the rediscovery of projective geometry.

Motto
“The second object is to furnish means to recognize accordingly an exact
description of the forms of solids and to derive thereby all truths which
result from their forms and their respective positions.”

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 87. George Pólya
(1887-1985)

George Pólya (Pólya György) did significant work in several fields: complex analysis,
probability, geometry, algebraic number theory, and combinatorics, but is most noted for his
teaching How to Solve It, the craft of problem posing and proof. He is also famous for the
Pólya Enumeration Theorem (which is an extension of the Cauchy-Frobenius Lemma). Several
other important theorems he proved include the Pólya-Vinogradov Inequality of number
theory, the Pólya-Szego Inequality of functional analysis, and the Pólya Inequality of measure
theory. He introduced the Hilbert-Pólya Conjecture that the Riemann Hypothesis might be a
consequence of spectral theory. (In 2017 this Conjecture was partially proved by a team of
physicists, and the Riemann Hypothesis might be close to solution!). He introduced the famous
"All horses are the same color" example of inductive fallacy; he named the Central Limit
Theorem of statistics. Pólya was the "teacher par excellence": he wrote top books on multiple
subjects; his successful students included John von Neumann. His work on plane symmetry
groups directly inspired Escher's drawings. Having huge breadth and influence, Pólya has been
called "the most influential mathematician of the 20th century."

Contribution

He was regarded as the father of the modern emphasis in math education on problem
solving. A leading research mathematician of his time, Dr. Polya made seminal contributions
to probability, combinatorial theory and conflict analysis. His work on random walk and his
famous enumeration theorem have been widely applied.

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Life application
Nearly 100 years ago, a man named George Polya designed a four-step method to
solve all kinds of problems: Understand the problem, make a plan, execute the plan, and look
back and reflect. Because the method is simple and generalizes well, it has become a classic
method for solving problems.

Motto
"In order to solve this differential equation, you look at it till a
solution occurs to you."

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 88. Henri Léon Lebesgue
(1875-1941)
Lebesgue did groundbreaking work in real analysis, advancing Borel's measure theory;
his Lebesgue integral superseded the Riemann integral and improved the theoretical basis for
Fourier analysis. Several important theorems are named after him, e.g. the Lebesgue
Differentiation Theorem and Lebesgue's Number Lemma. He did important work on Hilbert's
19th Problem, and in the Jordan Curve Theorem for higher dimensions. In 1916, the Lebesgue
integral was compared "with a modern Krupp gun, so easily does it penetrate barriers which
were impregnable." In addition to his seminal contributions to measure theory and Fourier
analysis, Lebesgue made significant contributions in several other fields including complex
analysis, topology, set theory, potential theory, dimension theory, and calculus of variations.

Contribution
One of the greatest mathematicians of his day, Lebesgue made an important
contribution to topology with his covering theorem (which helps define the dimension of a set).
He also worked on Fourier series and potential theory, but his main work was on integration
theory.

Life application
He also made major contributions in other areas of mathematics, including topology,
potential theory, the Dirichlet problem, the calculus of variations, set theory, the theory of
surface area and dimension theory. By 1922 when he published Notice sur les travaux
scientifique de M Henri Lebesgue he had written nearly 90 books and papers. This ninety-two
page work also provides an analysis of the contents of Lebesgue's papers. After 1922 he
185
remained active, but his contributions were directed towards pedagogical issues, historical
work, and elementary geometry.

Motto

“The real difficulty lies in the fact that only a finite number of angels
can dance on the head of a pin, whereas the mathematician is more apt
to be interested in the infinite angel problem only.”

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 89. John Forbes Nash, Jr.
(1928-2015)

Biography
The Riemann Embedding Problems were important puzzles of geometry that baffled
many of the greatest minds for a century. Hilbert showed that Lobachevsky's hyperbolic plane
could not be embedded into Euclidean 3-space, but what about into Euclidean 4-space? Cartan
and Chern were among the great mathematicians who solved various special cases, but using
"methods entirely without precedent" John Nash demonstrated a general solution. This was a
true highlight of 20th-century mathematics.

Nash was a lonely, tormented schizophrenic whose life was portrayed in the film
Beautiful Mind. He achieved early fame in game theory; the famous "strategy-stealing"
argument to prove that the game of Hex is a first-player win was first discovered by Nash when
he was a teenager. His work in game theory eventually led to the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Earlier studies in game theory focused on the simplest cases (two-person zero-sum, or
cooperative), but Nash demonstrated "Nash equilibria" for n-person or non-zero-sum non-
cooperative games. Nash also excelled at several other fields of mathematics, especially
topology, algebraic geometry, partial differential equations, elliptic functions, and the theory
of manifolds (including singularity theory, the concept of real algebraic manifolds and isotropic
embeddings). He proved theorems of great importance which had defeated all earlier attempts.
His most famous theorems were the Nash Embedding Theorems, e.g. that any Riemannian
manifold of dimension k can be embedded isometrically into some n-dimensional Euclidean
space. Other important work was in partial differential equations where he solved Hilbert's 19th
Problem by proving that strong regularity constraints apply to solutions of the equations of heat
and fluid flow.

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Contribution
Nash was a pioneer in differential geometry and partial differential equations. He won
the Nobel Prize in 1994 in economics, sharing it with two others, and the Abel Prize in 2015.
He is credited with developing several mathematical concepts, including the Nash embedding
theorems.

Life application

Nash’s research into differential equations at MIT led to his seminal paper “Real
Algebraic Manifolds,” which was published in Annals of Mathematics in November 1952. His
other influential work in mathematics included the Nash-Moser inverse function theorem, the
Nash–De Giorgi theorem (a solution to David Hilbert’s 19th problem, which Nash undertook
at the suggestion of Nirenberg), and the Nash embedding (or imbedding) theorems, which the
Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters described as “among the most original results in
geometric analysis of the twentieth century”; the academy awarded Nash the Abel Prize. His
other honours included the John von Neumann Theory Prize (1978) and the American
Mathematical Society’s Leroy P. Steele Prize for a Seminal Contribution to Research (1999).

