1. Great Mathematicians
By: Vinnie Boettcher, Joe Burbach, Peter Dziewiontkoski, and Jesse Lucas

2. Johann Kepler
Kepler was a German mathematician and astronomer who discovered that the Earth and planets travel around the sun in elliptical orbits
Gave 3 fundamental laws of planetary motion
Discovered 2 new polyhedra
Studied orbit of Mars
His father was a mercenary soldier and his mother the daughter of an innkeeper
Father left when he was five, so he lived at his grandmother’s inn
His mother charged with witchcraft
“Some of what these pamphlets [of astrological forecasts] say will turn out to be true, but most of it time and experience will expose as empty and worthless. The latter part will be forgotten [literally: written on the winds] while the former will be carefully entered in people's memories, as is usual with the crowd”

3. Leonhard Euler
He went to the University of Basel at 14 to study the ministry
In 1723 he completed his Master’s in philosophy
1727 won 2nd place in the Grand Prize of the Paris Academy
served in the Russian Navy as a medical lt.
In 1738 and 1740 Euler won the Grand Prize of the Paris Academy
In 1744 he became the math director at the Berlin Academy
Euler wrote 380 articles, and wrote books on calculus and other math
1772 he wrote a 775 page work on the motion of the moon
Throughout his life he introduced
Beta, Gamma functions and integrating factors
“Now I will have less distraction.” after losing sight in one of his eyes

4. Felix Klein 1849-1925 German Mathematician
He was born on 25/4/1849 and delighted in pointing out that each of the day (52), month (22), and year (432) was the square of a prime.
He 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
Attended the Gymnasium in Düsseldorf
Was appointed professor at Erlangen, in Bavaria in southern Germany, in 1872
“Every one who understands the subject will agree that even the basis on which the scientific explanation of nature rests is intelligible only to those who have learned at least the elements of the differential and integral calculus, as well as analytical geometry”

5. Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz 1646-1716
German mathematician who developed the present day notation for the differential and integral calculus
Attended the Nicolai School in Leipzig at age seven
In 1661, at the age of fourteen, Leibniz entered the University of Leipzig.
Work was to be published in 1666 as Dissertatio de arte combinatoria (Dissertation on the combinatorial art). In this work Leibniz aimed to reduce all reasoning and discovery to a combination of basic elements such as numbers, letters, sounds and colors.
“Nothing is more important than to see the sources of invention which are, in my opinion more interesting than the inventions themselves”

6. Pierre de Fermat
1629 he gave a copy of his restoration of Apollonius’s Plane loci to a mathmatician
He went to Orleans to study law
1631 He became a civil lawyer and a government official in Toulouse
Changed his name to Pierre de Fermat
He worked on maxima, minima, and tangents
He worked on spirals
However, he is most known for his number theory, Fermat’s Last Theorem
“And perhaps, posterity will thank me for having shown it that the ancients did not know everything”

7. Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky 1792-1856
Russian mathematician that studied non-Euclidean geometry
Graduated from Gymnasium in 1807 and entered Kazan University as a free student.
Lobachevsky received a Master's Degree in physics and mathematics in 1811.
In 1814 he was appointed to a lectureship and in 1816 he became an extraordinary professor.
In 1822 he was appointed as a full professor
Taught a wide range of topics including mathematics, physics and astronomy.
“There is no branch of mathematics, however abstract, which may not some day be applied to phenomena of the real world”

8. Marin Mersenne
Born into a working class family in the small town of Oizé in the province of Maine.
His first posting was in 1614 to the monastery in Nevers where he taught philosophy and theology to the younger members of the community.
After Mersenne's death, letters in his cell were found from 78 different correspondents including Fermat, Huygens, Pell, Galileo and Torricelli.
Mersenne's name is best remembered today for Mersenne primes
[Animals] do not so much act as be put into action, and that objects make an impression on their senses such that it is necessary for them to follow it just as it is necessary for the wheels of a clock to follow the weights and the spring that pulls them.

