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1500 questions
17
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3 answers
Did light bulb companies commission Planck to study black body radiation?
Background
When introducing Planck's switch to looking at black-body radiation, a number of sources -- like MinutePhysics, the Economist, random online encyclopaedias and even here on HSM.SE (plus many popular history accounts: 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) --…
Artem Kaznatcheev
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17
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What became of the Boltzmann-Zermelo debate about the second law of thermodynamics?
At the end of 19th century there was a lively discussion about the nature of the second law of thermodynamics, and its relation to Hamiltonian dynamics. Boltzmann developed a position that the second law is statistical in nature, "ordered" states…
Conifold
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17
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2 answers
Did Alfred Nobel collect his wealth by selling dynamite?
At the start of my chemistry course, my professor told a story:
He said that Alfred Nobel invented dynamite (which is true) and he accumulated his wealth by selling it to both parties A and B (where A and B are countries that were at War) who were…
The Artist
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17
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What was the motivation for Minkowski spacetime before special relativity?
If I understand correctly, the concept of a Minkowski space/metric was already known before Einstein's paper on special relativity. Was there any physical motivation for studying this type of metric spaces and how did Einstein become aware of these…
Prastt
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17
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4 answers
How were derivatives of trigonometric functions first discovered?
When proving them the "modern" way (from first principles) it seems impossible to get around proving the identities $$\lim_{x\to 0}\frac{\sin x}{x} = 1$$ and the related $\cos$ limit. This itself requires some geometric reasoning and uses the…
user3339
17
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2 answers
The Abacus vs. the Electric Calculator (Nov 12, 1946): Why did the latter lose?
On Nov 12, 1946 the Americans organized a contest in Japan to compare the Japanese Abacus with the American Electric Calculator. The Abacus won:
"Civilization, on the threshold of the atomic age, tottered Monday
afternoon as the 2,000-year-old…
Franck Dernoncourt
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17
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2 answers
When was cancer first recognised, and by whom?
Cancer is one of the most well known and widespread conditions in the modern world, it can be argued that everyone is affected either directly and indirectly throughout their lives. According to Cancer Research UK, there are over 200 types of…
user22
17
votes
0 answers
When did people know that all real polynomials of degree greater than 2 were reducible?
Admittedly, this may not be a research level question, but I am deeply curious about this.
Let $f(x) \in \mathbb{R}[x]$, and write $d = \deg f$. It is well known that if $\deg f > 2$, then $f$ is reducible over $\mathbb{R}$. This fact can easily be…
Stanley Yao Xiao
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17
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1 answer
How did mathematicians notate the empty set before $\varnothing$?
Recently, I learned that $\emptyset$ or $\varnothing$ is a relatively new notation for the empty set and was created in 1939. I know $\{\}$ is also used along with $\{\cdot\}$ to denote empty sets. What was their origin? In general, what was the…
quiet
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17
votes
3 answers
Who was the first to postulate that space was a vacuum?
The fact that space is a vacuum and that the Earth's atmosphere only extends a short way above the surface is accepted as obvious. However, there is nothing a priori obvious about it: you first have to understand the nature of a vacuum and its…
Emilio Pisanty
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17
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Did Kontsevich start a lecture with "one I will not define, the other nobody knows how to define, and we will be proving that they are equivalent"?
The story was circulating in early 2000s, so presumably it happened in 1990s. Kontsevich, it goes, opened a lecture course on mirror symmetry with:"This course is about two categories. One I will not define, the other nobody knows how to define, and…
Conifold
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17
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4 answers
Scientific progress claimed to be caused by dreaming
Kekulé, who discovered the chemical formula for benzene in 1865, claimed that he had guessed the ring formula with the alternating single and double bonds in a day-dream. Are there similar examples of significant scientific progress claimed to be…
Felix
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Who was the first to calculate $\pi$?
I am very interested in the history of $\pi$. I am first trying to find out who calculated it. Many sources have different answers, from the ancient Egyptians, to Archimedes, to the Babylonians. I still can't find an answer to who first discovered…
Anthony Pham
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17
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1 answer
What specific problems motivated Poincaré's work on topology?
The McTutor biography on Poincaré says:
Poincaré's Analysis situs, published in 1895, is an early systematic treatment of topology. He can be said to have been the originator of algebraic topology and, in 1901, he claimed that his researches in…
Michael Weiss
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Did Ronald Fisher ever say anything on varying the threshold of significance level?
There has been a growing chorus against the conventional NHST (Null Hypothesis Significance Testing). One thing is the blind usage of a monolithic significance level $5\%.$
In a recent thread at CV, user Peter Flom claimed that Fisher had asserted…
User1865345
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