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495 BCE
Zeno of Elea
Zeno of Elea was a Greek philosopher born in 495 BCE in Italy. Aristotle called him the innovator of the dialectic. He is most famous for his paradoxes. Zeno’s paradox is a geometric sequence who’s r value is less than one but still diverges. -
350 BCE
Euclid of Alexandria
Euclid was a Greek mathematician born mid-4th century in Alexandria, Egypt. Euclid is often referred to as the "father of geometry". Euclid influenced the the development of of Western mathematics for more than two thousand years. -
287 BCE
Archimedes
Archimedes was a mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer born in 287 BC in Sicily. Although not many details of his life are known as one of the leading scientists in the world. He discovered the laws of levers and pulley systems. -
1325
Nicole Oresme
Nicole Oresme was a French philosopher born in 1325 in Fleury-sur-Orne, France. Oresme discovered the theory of unconscious conclusion of perception. -
1401
Nicholas of Cusa
Nicholas of Cusa was a German philosopher who was born in 1401 in Bernkastel-Kues, Germany. He wrote about Christianity and how it is not possible to know God with the simple humane mind. -
1541
Francois Viete
Francois Viete is a french mathematician born in 1541 in Fontenay-le-Comte, France. He made many important discoveries for algebra which led to modern algebra due to his innovative use of letters as parameters in equations. -
1564
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer born in 1564 in Pisa, Italy. He is known as "father of observational astronomy", the "father of modern physics", the "father of the scientific method", and the "father of modern science". He discovered many things including craters and mountains on the moon, the phases of Venus, Jupiter’s moons, the stars of the Milky Way, and the first pendulum clock. -
1571
Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler was a German astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer born in 1571 in Germany. He is best known for his laws of planetary motion, and his books Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae. He made major contributions to the 17th-century scientific revolution. -
René Descartes
René Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist born in 1596 in Descartes, France. He is most famous for connecting algebra and geometry, allowing geometry problems to be solved with algebra. -
Bonaventura Cavalieri
Bonaventura Cavalieri was an Italian mathematician born in 1598 in Milan, Italy. He is best known for his advancement and discovery of optics and motion, his work on indivisibles, the precursors of infinitesimal calculus, and the introduction of logarithms to Italy. -
Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician born in 1623 in France. He was a child prodigy educated by his father. He was an early theorist in game theory and probability theory. He also wrote on theology and religion; he was a defender of Christianity. -
James Gregory
James Gregory was a Scottish mathematician and astronomer born in 1638 in Drumoak, United Kingdom. He is responsible for discovering infinite series representations for a number of trigonometry functions. He also invented the first description of a reflecting microscope. -
Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton is a very well known english mathematician born in 1643 in the United Kingdom. He is seen as one of the leading figures in the scientific revolution. He is best known for inventing calculus and his theory on gravity. -
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a German philosopher and mathematicians born in 1646 in Leipzig, Germany. He was very important to the enlightenment as he was one of the two founders of calculus. He also invented an early calculating machine. -
Jacob Bernoulli
Jacob Bernoulli was a Swiss mathematician born in 1655. He is one of the many mathematicians in his family. He developed the concept of Bernoulli numbers and he introduced the first principles of the calculus of variation. -
Bishop George Berkeley
Bishop George Berkeley is an Irish philosopher born in 1685 in Thomastown, Ireland. He is most famous for his advancement in the theory "immaterialism". -
John Wallis
John Wallis was an english mathematician born in 1689 in Ashford, United Kingdom. He was given partial credit for advancing infinitesimal calculus and introduced the infinity symbol (∞). -
Leonhard Euler
Euler was a Swiss mathematician born in 1707 in Switzerland. He made much progress in calculus and is best known for his discovery of the Euler–Lagrange equation. He also introduced a new field of study: analytic number theory. -
Friedrich von Schiller
Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet born in 1759 in Germany. He is best known for his immense influence in German literature but he also wrote many plays and dramas, where some featured the concept of infinity. -
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Carl Friedrich Gauss was a German mathematician born in 1777 in Brunswick, Germany. He is best known for his contributions to the number theory, geometry, probability theory, geodesy, planetary astronomy, the theory of functions, and potential theory -
David Brewster
David Brewster was a British scientist, inventor, author, and academic administrator born in 1781 in Jedburgh, United Kingdom. He is most famous for inventing the kaleidoscope. -
August Ferdinand Möbius
August Ferdinand Möbius was a German mathematician born in 1790 in Germany. He is best known for his discovery of the Möbius strip. -
Heinrich Barth
Heinrich Barth was a German explorer born in 1821 in Hamburg, Germany. Barth explored Africa and scholar, he is considered to be one of the greatest European explorers of Africa. He carefully documented details of the cultures he visited. -
Leopold Kronecker
Leopold Kronecker was a German mathematician born in 1823 in Poland. He worked on the number theory, algebra, and logic. -
Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch painter born in 1853 in Zundert, Netherlands. Vincent Van Gogh is regarded as one of the most famous and influential Western artists of all times. -
E.S. Fedorov
E.S. Fedorov was a Russian mathematician born in 1853 in Orenburg, Russia. He invented the the 230 symmetry space groups, which now serve as a basis for mathematical structure analysis. -
Jacques Hadamard
Jacques Hadamard was a French mathematician born in 1865 in Versailles, France. He made major contributions to the number theory, complex analysis, differential geometry and partial differential equations. -
Vallée Poussin
Vallée Poussin was a Belgium mathematician born in 1866 in Leuven, Belgium. His is known for proving the prime number theorem, which is that positive prime numbers become less common the bigger they get. -
Edward Kasner
Edward Kasner was an American mathematician born in 1878 in New York, United States. He is known for creating the word googol and googolplex. -
Hermann Weyl
Hermann Weyl was a German mathematician born in 1885 in Elmshorn, Germany. His work served as a link between pure mathematics and theoretical physics. He added enormously to quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity. -
M.C. Escher
M.C. Escher was a Dutch graphic artist born in 1898 in the Netherlands. He made many math inspired works of art that are realistic with interesting optical and conceptual effects. -
Max Bill
Max Bill was a Swiss architect born in 1908 in Switzerland. He believed that it is possible to develop art just by using mathematical thinking.