Nash’s research into game theory and his long struggle with paranoid schizophrenia became
well known to the general public because of the Academy Award-winning motion picture A
Beautiful Mind (2001), which was based on Sylvia Nasar’s 1998 biography of the same name.
A more factually accurate exploration of Nash’s struggle with mental illness was offered by
the public television documentary A Brilliant Madness (2002).

Motto

“If things are not so good, you may be one to imagine something better”

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 90. Ernst Eduard Kummer
(1810-1893)
Biography

German mathematician whose introduction of ideal numbers, which are defined as a

special subgroup of a ring, extended the fundamental theorem of arithmetic (unique
factorization of every integer into a product of primes) to complex number fields.After
teaching in Gymnasium 1 year at Sorau and 10 years at Liegnitz, Kummer became professor
of mathematics at the University of Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) in 1842. In 1855 he
succeeded Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet as professor of mathematics at the University of
Berlin, at the same time also becoming a professor at the Berlin War College.

Contribution

Numbers and Mathematics

In 1843 Kummer showed Dirichlet an attempted proof of Fermat’s last theorem, which
states that the formula xn + yn = zn, where n is an integer greater than 2, has no solution for
positive integral values of x, y, and z. Dirichlet found an error, and Kummer continued his
search and developed the concept of ideal numbers. Using this concept, he proved the
insolubility of the Fermat relation for all but a small group of primes, and he thus laid the
foundation for an eventual complete proof of Fermat’s last theorem. For his great advance,
the French Academy of Sciences awarded him its Grand Prize in 1857. The ideal numbers have
made possible new developments in the arithmetic of algebraic numbers.

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Inspired by the work of Sir William Rowan Hamilton on systems of optical rays, Kummer
developed the surface (residing in four-dimensional space) now named in his honour. Kummer
also extended the work of Carl Friedrich Gauss on the hypergeometric series, adding
developments that are useful in the theory of differential equations.

Life application
His major contributions is the introduction of ideal numbers, which are defined as a
special subgroup of a ring. He extended the fundamental theorem of arithmetic to complex
number fields. He also discovered the fourth order surface based on the singular surface of
the quadratic line complex.

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 91. Johann Bernoulli
(1667-1748)

Biography

Johann Bernoulli was the tenth child of Nicolaus and Margaretha Bernoulli. He was the
brother of Jacob Bernoulli but Johann was twelve years younger than his brother Jacob which
meant that Jacob was already a young man while Johann was still a child. The two brothers
were to have an important influence on each other’s mathematical development and it was
particularly true that in his early years Johann must have been greatly influenced by seeing
Jacob head towards a mathematical career despite the objections of his parents. As to his
education as a child, Johann wrote in his autobiography that his parents.

He learned from his older brother and Leibniz, and went on to become principal teacher to
Leonhard Euler. He developed exponential calculus; together with his brother Jacob, he
founded the calculus of variations. Johann solved the catenary before Jacob did; this led to a
famous rivalry in the Bernoulli family. (No joint papers were written; instead the Bernoullis,
especially Johann, began claiming each other’s work.) Although his older brother may have
demonstrated greater breadth, Johann had no less skill than Jacob, contributed more to calculus,
discovered L'Hôpital's Rule before L'Hôpital did, and made important contributions in physics,
e.g. about vibrations, elastic bodies, optics, tides, and ship sails. It may not be clear which
Bernoulli was the "greatest." Johann has special importance as tutor to Leonhard Euler, but
Jacob has special importance as tutor to his brother Johann. Johann's son Daniel is also a
candidate for greatest Bernoulli

Contribution

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 He summed series, and discovered addition theorems for trigonometric and
hyperbolic functions using the differential equations they satisfy. This outstanding
contribution to mathematics reaped its reward in 1695 when he received two offers of chairs.

Life application
Johann's first publication was on the process of fermentation in 1690, certainly not a
mathematical topic but in 1691 Johann went to Geneva where he lectured on the differential
calculus. From Geneva, Johann made his way to Paris and there he met mathematicians
in Malebranche's circle, where the focus of French mathematics was at that time. There Johann
met de l'Hôpital and they engaged in deep mathematical conversations. Contrary to what is
commonly said these days, de l'Hôpital was a fine mathematician, perhaps the best
mathematician in Paris at that time, although he was not quite in the same class as Johann
Bernoulli.

De l'Hôpital was delighted to discover that Johann Bernoulli understood the new calculus
methods that Leibniz had just published and he asked Johann to teach him these methods. This
Johann agreed to do and the lessons were taught both in Paris and also at de l'Hôpital's country
house at Oucques. Bernoulli received generous payment from de l'Hôpital for these lessons,
and indeed they were worth a lot for few other people would have been able to have given
them. After Bernoulli returned to Basel he still continued his calculus lessons by
correspondence, and this did not come cheap for de l'Hôpital who paid Bernoulli half a
professor's salary for the instruction. However it did assure de l'Hôpital of a place in the history
of mathematics since he published the first calculus book Analyse des infiniment petits pour
l'intelligence des lignes courbes Ⓣ (1696) which was based on the lessons that Johann
Bernoulli sent to him.

Motto

“A quantity which is increased or decreased by an infinitely small

quantity is neither increased nor decreased”

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 92. Bernard Placidus Johann Nepomuk Bolzano
(1781-1848)

Biography
Bernard Bolzano's parents were Bernard Pompeius Bolzano and Maria Cecilia
Maurer. His mother Maria, the daughter of a Prague merchant, was German speaking and a
devout Roman Catholic. Bernard Bolzano senior, the father of the subject of this biography,
was born in the north of Italy and had emigrated to Prague. He made his living as a dealer in
art, but was a man of modest means. Well educated, he was also a pious Roman Catholic who
showed great concern towards others. An indication of how seriously he put his beliefs into
practice is the fact that he was the driving force behind the founding of an orphanage in Prague.
Bernard, the subject of this biography, was born in the oldest part of the city of Prague, being
the fourth of his parents twelve children. Despite the large family, Bernard and one of his
brothers, Johann, were the only two to reach adulthood. His health, however, was delicate and
he had to fight against respiratory problems throughout his life.