9. John Napier
Scottish scholar who is best known for his invention of logarithms
Mathematical contributions include a mnemonic for formulas used in solving spherical triangles
Constructed two formulas known as Napier's analogies
His family had owned the Merchiston estate from the 1430s when one of his ancestors acquired the estate, becoming the first Napare of Merchiston
Archibald Napier(father) was a justice-depute and was knighted in 1565
“Seeing there is nothing that is so troublesome to mathematical practice, nor that doth more molest and hinder calculators, than the multiplications, divisions, square and cubical extractions of great numbers ... I began therefore to consider in my mind by what certain and ready art I might remove those hindrances”

10. Sir Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton was the greatest English mathematician of his generation
Laid the foundation for differential and integral calculus
Born in the manor house of Woolsthorpe, near Grantham in Lincolnshire
Was Lucasian professor at Cambridge
Upon the death of his stepfather in 1653, Newton lived in an extended family consisting of his mother, his grandmother, one half-brother, and two half-sisters
“To explain all nature is too difficult a task for any one man or even for any one age. `Tis much better to do a little with certainty, and leave the rest for others that come after you, than to explain all things.”

11. Fibonacci of Pisa
Lived mainly in North Africa during childhood
Father was a diplomat
Traveled a lot
1202 writes his famous book Liber abaci
Wrote many books, however most are lost
Known books include Flos (1220) and Liber quadratorum (1225)
He also wrote a commentary on Euclid’s Elements
Created a sequence of numbers which each number is the sum of the 2 preceding numbers
“And perhaps, posterity will thank me for having shown it that the ancients did not know everything”

12. Blaise Pascal
Pascal was a French Mathematician and Philosopher
Pascal made many accomplishments in conic sections and projective geometry
He also laid the foundations for the theory of probability
Pascal was one of four children and the only male. His father educated Blaise himself as a young child
“We are usually convinced more easily by reasons we have found ourselves than by those which have occurred to others”

13. Srinivasa Ramanujan
He was one of India’s greatest Mathematicians
He made substantial contributions to the analytical theory of numbers
He also worked on elliptic functions, continued fractions, and infinite series
He was elected to the Cambridge Philosophical Society and to the Royal Society of London
“An equation means nothing to me unless it expresses a thought of God”

14. Evariste Galois
1826 he was asked to repeat his year of school because of his grades
1827 he enrolled in 1st math course
1829 his 1st math paper was published on continued fractions
His father committed suicide on July
Passed his Ecole Polytechnique on December after failing twice
He worked on the elliptic functions and abelian integrals
May 9, 1831 he was arrested for conspiracy to overthrow the government
He was again arrested on July 14, 1831
He was wounded in a duel and died from the wounds
“Unfortunately what is little recognized is that the most worthwhile…”

15. GF Bernhard Riemann
Riemann was a German mathematician worked on ideas concerning geometry of space
This had a profound effect on the development of modern theoretical physics.
He also clarified the notion of integral
Now called the Riemann integral
He was the second of 6 children
His father taught him until he was 10 years old when he went to school
“If only I had the theorems! Then I should find the proofs easily enough”

16. Thales Of Miletus 624 BC – 547 BC
Thales was the first known Greek philosopher, scientist and mathematician
He is credited with five theorems of elementary geometry.
Although he worked in math and science, he was also an engineer
He is believed to have been the teacher of Anaximander
Thales believed that the Earth floats on water and all things come to be from water
“I will be sufficiently rewarded if when telling it to others you will not claim the discovery as your own, but will say it was mine”

17. John Von Neumann
Von Neumann built a solid framework for quantum mechanics
He also worked in game theory
Now called von Neumann Algebras
He also was one of the pioneers of computer science
His father, Max Neumann, was a top banker
Although the family as Jewish, Max did not observe the strict practices
“In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them”

