Memorable Mathematicians
Each student will be assigned one
mathematician to research at some point over the course of the school year. They will be responsible for researching the mathematician's life, contributions, and/or interesting facts. The research collected by the students will be displayed on the bulletin board in the upper school hallway, and added here.
Noether- Researched by Dasia and Shira
Noether lived 1882- 1935. She lived in Germany, but moved to the USA in 1932. Her family was Jewish. Her interest in math was influenced by her father. She wanted to go to a university in Erlangen but wasn’t allowed to because she was a woman. She helped develop modern algebra with her study of abstract rings and ideal theory. Noether showed mathematicians how to build general theories to apply to many problems. She helped work on Einstein’s theory of relativity. She eventually got into the college she wanted to after fighting for women’s rights. Noether made a contribution to human history by showing that if a person follows their dream and stands up for what they believe in, they can achieve anything. Gauss- Researched by Jake and Fischer
Gauss lived in Germany 1777- 1855. Before he was 3 years old, he corrected his father on a money calculation. As a child, he found out what adding all the numbers 1-100 was. He saw that 1+100=101, 2+99=101, 3+98=101 etc. so he found that there were 50 pairs of numbers that added up to 101, so he multiplied 50 times 101 and got 5,050. At age 15 he found a pattern of the occurrence of prime numbers by graphing the incidents of primes as the numbers increased, known as the Prime Number Theorem. At age 19 he discovered that a regular polygon with 17 sides could be drawn using just a compass and a straightedge. At 22 he proved the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra. The Duke paid for his tuition at Caroline College. Gauss made contributions to number theory, differential geometry, and statistics. He is also known for having predicted the orbit of the asteroid Ceres. When Gauss died, the King of Hanover dedicated a medal in his honor called "The Prince of Mathematics. Babbage- Researched by Jarren and Drew
Babbage was lived in England 1792- 1871. He drew plans and started to make an analytical engine, which could add, multiply, divide, and print. He spent his entire life and money on building the analytical engine. After spending eleven years and a great amount of money on the project, he finally built only one small section of the engine. The ideas in his engine are still used in modern calculators and computers. For this reason, he is referred to as the computer's grandfather. In addition to the engine, he had other ideas of ways to help society. He suggested that if all letters were charged with one flat rate it would be more productive and economical. He also invented the cowcatcher, which is mounted on the front of a train. It is used to push away any obstacles that are on the rails. Even if a person or animal was hit by a train, their life would be spared. Banneker- Researched by Skylar and Yudi
Banneker was born in Baltimore County, Maryland and lived from 1731-1806. He liked to observe the clouds and taught himself how to play the flute and violin. He created a clock from the idea of a pocket watch. It showed every second, minute and hour and a big gong rung every hour on the hour. Banneker calculated an ephemeris for an almanac; it showed the day to day calculations of the positions of the sun, moon, and planets. His almanacs were published from 1791-1797 and were distributed throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia. When Banneker was being lowered into his grave at his funeral, his house mysteriously burst into flames. Agnesi- Researched by Julia and Katie
Agnesi was born in Italy and lived from 1718-1799. When she was five years old she knew how to speak Italian and French fluently. When she was 9 years old she knew how to speak Latin, Hebrew and Greek. She would frequently walk and work in her sleep. She taught her little brothers with textbooks, but didn’t like the textbooks, so she made her own textbook, which took over 10 years. Her book was called the “Foundations of Analysis” and had 1070 handwritten pages. Agnesi wanted to be a nun to help people, but her father wouldn't let her. Most of her life was spent helping the poor and needy. She even gave up her room so the homeless had a place to stay. Euler- Researched by Lauren and Ariel
Euler was Swiss born, but he spent most of his life in Russia and Germany. He lived from 1707 to 1783. He was able to solve incredibly long math problems in his head. He solved a complex astronomy problem in three days when it was expected to take months. Euler introduced a new area of math called topology. He also made contributions in numerical analysis calculus. He applied math to guns, the northern lights, sound, navigation, shipbuilding, lotteries, magnetism, astronomy, and other topics He found that in certain solids, the number of faces plus the number of vertices equals the number of edges plus two. His formula is seen as F + V = E + 2. A lot of mathematical notation used today stems from Euler. He spoke German, Russian, and French, but usually wrote in Latin. He lost his sight in one eye from a fever, then lost sight in the other due to a cataract. Pascal- Researched by Jordan and Rachel