Bolzano's upbringing was a major factor in the ideas that he taught later in his life. He
was much influenced by his father's active attempts to care for his fellow men, and this was
strengthened by the Piarist Gymnasium that Bolzano attended in Prague
between 1791 and 1796. There he was taught by the Roman Catholic followers of Joseph
Calasanz who was the Spanish founder of the Ordo Clericorum Regularium Pauperum Matris
Dei Scholarum Piarum (Order of Poor Clerks Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious
Schools). Although Spanish, Calasanz founded Order, usually called by the name Piarists, in
Rome at the beginning of the 17th century. Members of the Piarist Order were teachers who
made a fourth vow to take special care of young people in addition to the usual three vows
made by monks. It is fair to say that Bolzano left this environment more convinced of the moral

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beliefs, which had been foremost in his upbringing and in his schooling, than in the purely
religious Christian beliefs.

Contribution
Bernard Bolzano successfully freed calculus from the concept of the infinitesimal.
He also gave examples of 1-1 correspondences between the elements of an infinite set and the
elements of a proper subset.

Life application
Bolzano discovered the link between deducibility and conditional probability,
according to which deducibility and incompatibility appear as two limit cases of conditional
probability. He is also recognized for adopting an anti-psychologistic approach to logic, and
for his contributions to semantics.

Motto
“A “truth in itself” (Wahrheit an sich) is nothing but a true
proposition,”

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 93. Rafael Bombelli
(1526-1572)

Biography
Rafael Bombelli's father was Antonio Mazzoli but he changed his name from Mazzoli
to Bombelli. It is perhaps worth giving a little family background. The Bentivoglio family ruled
over Bologna from 1443. Sante Bentivoglio was "signore" (meaning lord) of Bologna
from 1443 and he was succeeded by Giovanni II Bentivoglio who improved the city of
Bologna, in particular developing its waterways. The Mazzoli family were supporters of the
Bentivoglio family but their fortunes changed when Pope Julius II took control of Bologna
in 1506, driving the Bentivoglio family into exile. An attempt to regain control in 1508 was
defeated and Antonio Mazzoli's grandfather, like several other supporters of the failed
Bentivoglio coup, were executed. The Mazzoli family suffered for many years by having their
property confiscated, but the property was returned to Antonio Mazzoli, Rafael Bombelli's
father.

Antonio Mazzoli was able to return to live in Bologna. There he carried on his trade as
a wool merchant and married Diamante Scudieri, a tailor's daughter. Rafael Bombelli was their
eldest son, and he was one of a family of six children. Rafael received no university education.
He was taught by an engineer- architect Pier Francesco Clementi so it is perhaps not too
surprising that Bombelli himself should turn to that occupation. Bombelli found himself a
patron in Alessandro Rufini who was a Roman noble, later to become the Bishop of Melfi. It
is unclear exactly how Bombelli learnt of the leading mathematical works of the day, but of
course he lived in the right part of Italy to be involved in the major events surrounding the
solution of cubic and quartic equations. Scipione del Ferro, the first to solve the cubic equation

195
was the professor at Bologna, Bombelli's home town, but del Ferro died the year that Bombelli
was born. The contest between Fior and Tartaglia (see Tartaglia's biography) took place
in 1535 when Bombelli was nine years old, and Cardan's major work on the topic Ars
Magna Ⓣ was published in 1545. Clearly Bombelli had studied Cardan's work and he also
followed closely the very public arguments between Cardan, Ferrari and Tartaglia which
culminated in the contest between Ferrari and Tartaglia in Milan in 1548

Contribution
He was the one who finally managed to address the problem with imaginary numbers.
In his 1572 book, L'Algebra, Bombelli solved equations using the method of del
Ferro/Tartaglia. He introduced the rhetoric that preceded the representative symbols +i and
-i and described how they both worked.

Life application
Rafael Bombelli was an Italian mathematician who wrote an influential algebra text
and made free use of both negative numbers and complex numbers.

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 c

94. Jean-Victor Poncelet

(1788-1867)

Biography

Jean-Victor Poncelet's father was Claude Poncelet, a rich landowner who was a lawyer
at the Parliament of Metz. His mother was Anne-Marie Perrein, but Jean-Victor was an
illegitimate child and, although he was born in Metz, he was sent away before he was a year
old to be brought up by the Olier family in Saint-Avold, a town to the east of Metz. We should
add that much later Claude Poncelet married Anne-Marie Perrein making Jean-Victor
legitimate from that time. He was cared for with much love and affection by the Olier family
and he lived with them until 1804 when he reached the age of 15. It was a happy time for
Poncelet, who showed great curiosity for all things around him, particularly a love of
mechanical objects and he spent many happy hours playing with the mechanism of a clock
which had been bought for him.

When he was fifteen years old, Poncelet returned to Metz where he studied at the lycée taking
the special classes designed to prepare students to take the entrance examinations for the École
Normale and the École Polytechnique. He entered the École Polytechnique in 1807, and there
he had outstanding teachers such as the mathematicians Gaspard Monge, Lazare
Carnot, Charles Brianchon, Sylvestre Lacroix, André-Marie Ampère, Louis Poinsot, and Jean
Hachette. However his health was poor and he missed most of his third year of study. He
graduated from the École Polytechnique in 1810 at the age of 22, older than was usual due to
taking an extra year because of his health problems, and decided on a military career. He joined
the Engineering Corps and went to Metz to study at the École d'Application. After two years
of study he graduated, having reached the rank of Lieutenant and, in March 1812, was given

197
as a first assignment work on the fortifications of Ramekens on the island of Walcheren in the
estuary of the river Scheldt (or Escaut)

Contribution
Jean-Victor Poncelet was one of the founders of modern projective geometry. His
development of the pole and polar lines associated with conics led to the principle of duality.

Life application
Jean-Victor Poncelet was a French engineer and mathematician who served most
notably as the Commanding General of the École Polytechnique.