18. Karl Friedrich Gauss
In 1792 he entered Brunswick Collegium Carolinum where he learned Bode’s law by himself
1798 he discovered the construction of a regular 17-gon by ruler and compasses
Received Brunswick degree in 1799
1801 he published the book Disquisitiones Arthmeticae
Within 3 years he lost his father, wife, and his 2nd son
1809 he published another book Theoria motus corporum coelestium in sectionibus conicis Solem ambientium, has differential equations, conic sections, and elliptic orbits
He introduced the hypergeometric function
“Life stands before me like an eternal spring with new and brilliant clothes”

19. Andrew Wiles 1953 - He proved Fermat's Last Theorem in 1995
His father, Maurice Frank Wiles, was the Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford
At age 10, Wiles understood complex math theories and problems
He studied at Oxford
Wiles was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship
In 1994 Wiles was appointed Eugene Higgins Professor of Mathematics at Princeton
“...Mathematics... is a bit like discovering oil. ... But mathematics has one great advantage over oil, in that no one has yet ... found a way that you can keep using the same oil forever”

20. Zeno Of Elea 490 BC BC
Zeno was a Greek philosopher famous for proposing “paradoxes” which challenged mathematicians' view of the real world
Zeno was a pupil and friend of the philosopher Parmenides
Zeno is believed to have written one book on philosophy, however, it has not survived
Most information on Zeno comes from Plato
“Zeno's challenge to simple pluralism is successful, in that he forces anti-Parmenideans to go beyond common sense”

21. Maria Gaetana Agnesi 1718 - 1799 She was one of 21 Children
She was an Italian Mathematician
She published many books including:
Propositiones Philosophicae
Traité analytique des section coniques
Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventù italiana
A book on calculus
She also accepted the Chair of Mathematics at the University of Bologna
"It is marvelous to see a person of (Agnesi's) age so conversant with such abstract subjects." ---Author C. De Brosses

22. Hypatia
First woman to make a substantial contribution to math
Helped her father write his eleven part comentary on Ptolemy’s Alagest
She also helped her father write a newer version of Euclid’s Elements
She wrote documentaries on Diophantus’s Arithmetica
Also Appolonius’s Conics
Ptolemy’s astronomical writings, however, this is doubted
“Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all”

23. Mohammed Al-Khowarizmi 780 - 850
He was an Iraqi Mathematician, Astronomer, and somewhat Philosopher
He was a scholar at the House of Wisdom in Baghdad
Translated Greek scientific manuscripts
Gave us the word “algebra”
Wrote a treatise on algebra, Hisab al-jabr w'al-muqabala, which is one of the most important books on algebra
Wrote a treatise on astronomy
Wrote a book about political history
“It is impossible to overstress the originality of the conception and style of al-Khwarizmi's algebra...”
---Rashed

24. Charles Babbage 1791 - 1871 English
He suffered illness while he was a child
His father was wealthy and sent him to a private school
He published Memoirs of the Analytical Society
Translated La Croix’s Sur le calcul différentiel et intégral
He published a book on calculus
He tried to invent a engine that would compute mathematical tables
Invented the concepts behind a modern day computer
Perhaps it would be better for science, that all criticism should be avowed. --Charles Babbage

25. Bernoulli Family Daniel Bernoulli
A Swiss family that had 7 mathematicians in it.
Daniel:
Jacob:
Jacob II:
Johann:
Johann II:
Johann III:
Nicolaus:
Nicolaus II:
Achievements of them all Combined
Found the Bernoulli principle which states an increase in speed results in a decrease in pressure
First to use the word “integral”
Studied the refraction of light
Worked on probability and Heat of Light,
Studied curves and equations
Daniel Bernoulli
It would be better for the true physics if there were no mathematicians on earth. --Daniel Bernoulli

26. Rene Descarte 1596 - 1650 Rene was a French philosopher
He worked on La géométrie which includes his application of algebra to geometry from which we now have Cartesian geometry.
His work had a great influence on both mathematicians and philosophers.
As a child, he had some trouble in school, but Math always made sense to him
Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy, was published in 1641
“Of all things, good sense is the most fairly distributed: everyone thinks he is so well supplied with it that even those who are the hardest to satisfy in every other respect never desire more of it than they already have”