Pascal was born in Paris, France and lived from 1623- 1662. He is responsible for several inventions, including the one-wheeled wheelbarrow and a calculator. He created the calculator to help his father, who was a tax collector. Pascal also came up with the idea for the bus and made suggestions for public transportation. Pascal is well known for what is referred to as Pascal's Triangle. In this configuration of numbers, two numbers are added to get the number below them. Pascal was interested in the patterns in the numbers of Pascal's Triangle. Pascal was often sick, and died from cancer when he was 39. Fermat- Researched by Michael and Jonah
Fermat was born in France and lived from 1601-1685. He was a lawyer and math was his hobby. He was the founder of modern number theory and he found the same results to analytic geometry as Descartes. Fermat did a lot of work with prime numbers. He discovered that if you divide an odd prime number by four and the answer has a remainder of 1, then the prime can be represented by the sum of two squares, but if it is three it cannot. He found that for x^n + y^n = z^n assuming that x, y, z, and n are positive, then when n is greater than or equal to 3, there is no solution to the problem. He scribbled this equation in the margin of a book but never finished. The equation was finished 300 years later and became very famous. His friend wanted him to publish his work but Fermat thought he was not good enough. Galileo- Researched by Polina and Marco
Galileo lived in Italy from 1564-1642. Galileo originally was supposed to be a doctor because his father wanted him to, but he secretly skipped classes to listen to math classes instead. Galileo disproved Aristotle’s theory of falling objects. He climbed up at the top of the Tower of Pisa and dropped two iron balls at the same instant. The heavier iron ball did not travel faster than the lighter one. They both landed at exactly the same moment. Even though Galileo proved Aristotle incorrect in front of everyone, none of his colleagues believed him and thought he used illusions. Galileo liked to experiment with hanging objects. His discoveries about swinging objects led to the invention of the pendulum clock. Galileo tracked the path of Venus and noted rings of Saturn. He also discovered that Jupiter had satellites, or moons around it. Galileo was thrown in jail for believing in Copernicus’ theory that the Earth was NOT in the middle of the universe but was revolving around the sun. When in jail, Galileo went completely blind after a couple years. Fibonacci- Researched by Gabby and Cam
Fibonacci was born in Pisa, but moved to Bougie with his father. He lived c. 1180- 1250. Fibonacci changed his name from Leonard to Fibonacci, which means son of Bonacci, to honor his father. He also called himself Leonard Bigollo. Bigollo means both traveler and blockhead. Fibonacci published a book named Liber Abaci in 1202. In his book, he wrote about the Hindu-Arabic numerals, which he helped popularize in Europe. He also introduced a new way of writing fractions. Fibonacci is probably most well known for the number sequence he introduced. In this sequence, each number is the sum of the two numbers preceding it. The sequence starts 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, . . . It was the first sequence known in Europe where you could use a formula to find the next number. Archimedes- Researched by Skylar and Ari
Archimedes was born in Syracuse, in Greece. He lived 287- 212 B.C.E. Archimedes understood specific gravity, hydrostatics, and buoyancy. He invented exponents, which he used when he estimated how many grains of sand would fill the universe. Archimedes once moved an entire boat using levers. Archimedes did a lot of work with geometry, developing a formula for the area of a circle and for the volume of solids, including for the volume of a sphere. He also discovered a more precise estimate for the value of pi. Euclid- Researched by Noah and Natalia
Euclid was born in Alexandria, Egypt and lived between c. 330 B.C.E. and c. 275 B.C.E. Euclid wrote a 13 volume math text called Elements in which he organized everything that had been discovered by other mathematicians. Elements included the work of famous thinkers like Pythagoras, Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Plato. Elements was the standard math textbook used for over 2000 years. Euclid also developed and directed the Department of Mathematics at the University of Alexandria. Euclid is considered one of the three greatest mathematicians of antiquity, and helped shape mathematics teaching for over 2000 years. A famous quote of his is, "Sire, there is no royal road to geometry." Pythagoras- Researched by Naudia and Julian
Pythagoras was born on the island of Samos and lived between c. 560 B.C.E and c. 480 B.C.E. People thought that Pythagoras was the son of the god Apollo. He was responsible for important knowledge in the history of mathematics, astronomy, and the theory of music. Pythagoras was the first to divide numbers into odd and even. The Pythagorean Theorem states that the sum of the squares of the legs of a right triangle is equal to the square of the hypotenuse. Pythagoras constructed regular solids. Pythagoras started a school on his own. Half of the students only heard him, and the other half heard and saw him. The school had 300 people in it, and turned into a brotherhood. Thales- Researched by Ms. Winkler
Thales lived between c. 636 B.C.E. and c. 546 B.C.E. in Miletus. He was the first known mathematician. He was the first to use deductive reasoning to solve problems, and developed basic theorems in geometry. Thales is known for having predicted a solar eclipse that occurred in 585 B.C.E. He also predicted a bumper crop of olives, and was able to buy olive presses at low prices during a period of low olive production prior to it. |