Motto

In fact, Gentlemen, no geometry without arithmetic, no mechanics

without geometry... you cannot count upon success, if your mind is not
sufficiently exercised on the forms and demonstrations of geometry, on
the theories and calculations of arithmetic ... In a word, the theory of
proportions is for industrial teaching, what algebra is for the most
elevated mathematical teaching.

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 95. Adrien M. Legendre
(1752-1833)

Biography
Little is known about Legendre’s early life except that his family wealth allowed him
to study physics and mathematics, beginning in 1770, at the Collège Mazarin (Collège des
Quatre-Nations) in Paris and that, at least until the French Revolution, he did not have to work.
Nevertheless, Legendre taught mathematics at the École Militaire in Paris from 1775 to 1780.
In 1782 he won a prize offered by the Berlin Academy of Sciences for his effort to “determine
the curve described by cannonballs and bombs, taking into consideration the resistance of air[,
and] give rules for obtaining the ranges corresponding to different initial velocities and to
different angles of projection.” The next year he presented research on celestial mechanics to
the French Academy of Sciences, and he was soon rewarded with membership. In 1787 he
joined the French team, led by Jacques-Dominique Cassini and Pierre Mechain, in the geodetic
measurements jointly conducted with the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London. At this
time he also became a member of the British Royal Society. In 1791 he was named along with
Cassini and Mechain to a special committee to develop the metric system and, in particular, to
conduct the necessary measurements to determine the standard metre. He also worked on
projects to produce logarithmic and trigonometric tables.

The Academy of Sciences was forced to close in 1793 during the French Revolution,
and Legendre lost his family wealth during the upheaval. Nevertheless, he married at this time.
The following year he published Éléments de géométrie (Elements of Geometry), a
reorganization and simplification of the propositions from Euclid’s Elements that was widely
adopted in Europe, even though it is full of fallacious attempts to defend the parallel postulate.

199
Legendre also gave a simple proof that π is irrational, as well as the first proof that π2 is
irrational, and he conjectured that π is not the root of any algebraic equation of finite degree
with rational coefficients (i.e., π is a transcendental number). His Éléments was even more
pedagogically influential in the United States, undergoing numerous translations starting in
1819; one such translation went through some 33 editions. The French Academy of Sciences
was reopened in 1795 as the Institut Nationale des Sciences et des Arts, and Legendre was
installed in the mathematics section. When Napoleon reorganized the institute in 1803,
Legendre was retained in the new geometry section. In 1824 he refused to endorse the
government’s candidate for the Institut and lost his pension from the École Militaire, where he
had served from 1799 to 1815 as the mathematics examiner for graduating artillery students.

Contribution
Adrien-Marie Legendre's major work on elliptic integrals provided basic analytical
tools for mathematical physics. He gave a simple proof that π is irrational as well as the first
proof that π2 is irrational.

(His major areas of work cover elliptic functions, number theory, gravitational
attractions, geodesy, calculus and various other branches of mathematics)

Life Application
elliptic integrals are still used to calculate spacecraft trajectories

Motto:

“All the truths of mathematics are linked to each other, and all means
of discovering them are equally admissible.”

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 96. James J. Sylvester
(1814 -1897)

Biography

James Joseph Sylvester, (born September 3, 1814, London, England—died March 15,
1897, London), British mathematician who, with Arthur Cayley, was a cofounder of invariant
theory, the study of properties that are unchanged (invariant) under some transformation, such
as rotating or translating the coordinate axes. He also made significant contributions to number
theory and elliptic functions.

In 1837 Sylvester came second in the mathematical tripos at the University of

Cambridge but, as a Jew, was prevented from taking his degree or securing an appointment
there. In 1838 he became a professor of natural philosophy at University College, London (the
only nonsectarian British university). In 1841 he accepted a professorship of mathematics at
the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, U.S., but resigned after only three months following
an altercation with a student for which the school’s administration did not take his side. He
returned to England in 1843. The following year he went to London, where he became an
actuary for an insurance company, retaining his interest in mathematics only through tutoring
(his students included Florence Nightingale). In 1846 he became a law student at the Inner
Temple, and in 1850 he was admitted to the bar. While working as a lawyer, Sylvester began
an enthusiastic and profitable collaboration with Cayley.

From 1855 to 1870 Sylvester was a professor of mathematics at the Royal Military
Academy in Woolwich. He went to the United States once again in 1876 to become a professor

201
of mathematics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. While there he founded
(1878) and became the first editor of the American Journal of Mathematics, introduced
graduate work in mathematics into American universities, and greatly stimulated the American
mathematical scene. In 1883 he returned to England to become the Savilian Professor of
Geometry at the University of Oxford.

Contribution
J J Sylvester did important work on matrix theory. He discovered the discriminant of
a cubic equation and first used the name 'discriminant' for equations of higher order. Also
invariant theory, number theory, partition theory, and combinatorics.

Life Application

-matrix theory-
Encryption – A very common use of matrix in daily life is during encryption. We use
it to scramble data for security purposes, and to encode and decode this data, we require
matrices. There is a key that helps encode and decode data which is generated by matrices.

matrices are used for making seismic surveys. They are used for plotting graphs,
statistics and also to do scientific studies

Motto:

“The mathematician lives long and lives young; the wings of his soul do
not early drop off, nor do its pores become clogged with the earthy
particles blown from the dusty highways of vulgar life.”

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 97. John Brehaut Wallis
(1616-1703)

Biography

John Wallis played an important role in the scientific revolution of the 1600s. Starting
his working life as a clergyman, his abilities as a problem solver and amateur mathematician
drew him into academia.

Wallis, a polymath born one generation before Isaac Newton, discovered the concept
of conservation of momentum, one of physics’ most indispensable concepts. He was also one
of a small number of mathematicians responsible for developing infinitesimal calculus and was
the first person to make use of the now familiar number line with both positive and negative
numbers.

In Wallis’s time, most mathematicians saw algebra as inferior to geometry because it

lacked the solid foundations of Euclid’s proofs. Wallis, however, championed algebra as a
means of generating new ideas and results. Unlike Newton, he was happy to publish results in
algebraic form.