27. Janos Boylai
Romanian Mathematician who’s father wanted him to be one
Made his own definition of parallel
Tried to develop all of mathematics on an axiom system—it failed
Developed a geometric concept of complex numbers as ordered pairs of real numbers
His work was published in an appendix in a textbook of his father’s work
Only published a few pages of his work but there were more than 20,000 when he died that went unpublished
Mathematical discoveries, like springtime violets in the woods, have their season which no man can hasten or retard. --Janos Bolyai

28. George Boole 1815 - 1864 He was an Irish Mathematician
He wrote a paper On a general method of analysis which used algebra to solve differential equations
He was appointed to the chair of mathematics at Queens College
He published many mathematical books
He published An Investigation into the Laws of Thought, on Which are founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities
Looked at logic in a new way using simple algebra
Invented Boolean Algebra which is used in computers and circuits
It is not of the essence of mathematics to be conversant with the ideas of number and quantity. --George Boole

29. Brahma-gupta 598 - 670 He was an Indian Mathematician and Astronomer
His father was Jisnugupta, who studied mathematics and astronomy
Head of the foremost Ancient Indian Observatory
Published Brahmasphutasiddhanta
Was a work on math and astronomy
Included longitude and latitude of planets, lunar and solar eclipses, rising and settings, lunar orbit, moons shadow, etc.
Gave arithmetical rules on using positive and negative numbers
“As the sun eclipses the stars by its brilliancy, so the man of knowledge will eclipse the fame of others in assemblies of the people if he proposes algebraic problems, and still more if he solves them”

30. Click to see the Answer
Quiz

31. A. Boylai, Janos B. Agnesi, Maria Gaetana Boole, George Kepler, John
1. Who created an algebra that is used in computers even today? (Hint: Truth Tables)
A. Boylai, Janos
B. Agnesi, Maria Gaetana
Boole, George
Kepler, John

32. 2. Which mathematician first used the word “algebra”?
Al-Khowarizmi, Mohammed 
Zeno Of Elea
Newton, Sir Isaac
Mohammed Al-Khowarizmi

33. 3. Who laid the foundations for the theory of probability?
A. Pascal, Blaise B. Lobachevsky, Nikolai Ivanovich C. Fermat, Pierre de D. Babbage, Charles

34. 4. Who was the greatest English mathematician of his generation
4. Who was the greatest English mathematician of his generation? (Hint: He worked better at knight)
A. Klein, Felix B. Descarte, Rene C. Newton, Sir Isaac D. Thales Of Miletus

35. Kepler, Johann Gauss, Karl Friedrich Wiles, Andrew Bernoulli Family
5. Who discovered that the Earth and planets travel around the sun in elliptical orbits?
Kepler, Johann
Gauss, Karl Friedrich
Wiles, Andrew
Bernoulli Family

36. Klein, Felix Babbage, Charles Napier, John Newton, Sir Isaac
6. Who constructed two formulas known as Napier's analogies? (Hint: Don’t think too hard about this)
Klein, Felix
Babbage, Charles
Napier, John
Newton, Sir Isaac

37. Leibniz, Gotfried Wilhelm Babbage, Charles
7. Which mathematician tried to invent an engine that would compute mathematical tables?
Euler, Leonhard
Riemann, GF Bernhard
Leibniz, Gotfried Wilhelm
Babbage, Charles

38. Fermat, Pierre de Brahma-gupta Zeno Of Elea Napier, John
8. Who is the mathematician that gave arithmetical rules on positive and negative numbers?
Fermat, Pierre de
Brahma-gupta
Zeno Of Elea
Napier, John

