Scientists > Mathematicians
Mathematicians On E2
This is the Mathematicians Metanode, an index of writeups about mathematicians (including: mathematicians, logicians, numbers theorists, etc.) on E2. This is a subnode of the top-level Scientists node, and is a collaborative effort by the usergroup E2science. To suggest additions or alterations, please /msg liveforever or E2_Science.
- Al-Khwarizmi
Brought us Hindu-Arabic numbers as well as algebra.
- Archimedes
Ancient Greek mathematician and inventor, whose most famous act was to run around naked and dripping wet shouting "Eureka!"
- Charles Babbage
Inventor of the first computer, although it was not built in his lifetime.
- Giovanni Battista Benedetti
Spanish mathematician and physicist whose primary fields were geometry and mechanics.
- Bishop George Berkeley
His vehement opposition of infintesimal calculus caused other mathematicians to reformulate calculus based upon the theory of limits.
- Elwyn Berlekamp
Co-discoverer of the Berlekamp-Massey Algorithm and professor at Berkeley, Berlekamp has also made several other contributions to information theory.
- Jakob Bernoulli
Discoverer of the logarithmic spiral and the law of large numbers.
- George Boole
Developer of that part of the predicate calculus we now call boolean algebra.
- Luitzen E. J. Brouwer
Principal force behind intuitionism in the early 20th century, raining on the formalists' parade on more than on occasion.
- Georg Cantor
Thought all of his critics would be silenced when he solved the Continuum Hypothesis. One of the most important obssessions/failures of the history of mathematics, as it gave us formalized set theory.
- Augustin-Louis Cauchy
Mathematician who studied analysis and the theory of permutation of groups. Published over 789 papers in his lifetime.
- Pafnuty Chebyshev
Russian mathematician who worked mainly on probability theory.
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Richard Dedekind
Contributor to analysis and set theory.
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J.P.G. Lejeune Dirichlet
Analysis and number theory.
- Pál Erdös
Prolific Hungarian mathematician who published more than 1500 scientific papers in his lifetime in many different branches of mathematics.
- Euclid
Ancient Greek mathematician who discovered most of the rules of geometry. More importantly, his rigorous formalization of geometry became the template for the formalization of mathematics as a whole.
- Leonhard Euler
Swiss mathematician who continued gave his name to several important mathematical entities.
- Pierre de Fermat
Dilletante in number theory who would have been a whole lot less trouble had he found room somewhere in the margins to write a proof.
- Gottlob Frege
The most important contributor to symbolic logic for mathematics.
- Evariste Galois
The tragic figure behind Galois theory, among other important contributions to algebra.
- Karl Friederich Wilhelm von Gauss
Contributor in every field of mathematics; invented the concept of non-euclidean geometry.
- William S. Gosset
Mathematician, who devised the statistical t-test while working in quality control at Guinness brewery.
- Kurt Gödel
Ruined Hilbert's program of formalism with his Incompleteness Theorem.
- William Hamilton
Developer of mathematical logic, upon whose Boole and de Morgan built to formulate the predicate calculus.
- William R. Hamilton (unrelated to his contemoprary namesake)
His considerable work in quaternions led to the development of vector theory.
- Godfrey Harold Hardy
Discoverer of Ramanujan, principal developer of experimental number theory. Would not care a whit if anyone eventually found anything he did "useful".
- David Hilbert
Mathematician who made a number of important contributions in the fields of number theory, geometry and solvability. Prolific contributor in all aspects of mathematics, inventor of Hilbert Spaces, prime mover behind the ill-fated program of total formalism for mathematics. Only Ramanujan surpasses him.
- Douglas Hofstadter
Author of mathematical/philosophical opus Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
- Felix Klein
Developed Non-Euclidean Geometry and topology, connected geometry and group theory.
- Sofia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya
Russian mathematician remembered for the Cauchy-Kovalevskaya Theorem, for her work on Abelian integrals and for her contributions to mathematical physics.
- Leopold Kronecker
Important contributor in analysis and linear algebra, best known for being Salieri to Cantor's Mozart.
- Adrian-Marie Legendre
- Sophus Lie
Father of group theory.
- John E. Littlewood
Worked with Hardy developing statistical number theory; many contributions in analysis and differential equations.
- Leonardo of Pisa, aka "Fibonacci"
the only Western medieval mathematician of note
- Nikolai Lobachevsky
- Ada Lovelace Byron
The first computer programmer, from the days before there were even any computers to program.
- Andrei Markov
Russian mathematician who worked mainly on probability theory.
- Augustus De Morgan
Prolific mathematical author and teacher who coined the term mathematical induction and made fundamental contributions to symbolic logic.
- John Napier
Inventor of logarithms.
- John Nash
Schizophrenic mathematical genius, subject of the book and film 'A Beautiful Mind'.
- Emmy Noether
Discoverer of Noetherian rings.
- John von Neumann
Founder of game theory and great mathematical logician who thought he had proved that no hidden variables theory of quantum mechanics could ever work.
- Blaise Pascal
Founder of probability theory and inventor of the barometer and the syringe, remembered also for Pascal's Wager.
- Roger Penrose
Mathematician and theoretical physicist who did a lot of work with Stephen Hawking.
- Georg Peurbach
Mathematician and astronomer who was the first known European to make use of trigonometry.
- Henri Poincaré
- Georg Pólya
Noted intuitionist and author of How to Solve It.
- Pythagoras
Ancient Greek mathematician who suggested that the earth might be a sphere years before Copernicus.
- Srinivasa Ramanujan
Astonishingly talented self-taught mathematician from India who would spew forth significant theorems in large numbers, as if from nowhere.
- G.F.B. Riemann
Best remembered for his work on non-euclidean geometry, in particular the mathematics of the fourth dimension, which later formed the basis of Einstein's General Relativity.
- Bertrand Russell
Philosopher and mathematician; wrote the Principia Mathematica with Alfred North Whitehead.
- Nikola Tesla
Brilliant, eccentric mathematician, physicist and inventor responsible for alternating current power transmission, fluorescent lights and a dazzling array of other inventions we take for granted.
- Alan Turing
Founder of computer science and the reason the Allies won World War II.
- John Wallis
Important early contributor to calculus.
- Andrew Wiles
Mathematician who finally proved Fermat's last theorem, as detailed in Simon Singh's excellent book.
- Alfred North Whitehead
Mathematician and philosopher; co-author of the Principia Mathematica.
- Johan de Witt
Pioneer in conic sections who moved on to politics and became leader of the Netherlands. He probably wished he'd stuck to mathematics when a mob tore him to pieces in 1672.