Contribution

In 1657 Wallis published the Mathesis Universalis (“Universal Mathematics”), on

algebra, arithmetic, and geometry, in which he further developed notation. He invented and

203
introduced the symbol ∞ for infinity. This symbol found use in treating a series of squares of
indivisibles.

Life Application

-infinitesimal calculus-
Structural analysis – Seismic design- Structural engineers use calculus to determine complex
configuration forces of structural elements that relate to seismic activities. They use calculus
to create earthquake-proof structures that can withstand any level of earthquake tremors
Cancer – Monitor Tumor - Calculus is also used to calculate the growth or shrinkage of a
tumor, it can also be used to calculate the total number of cells in the tumor. It is used to
analyze the progression or reversion of the disease using an exponential function.

Motto:
“Each metal has a certain power, which is different from metal to
metal, of setting the electric fluid in motion”

204
 98. Pafnuty L. Chebychev
(1821-1894)

Biography

Pafnuty Lvovich Chebyshev was born in Okatovo, Russia. His parents, who belonged
to the gentry, had him privately tutored. He quickly became fascinated by mathematics and
eventually studied mathematics and physics at Moscow University. Even as a student, he won
a silver medal for a now-famous paper on calculating the roots of equations. It was only the
first of many brilliant papers that he wrote while teaching mathematics at St. Petersburg
University and pursuing a keen interest in mechanical engineering. (Among other things, he
contributed significantly to ballistics, which gave rise to various innovations in artillery, and
he invented a calculating machine.) Always, he stressed the unity of theory and practice,
saying:

Mathematical sciences have attracted especial attention since the greatest antiquity;
they are attracting still more interest at present because of their influence on industry and arts.
The agreement of theory and practice brings most beneficial results; and it is not exclusively
the practical side that gains; the sciences are advancing under its influence as it discovers new
objects of study for them, new aspects to exploit in subjects long familiar.
Chebyshev typically worked toward the effective solution of problems by establishing
algorithms (methods of computation) that gave either an exact numerical answer or an
approximation that was correct within precisely defined limits. A most important example of
this approach in the field of statistics is his formulation of what is now called Chebyshev's

205
theorem, discussed in Chapter 7. For practical purposes, many a frequency distribution that is
only slightly skewed (with a coefficient of skewness between -0.5 and +0.5, for example) can
be treated as a perfectly symmetrical one, and the higher percentages applicable to a normal
curve (discussed in Application 7.1, Standard Scores) can be applied to estimate the
proportions of observations falling within specified distances from the mean. Chebyshev's
theorem, however, demonstrates a radical change: He was the first mathematician to insist on
absolute accuracy in limit theorems. In the words of A. N. Kolmogorov, another eminent
Russian mathematician, "he always aspired to estimate exactly in the form of inequalities
absolutely valid under any number of tests the possible deviations from limit regularities."

Contribution:

Chebyshev proved Joseph Bertrand's conjecture that for any n > 3 there must exist a prime
between n and 2n. He also contributed to the proof of the prime number theorem, a formula
for determining the number of primes below a given number.

Life Application:

-Prime number-
Prime number are used in developing machine tools.
There are dozens of important uses for prime numbers. Cicadas time their life cycles by them,
modern screens use them to define color intensities of pixels, and manufacturers use them to
get rid of harmonics in their products.

Motto:

“To isolate mathematics from the practical demands of the sciences is to

invite the sterility of a cow shut away from the bulls.”

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 99. Simon Stevin
(1548-1620)
Biography

Simon Stevin (1548-1620) was an influential mathematician and engineer with a

broad range of interests. He offered new insights and discoveries in the development of
decimal numbers and the laws of inclines, gravity, hydrostatics, and fortification. Although
Stevin never earned the same lasting reputation as Galileo or Isaac Newton, his contributions
to the advancement of mathematical theory are noteworthy.

Very little regarding Stevin's early life is known with certainty. He noted in many of
his books that he was a native of Bruges, a city in Flanders, which later became Belgium.
According to the inscription on a later portrait, he was born in 1548. Records of his deeds
name him as the son of wealthy parents, Antheunis Stevin and Cathelyne van der Poort.
Conceived out of wedlock, he was most likely raised by his mother, but no information
concerning his childhood is available.
In 1577, Stevin occupied an administrative position in the financial department of the
government of Flanders. Prior to that, he was employed as a bookkeeper and cashier for the
city of Antwerp. Reportedly he had traveled extensively through Poland, Prussia, and
Norway from 1571 to 1577. By 1581 he had settled in the Dutch city of Leiden. Already in
his 30s, Stevin finally began his formal education by enrolling in a Latin school and later
entering the University of Leiden. He graduated on February 16, 1583, under the Latinized
version of his name, Simon Stevinus.

After graduation, Stevin undertook numerous projects of mathematical writing and

practical inventions. In 1584 he negotiated with the city of Delft to use an innovative system

207
of drainage he developed. He also applied for patents for numerous inventions concerning
drainage and dredging, along with an improved windmill and a mechanical roasting spit,
which Stevin considered a toy.

Contribution

Simon Stevin was a Flemish mathematician who presented the first elementary and
thorough account of decimal fractions and introduced their use in mathematics.

Life Application

-decimal fractions-
We use decimals every day while dealing with money, weight, length etc. Decimal numbers
are used in situations where more precision is required than the whole numbers can provide.
For example, when we calculate our weight on the weighing machine, we do not always find
the weight equal to a whole number on the scale.

Motto:

“What seems mysterious can be understood.”

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 100. Hermann Minowski
(1864-1909)

Biography
Born on June 22, 1864, Hermann Minkowski is a known Jewish-German
Mathematician and Professor. The world knows him for his groundbreaking work in the field
of Number theory. Minkowski also contributed significantly towards Einstein’s theory of
special relativity and is perhaps best known for his work on this too.