39. Lobachevsky, Nikolai Ivanovich Klein, Felix Bernoulli Family
9. Who was a Russian mathematician that studied non-Euclidean geometry?
Lobachevsky, Nikolai Ivanovich
Klein, Felix
Bernoulli Family
Galois, Evariste

40. 10. What is the name of the family that had many mathematicians in it?
A. Descarte, Rene B. Leibniz, Gotfried Wilhelm C. Beroulli Family D. Von Neumann, John

41. 11. Which mathematician was one of 21 children?
Klein, Felix
Agnesi, Maria Gaetana
Newton, Sir Isaac
Zeno Of Elea

42. 12. Who was the mathematician whose father wanted him to become one?
Gauss, Karl Friedrich
Pascal, Blaise
Descarte, Rene
Bolyai, Janos

43. Klein, Felix Thales Of Miletus Mersenne, Marin Babbage, Charles
13. Who worked on non- Euclidian Geometry and had a Perfect Square Birthday?
Klein, Felix
Thales Of Miletus
Mersenne, Marin
Babbage, Charles

44. Leibniz, Gotfried Wilhelm Wiles, Andrew
14. Who developed the present day notation for the differential and integral calculus?
Hypatia
Brahma-gupta
Leibniz, Gotfried Wilhelm
Wiles, Andrew

45. 15. After whose death were 78 letters found in his cell?
Fibonacci of Pisa
Mersenne, Marin
Ramanujan, Srinivasa
Bernoulli Family

46. Al-Khowarizmi, Mohammed Brahma-gupta Hypatia Ramanujan, Srinivasa
16. What Indian scholar made substantial contributions to the analytical theory of numbers?
Al-Khowarizmi, Mohammed
Brahma-gupta
Hypatia
Ramanujan, Srinivasa

47. 17. Who worked on ideas concerning geometry of space?
Riemann, GF Bernhard
Gauss, Karl Friedrich
Boole, George
Euler, Leonhard

48. 18. Who was famous for proposing “paradoxes”?
Fibonacci of Pisa
Zeno Of Elea
Bolyai, Janos
Agnesi, Maria Gaetana

49. 19. Who understood complex math from a very young age?
Brahma-gupta
Galois, Evariste
Wiles, Andrew
Pascal, Blaise

50. 20. Who is credited with five theorems of elementary geometry?
Thales Of Miletus
Kepler, Johann
Descarte, Rene
Bernoulli Family

51. 21. Who built a solid framework for quantum mechanics?
Babbage, Charles
Hypatia
Gauss, Karl Friedrich
Von Neumann, John

52. Euler, Leonhard Mersenne, Marin Galois, Evariste Wiles, Andrew
22. Who wrote 380 articles, and wrote books on calculus and other math?
Euler, Leonhard
Mersenne, Marin
Galois, Evariste
Wiles, Andrew

53. 23. Who worked on La géométrie?
Ramanujan, Srinivasa
Al-Khowarizmi, Mohammed
Zeno Of Elea
Descarte, Rene

54. 24. Who helped her father write a newer version of Euclid’s Elements?
Agnesi, Maria Gaetana
Hypatia
Pascal, Blaise
Brahma-gupta

55. 25. Who introduced the hyper geometric function?
Gauss, Karl Friedrich
Wiles, Andrew
Galois, Evariste
Riemann, GF Bernhard

56. Lobachevsky, Nikolai Ivanovich
26. Who is most known for his number theory, Fermat’s Last Theorem? (Hint: … Really?)
Newton, Sir Isaac
Fermat, Pierre de
Bolyai, Janos
Lobachevsky, Nikolai Ivanovich

57. 27. Who had trouble in school as a young child?
Hypatia
Riemann, GF Bernhard
Boole, George
Galois, Evariste

58. Euler, Leonhard Von Neumann, John Fibonacci of Pisa Babbage, Charles
28. Who created a sequence of numbers which each number is the sum of the 2 preceding numbers?
Euler, Leonhard
Von Neumann, John
Fibonacci of Pisa
Babbage, Charles