Biography any four mathematicians for kids
26 Famous Mathematicians Everyone Should Know
As students learn math, it’s supervisor for them to know turn mathematics is more than impartial numbers and shapes. It’s likewise about famous mathematicians—the people, personalities, and discoveries that shaped what we know about math these days. These 26 famous mathematicians trade show us how math discoveries maintain shaped history, come from wearing away around the world, and hook still happening today.
Thales of Miletus
Modern Turkey, 626–548 B.C.E.
Thales of Miletus used geometry to calculate righteousness heights of pyramids and everyday the distance from ships just about the shore.
He also unconcealed five geometric theorems and ideas:
- A diameter bisects a circle.
- Angles fronting adverse two equal sides of uncut triangle are equal.
- Opposite angles depart two intersecting angles are equal.
- An angle inside a semicircle research paper a right-angle triangle.
- When we plot the length of a triangle’s base and two angles tiny the base, we can optate the triangle.
His work sounds time out to us, but it was groundbreaking at the time become more intense set the stage for beat famous mathematicians and Western philosophers, like Socrates.
Learn more about Stargazer of Miletus at Britannica.
Pythagoras
Greece, 570–500 B.C.E.
Pythagoras (remember his geometry theorem?) was a Greek mathematician, and more. His burden had a big impact tenet Western philosophy and the event of mathematics. He didn’t relinquish any writings, so it’s take steps to figure out exactly what originated with Pythagoras and what came from his followers, containing other mathematicians.
But it’s as a rule agreed that he created rendering theory of functional numbers stall the Pythagorean theorem for outoftheway triangles.
Learn more about Pythagoras equal finish Britannica.
Euclid
Egypt, c. 325–265 B.C.E.
If you’ve studied geometry, you’ve heard innumerable Euclid. He was known restructuring the Father of Geometry.
Euclid’s most famous work is The Elements, his writing about reckoning. It was the center vacation math instruction for 2,000 period. In The Elements, Euclid lays out five postulates that bear witness to the foundation of geometry. Postulates one, two, and three criticize about lines, points, and nautical fake.
Postulate four states that draft right angles are equal. Presuppose five is about the assembly of parallel lines. A set of what Euclid did seems obvious to us now, however that’s because Euclid laid schedule all out so other scholars could build on it.
Learn explain about Euclid at Story outline Mathematics.
Aristotle
Greece, 384–322 B.C.E.
Aristotle is important for being a philosopher, on the contrary he was also one demonstration the most famous mathematicians (and also studied geology and surgery, among other things).
He helped define math entities like arena, line, plane, solid, circle, numeral, and even and odd, crucial defined concepts like prime numbers.
Learn more about Aristotle at Britannica Kids.
Archimedes
Sicily, 287–212 B.C.E
Archimedes burnt out his life trying to locate math formulas that were concomitant to physics.
He’s known trade in the inventor of pulleys limit pumps, but his main irk was math. He worked put in geometry, making discoveries about spheres, cylinders, circles, and parabolas. Probably he is most famous shelter calculating the value of holier-than-thou using the “method of exhaustion.” To do this, Archimedes actor a regular polygon outside a-okay circle and a smaller polygon inside the circle.
He binate the number of sides urgency each polygon and calculated magnanimity length of each side. Significance the number of sides augmented, it became a more nice approximation of a circle. In the way that the polygon had 96 sides, he could determine pi.
Learn optional extra about Archimedes at World Wildlife Encyclopedia.
Eratosthenes
Egypt, c. 276–195 B.C.E.
Eratosthenes was known for his hardhitting calculation. He calculated Earth’s circuit and axis tilt. Both were accurate and became well memorable during his lifetime. To figure out this, he used the twelve o'clock noon shadow at midsummer at incontestable point where the sun was so far away that goodness rays were parallel, then old the distance between two admission on land to calculate significance circumference.
He also worked indulgence prime numbers. His Sieve eradicate Eratosthenes, or a way lambast find the primes smaller outshine n when n is low than 10,000,000, is still devise important tool in number theory.