Early Life and Education: Hermann Minkowski was born in the town of Aleksota in
the kingdom of Poland. He received his education at home until the age of seven. Later, his
parents shifted and settled in Konigsberg in 1872. Minkowski first showed his talent for
mathematics while studying at the gymnasium in Konigsberg. He showed his outstanding
abilities by reading the work of Dedekind, Dirichlet, and Gauss at such a tender age.
In April 1880, he took admission at the University of Konigsberg. Here, he became a
lifelong friend of mathematicians Hilbert and Hurwitz. Later, he spent the winter semester of
the academic year of 1882-1883 at the University of Berlin. During this time, he developed an
interest in quadratic forms of mathematics. In 1885, he obtained his doctorate degree from the
Konigsberg University under the guidance of Ferdinand von Lindermann, a renowned German
mathematician

Contribution

209
 His idea of combining the three dimensions of physical space with that of time into a
four-dimensional “Minkowski space”—space-time—laid the mathematical foundations for
Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity.

Life Application:
-Minkowski space-
The Minkowski space, which is the simplest solution of the Einstein field equations in vacuum

Motto:

“Henceforth, space by itself, and time by itself, are doomed to fade

away into mere shadows, and only a kind of union of the two will
preserve an independent reality.”

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 101. Nicolai Lobachevsky
(1792-1856)

Biography

The Russian mathematician Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevskii (1792-1856) was one of

the first to found an internally consistent system of non-Euclidean geometry. His revolutionary
ideas had profound implications for theoretical physics, especially the theory of relativity.

Nikolai Lobachevskii was born on Dec. 2 (N.S.; Nov. 21, O.S.), 1792, in Nizhni
Novgorod (now Gorkii) into a poor family of a government official. In 1807 Lobachevskii
entered Kazan University to study medicine. However, the following year Johann Martin
Bartels, a teacher of pure mathematics, arrived at Kazan University from Germany. He was
soon followed by the astronomer J. J. Littrow. Under their instruction, Lobachevskii made a
permanent commitment to mathematics and science. He completed his studies at the university
in 1811, earning the degree of master of physics and mathematics.

In 1812 Lobachevskii finished his first paper, "The Theory of Elliptical Motion of
Heavenly Bodies." Two years later he was appointed assistant professor at Kazan University,
and in 1816 he was promoted to extraordinary professor. In 1820 Bartels left for the University
of Dorpat (now Tartu in Estonia), resulting in Lobachevskii's becoming the leading
mathematician of the university. He became full professor of pure mathematics in 1822,
occupying the chair vacated by Bartels.

211
Contribution

Lobachevsky was also the author of New Foundations of Geometry (1835–1838). He

also wrote Geometrical Investigations on the Theory of Parallels (1840) and Pangeometry
(1855). Another of Lobachevsky's achievements was developing a method for the
approximation of the roots of algebraic equations.

Life Application

-Theory of Parallels-
We often use parallel lines in professions like architecture and construction. We can see
buildings that are constructed with walls that are parallel to each other. Even the ceilings are
parallel to the floors and neighbouring buildings also have parallel lines when they are adjacent
to one another.

Notebooks are another well-known example of parallel lines as they are filled with them. These
lines are even parallel from page to page.

Other examples include railroad tracks, edge of the sidewalks, street markings, zebra crossing
on a road, staircases and railings on those staircases.

Motto:
“There is no branch of mathematics, however abstract, which may not
someday be applied to phenomena of the real world.”

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 102. Andrey Markov
(1856-1922)
Biography

Andrey Andreevich Markov was born in Ryazan as the son of the secretary of the public
forest management of Ryazan, Andrey Grigorevich Markov, and his first wife Nadezhda
Petrovna Markova.In the beginning of the 1860s Andrey Grigorevich moved to St Petersburg
to become an asset manager of the princess Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Valvatyeva.In 1866
Andrey Andreevich's school life began with his entrance into Saint Petersburg's fifth grammar
school. Already during his school time Andrey was intensely engaged in higher mathematics.
As a 17-year-old grammar school student he informed Bunyakovsky, Korkin and Yegor
Zolotarev about an apparently new method to solve linear ordinary differential equations and
was invited to the so-called Korkin Saturdays, where Korkin's students regularly met. In 1874
he finished the school and began his studies at the physico-mathematical faculty of St
Petersburg University.Among his teachers were Yulian Sokhotski (differential calculus, higher
algebra), Konstantin Posse (analytic geometry), Yegor Zolotarev (integral calculus), Pafnuty
Chebyshev (number theory, probability theory), Aleksandr Korkin (ordinary and partial
differential equations), Okatov (mechanism theory), Osip Somov (mechanics) and Budaev
(descriptive and higher geometry).In 1877 he was awarded the gold medal for his outstanding
solution of the problem "About Integration of Differential Equations by Continuous Fractions
with an Application to the Equation (1+x2) dy/dx = n (1+y2)." In the following year he passed
the candidate examinations and remained at the university to prepare for the lecturer's
position.In April 1880 Markov defended his master thesis "About Binary Quadratic Forms with
Positive Determinant", which was encouraged by Aleksandr Korkin and Yegor Zolotarev.Five
years later, in January 1885, there followed his doctoral thesis "About Some Applications of
Algebraic Continuous Fractions".His pedagogical work began after the defense of his master

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thesis in autumn 1880. As a privatdozent he lectured on differential and integral calculus. Later
he lectured alternately on "introduction to analysis", probability theory (succeeding Chebyshev
who had left the university in 1882) and calculus of differences. From 1895/96 until 1905 he
additionally lectured on differential calculus.One year after the defense of the doctoral thesis,
he was appointed extraordinary professor (1886) and in the same year he was elected adjunct
to the Academy of Sciences. In 1890, after the death of Viktor Bunyakovsky, Markov became
extraordinary member of the academy. His promotion to an ordinary professor of St Petersburg
University followed in autumn 1894.In 1896, he ws elected ordinary member of the academy
as the successor of Chebyshev. In 1905 he was appointed merited professor and got the right
to retire which he immediately used. Till 1910, however, he continued to lecture calculus of
differences.In connection with student riots in 1908, professors and lecturers of Saint
Petersburg University

Contribution

He made outstanding contributions to various areas of mathematics, including

differential equations, topology, mathematical logic and the foundations of mathematics.

