History of Science and Math Stack Exchange
History of Science and Math Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [mathematicians]

For questions about those who did mathematics

Mathematicians study one or more particular fields or subfields of Mathematics. This tag should be used if the concerned question is about the lives or works of historical Mathematicians.

tag should be used along with this tag if the question is about the lives of the concerned Mathematicians.

If the Mathematicians are well-renowned (such as , etc.), this tag should be used along with the tags of those well-renowned Mathematicians.

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What famous theorems or results were proven by female mathematicians?

We know that there were/are many famous female mathematicians who influenced the mathematics as we know it today, but their numbers are few compared to male mathematicians. While we have numerous famous results by many male mathematicians like…
Kushal Bhuyan
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Are there well-known mathematicians who shared Arnold's view about mathematics as natural science?

V. I. Arnold asserted that mathematics is a natural science: Mathematics is a part of physics. Physics is an experimental science, a part of natural science. Mathematics is the part of physics where experiments are cheap. V.I. Arnold: "On teaching…
Franz Kurz
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What was Euler's first language?

Mathematicians of the 18th century and the Swiss people are known to speak and write every language. Leonhard Euler belongs to both of these categories and wrote articles in any language, I am not able to track down any information on his native…
Džuris
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Who is Donald L. Webb

In the theory of boolean functions Sheffer's stroke is well-known. It is generalized for k-valued logic and known as Webb function: $$ \mathrm{Webb}(x,y)=\max(x,y)+1; $$ I want to find some information about Donald L. Webb -- the possible creator of…
Michael Freimann
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What are some famous mathematicians that disappeared?

In physics there is this famous history facts about Ettore Majorana, brilliant student of Enrico Fermi that predicted the neutron and developed the idea of Majorana fermions, that suddenly disappeared. Are there similar disappearance stories in the…
Mauricio
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Why isn't Aryabhata more famous than Pythagoras?

You saw the question right. Why isn't it so? Aryabhata had done more things than him. Is it because of the 400 or 500 years of difference between their existence? Pythagoras is famous most for his just one theorem. Is there something about…
manshu
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Mathematicians who often didn't use notebooks/devices to work?

Newton was known to keep manuscripts of his thoughts and workings on math/physics (and even more related to religion) which are kept in Cambridge I believe. My question is, are there examples of the contrary; mathematicians who are thought not to…
Colin McDonagh
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Euler's paper for the theorem $ e^{i\theta} = \cos(\theta) + i\sin(\theta) $?

Which is Leonard Euler's Paper where he proves this central result? The term 'complex number' does not seem to have been used by him. I'm hoping someone could link me to some page in the Euler archive.
user2277550
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Lagrange buried in the Panthéon

Why is Lagrange buried in the Panthéon in Paris, but not any other French mathematicians or theoretical physicists? I would understand if they were not represented at all, but it seems absurd to choose just one from a selection of many great names.
Elliot Gorokhovsky
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What is the opinion of famous mathematicians about academic research compared to mathematical competitions and olympiads?

I wonder what the quotes from mathematicians are about their views on academic research vs. math competitions. I can't find much, but I have found one: Math competitions are to research what spelling bees are to writing. - Bill Thurston What are…
User303131
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How many active mathematicians were there in Euler's time?

It seems that when you play around with the Math Genealogy Project, starting at some contemporary mathematician and going backwards through their advisor, advisor's advisor, etc., you tend to arrive at a famous mathematician once you get back to…
user514014
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Who is Paul Graham's father?

In one of his essays, Y Combinator (YC) co-founder Paul Graham (PG) wrote$^\color{magenta}{\star}$ the following. My father is a mathematician. For most of my childhood he worked for Westinghouse, modelling nuclear reactors [...] He grew up in the…
Ooker
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Did Jacques Tits have a middle name?

Every single web reference I have seen for Jacques Tits gives no indication that he had a middle name. All except one, which suggests his initials may have been J.L.. If this is so, what was his middle name? I have not been able to discover this.
Prime Mover
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Why don't inventors clearly describe or expound their ideas?

Kindly see the embolded sentence below.       To write Cauchy’s definitions down precisely takes a bit more work. This was especially true for Cauchy himself, who had not quite phrased the ideas in their clean, modern form.* (In mathematics, you…
user3478
3
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How to pronounce Jacobson

Nathan Jacobson was one of the leading algebraists in the last century. Several mathematical objects are named after him such as the Jacobson radical. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Jacobson . I wonder what is the right pronunciation of…
Mare
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