Life Application

-Differential equations-
Differential equations applications in real life are used to calculate the movement or flow of
electricity, motion of an object to and fro like a pendulum, to explain thermodynamics
concepts. Also, in medical terms, they are used to check the growth of diseases in graphical
representation.

Motto:

"I think this is a good decision. We have a good group of guys. We can
focus on the hockey now." "Goals? To improve our game and be better
than the year before.”

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 103. Benjamin Banneker
(1731-1806)

Biography
He was an African-American naturalist, mathematician, astronomer and almanac
author. He was a landowner who also worked as a surveyor and farmer.Born in Baltimore
County, Maryland, to a free African-American mother and a father who had formerly been
enslaved, Banneker had little or no formal education and was largely self-taught. He became
known for assisting Major Andrew Ellicott in a survey that established the original borders of
the District of Columbia, the federal capital district of the United States. Banneker's knowledge
of astronomy helped him author a commercially successful series of almanacs. He
corresponded with Thomas Jefferson on the topics of slavery and racial equality. Abolitionists
and advocates of racial equality promoted and praised Banneker's works. Although a fire on
the day of Banneker's funeral destroyed many of his papers and belongings, one of his journals
and several of his remaining artifacts are presently[when?] available for public viewing.

Contribution
Banneker also used his mathematical knowledge to calculate the time of a solar eclipse.
That knowledge was also useful in calculating longitude and latitude, methods for finding a
place’s position on the globe. As a young man, Banneker developed a working relationship
with a surveyor named Andrew Ellicott. Surveying is the measuring and mapping of land. It
was an important task in a young country where land records needed to be made. Many
influential men, including George Washington, worked as surveyors. In 1791, Ellicott was

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given the task of surveying land for the new federal district that would become the capital of
the United States. Ellicott hired Banneker to help him. They worked to set accurate boundaries
for the District of Columbia. Banneker is credited with positioning the starting point at Jones
Point in Alexandria, Virginia.

Life application
Largely self-taught, Banneker was one of the first African Americans to gain
distinction in science. His significant accomplishments include the successful prediction of a
solar eclipse, publishing his own almanac, and the surveying of Washington, D.C. Banneker
spent most of his life on his family's 100-acre farm outside Baltimore. There, he taught himself
astronomy by watching the stars and learned advanced mathematics from borrowed textbooks.

Motto

“Presumption should never make us neglect that which appears easy to

us, nor despair make us lose courage at the sight of difficulties.” .

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 104. Claudius Ptolemy
(c. 100 – c. 170)

Biography

One of the most influential Greek astronomers and geographers of his time, Ptolemy
propounded the geocentric theory in a form that prevailed for 1400 years. However, of all the
ancient Greek mathematicians, it is fair to say that his work has generated more discussion and
argument than any other. We shall discuss the arguments below for, depending on which are
correct, they portray Ptolemy in very different lights. The arguments of some historians show
that Ptolemy was a mathematician of the very top rank, arguments of others show that he was
no more than a superb expositor, but far worse, some even claim that he committed a crime
against his fellow scientists by betraying the ethics and integrity of his profession.
Enter

Contribution
In particular he introduces trigonometrical methods based on the chord function.
Ptolemy devised new geometrical proofs and theorems. He obtained, using chords of a circle
and an inscribed 360-gon, the approximation pi = 3 + 17/120 = 3.14166. He used formulas for
the chord function which are analogous to our formulas for sin(a+b), sin(a-b) and sin(a/2) to
create a table of the chord function at intervals of 1/2 a degree. This occupies the first 2 of the
13 books.

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Life application

Ptolemy synthesized Greek knowledge of the known Universe. His work enabled
astronomers to make accurate predictions of planetary positions and solar and lunar eclipses,
promoting acceptance of his view of the cosmos in the Byzantine and Islamic worlds and
throughout Europe for more than 1400 years.

Motto

" When I trace at my pleasure the windings to and fro of the heavenly
bodies, I no longer touch the earth with my feet: I stand in the presence
of Zeus himself and take my fill of ambrosia, food of the gods ".

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 105. Xenocrates
(Died 314 BC, Athens)
Biography

Greek philosopher, pupil of Plato, and successor of Speusippus as the head of the Greek
Academy, which Plato founded about 387 BC. In the company of Aristotle he left Athens after
Plato’s death in 348/347, returning in 339 on his election as head of the Academy, where he
remained until his death. Xenocrates’ writings are lost except for fragments, but his doctrines
appear to resemble Plato’s as reported by Aristotle. Among them is the “derivation” of all
reality from the interaction of two opposite principles, “the One” and “the indeterminate dyad.”
It is the dyad that is responsible for multiplicity, or diversity, evil, and motion, whereas the One
is responsible for unity, good, and rest.

Contribution

Xenocrates is known to have written a book On Numbers, and a Theory of Numbers,

besides books on geometry. Plutarch writes that Xenocrates once attempted to find the total
number of syllables that could be made from the letters of the alphabet.

Life application

219
 Xenocrates believed that matter is composed of indivisible units, so he may be regarded
as an early believer in the atomic theory. He agreed with Pythagoras regarding the importance
of numbers in philosophy and attributed to Pythagoras an atomic view of acoustics where
sound, perceived as a single entity, consists of discrete sounds. Xenocrates believed in human
beings having threefold existence, mind, body and soul. It is not clear whether he was the
instigator of this belief. He also believed that people die twice, once on Earth, then for a second
time on the Moon when the mind separates from the soul and travels to the Sun. Plutarch writes
about an attempt by Xenocrates to calculate the total number of syllables which could be made
from the letters of the alphabet. The result which Xenocrates obtained was, according to
Plutarch, 1,002,000,000,000. If true this probably represents the first attempt at solving a
combinatorial problem involving permutations.

Motto
"I have often repented speaking, but never of holding my tongue".

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 106. Anaxagoras
(500–480)

Biography
Anaxagoras (500–480) He was the first of the Presocratic philosophers to live in
Athens. He propounded a physical theory of “everything-in-everything,” and claimed that nous
(intellect or mind) was the motive cause of the cosmos. He was the first to give a correct
explanation of eclipses, and was both famous and notorious for his scientific theories, including
the claims that the sun is a mass of red-hot metal, that the moon is earthy, and that the stars are
fiery stones. Anaxagoras maintained that the original state of the cosmos was a mixture of all
its ingredients (the basic realities of his system).

Contribution

Anaxagoras was the first to attempt squaring the circle. Not much is known about
Anaxagoras life, though records of his theories are preserved. The Greek philosopher was born
on the Ionian coast in the town of Clazomenae in Asia Minor (in what is now Turkey). His
parents were wealthy but Anaxagoras chose to forsake his life of leisure to

Life application

221
 Greek philosopher of nature remembered for his cosmology and for his discovery of
the true cause of eclipses. He was associated with the Athenian statesman Pericles.

Motto

"All other things have a portion of everything, but Mind is infinite and
self-ruled, and is mixed with nothing but is all alone by itself".

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 107. Hypatia
(c. 350–370; died 415 AD)

Biography
Hypatia was a neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, who lived in
Alexandria, Egypt, then part of the Eastern Roman Empire. She was a prominent thinker in
Alexandria where she taught philosophy and astronomy. Although preceded by Pandrosion,
another Alexandrine female mathematician, she is the first female mathematician whose life is
reasonably well recorded. Hypatia was renowned in her own lifetime as a great teacher and a
wise counselor. She wrote a commentary on Diophantus's thirteen-volume Arithmetica, which
may survive in part, having been interpolated into Diophantus's original text, and another
commentary on Apollonius of Perga's treatise on conic sections, which has not survived.

Contribution
Hypatia became a brilliant public speaker and scholar, and she followed her father on
the library's faculty. There she wrote on mathematics and astronomy. She did work on algebraic
equations and conic sections. She invented the astrolabe for ship navigation and devices for
measuring the density of fluids.

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Life application

Hypatia worked with her father to update old textbooks with new information about
geometry, algebra, and astronomy. She had a gift for breaking down complicated subjects into
smaller pieces that were easier to understand. Because of this, their notes influenced
mathematicians and astronomers for centuries.

Motto
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than
not to think at all".

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 108. Antiphon
(480–411 BC)

Biography

Antiphon (480–411 BC) He was the earliest of the ten Attic orators, and an important
figure in fifth-century Athenian political and intellectual life. There is longstanding
uncertainty and scholarly controversy over whether the Sophistic works of Antiphon and a
treatise on the Interpretation of Dreams were also written by Antiphon the Orator, or whether
they were written by a separate man known as Antiphon the Sophist. This article only
discusses Antiphon the Orator's biography and oratorical works.

Contribution
Antiphon discovered the value of Pi. This renowned mathematician was the first
one who calculated the upper bound and lowers bound values of Pi by inscribing and
circumscribing around a circle, the polygon, and processed finally to calculate the areas
of the polygon. His idea of calculating a polygon area became very famous, and it changed
mathematics for the world.
Chester

225
Life application

Antiphon made an early and important contribution to mathematics when he made an

attempt to square the circle. In doing so he became the first to propose a method of exhaustion
although it is not entirely clear how well he understood his own proposal.He proposed
successively doubling the number of sides of a regular polygon inscribed in a circle so that the
difference in areas would eventually become exhausted. We know of his work via Aristotle
and his commentators. Aristotle claims that a geometer only needs to show that false arguments
are false if they are based on geometry, otherwise he can ignore them.

Motto

"The greatest sacrifice is the sacrifice of time".

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 109. Hero of Alexandria A
(About AD 10- about AD 75)

Biography

Hero of Alexandria A major difficulty regarding Heron was to establish the date at
which he lived. There were two main schools of thought on this, one believing that he
lived around 150 BC and the second believing that he lived around 250 AD. The first of
these was based mainly on the fact that Heron does not quote from any work later than
Archimedes. The second was based on an argument which purported to show that he
lived later that Ptolemy, and, since Pappus refers to Heron, before Pappus.

Contribution

Heron or Hero of Alexandria was an important geometer and worker in mechanics who
invented many machines including a steam turbine. His best-known mathematical work is the
formula for the area of a triangle in terms of the lengths of its sides.

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Life application

Heron of Alexandria (c. 10 CE - c. 70 CE) was one of the finest mathematicians and
inventors that the world has ever known. Worthy of mention alongside the great Archimedes,
he began to explore the practical uses of mathematics rather than concentrate upon number
relationships and esoteric, abstract mathematical laws. Heron, also known as Heron of
Alexandria, developed many machines and mechanical devices with practical uses, showing
that it was possible to take theory and put it into practice. Some of his devices were: A coin
operated 'Holy Water Dispenser'. A water organ The Aeolipile, a steam-powered device
Heron's Fountain, an instrument that used air pressure to produce a jet of water. The Dioptra,
a surveying device A primitive, programmable robot (automaton) A fire engine

Motto

" Gave measurements of plane figures which agree with the formulas
used by Heron, notably those for the equilateral triangle, the regular
hexagon (in this case not only the formula but the actual figures agree
with Heron's) and the segment of a circle which is less than a semicircle
...".

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 110. Thales of Miletus
(624 BC- 547 BC)
Biography
Thales of Miletus was a Greek Mathematician, astronomer, and pre-socratic
philosopher. He lived during the 6th and 5th century BC in Miletus, which is present in modern-
day Turkey. He is known as one of the legendry Seven Wise Men. He is known to have
introduced the idea of scientific philosophy.

Contribution

He used geometry to calculate the height of pyramids and the distance between a ship
and the shore. His most famous proposition was that everything is fundamentally made up of
water. He believed that the earth is a flat mass floating on a vast sea. Thales paved the way
for the Socratic era and the classical philosophers to establish Western philosophy's central
themes. Many of his theories and beliefs will sound strange to us, but they were considered
groundbreaking at that time

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Life application
He discovered the seasons, which he divided into 365 days. He was the first to state that the
size of the Sun was 1/720 part of the solar orbit just as the Moon was 1/720 part of the lunar
orbit. To appreciate these accomplishments, one must go back in time to this period and what
was known about the solar system.

Motto
"The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself".

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