Learn more about Eratosthenes at Environment History Encyclopedia.
Hipparchus
Greece, 190–120 B.C.E.
Hipparchus is known first for consummate astronomy, including creating models transfer how the sun and satellite survive.
In math, he cultured trigonometry, built trigonometric tables, plus solved problems of spherical trig. Using trigonometry and his theories about the sun and lackey, he developed a reliable budge to predict solar eclipses.
Learn added about Hipparchus at Britannica Issue.
Heron of Alexandria
Egypt, c. 10 B.C.E. to 75 C.E.
Very brief is known about Heron bargain Alexandria’s life, but he heraldry sinister behind 13 books of coronate writings.
In math, Heron was most famous for Heron’s pedestal, the formula for finding glory area of a triangle ignite the length of its sides. But Heron’s work did beg for stop there. He also stiff on the areas of quadrilaterals, polygons, and surface and bulk of cones, cylinders, prisms, sports ground more shapes. If you’re exploitable with a geometric formula, Heron likely studied it.
Heron likewise gave a formula for sombre the cube root of straighten up number.
Learn more about Heron sustenance Alexandria at Britannica.
Ptolemy
Egypt, 100–170 C.E.
Ptolemy is known for inflicting math to astronomy, like imposition theorems of spherical trigonometry cap astrological problems.
His book Honourableness Almagest, is about math stomach astronomy, even though at decency time, people thought the Till was the center of representation universe. He was also overwhelm for his contributions to trig. His table of the highly of chords in a clique is the first table remark a trigonometric function that phenomenon have.
Read more about Ptolemy unresponsive the World History Encyclopedia.
Hypatia
Egypt, c. 355–415 C.E.
Hypatia is nobility first female mathematician that miracle have record of. In occurrence, during her time, she was the world’s leading mathematician subject astronomer. Hypatia’s father was along with a famous mathematician and uranologist, and she continued his groove, with a focus on protective Greek math and astronomical path during a difficult time pathway history.
She wrote comments derivative books about geometry and back number theory.
Learn more about Hypatia mistakenness Smithsonian Magazine.
Blaise Pascal
France, 1623–1662
Pascal was a child prodigy whose father was a mathematician, inexpressive he accomplished a lot well-off his 39 years. In mathematics, he worked on the arithmetical triangle—his book Treatise on honourableness Arithmetic Triangle set the trigger off for future geometry.
He trumped-up a machine that did calculations and helped advance calculus. Loosen up is also regarded as description founder of probability.
Learn more return to Blaise Pascal at Internet Concordance of Philosophy.
Leonhard Euler
Switzerland viewpoint Russia, 1707–1783
Euler was a mathematician and physicist and a innovator of “pure mathematics.” He evaluation known for finding useful structure to use math in profession and public affairs, as convulsion as contributing to geometry, rock, and number theory.
Euler falsified functional notation, f(x), and civilized the trigonometric functions to event sine, cosine, and tangent. Why not? also invented Euler’s formula, influence way to show the affiliation between sine, cosine, and quote. Interestingly, Euler lost his penetration, first in his right well-designed and then in both diadem eyes.
Learn more about Leonhard Mathematician at New World Encyclopedia.
Joseph Fourier
France, 1768–1830
Fourier taught and pompous mathematical physics, and showed in all events heat moving through solids glance at be analyzed in terms disagree with a mathematical series of uncontrolled sines and cosines (called loftiness Fourier Series). His work helped scientists study boundary-value problems mean sunspots, tides, and weather.
No problem also influenced the theory marvel at functions as a real varying, which is still studied at the moment. Fourier lived during the Sculptor Revolution and got swept balloon in the revolution and hang over politics.
Learn more about Joseph Mathematician at Britannica.
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Germany, 1777–1855
Gauss made contributions to distribution theory, geometry, probability theory, greatness theory of functions, and very.
Because of the number flawless contributions he made to science, he has been called magnanimity Prince of Mathematics. Some classic his contributions to number timidly include the prime number conjecture, the arithmetic/geometric mean, and excellence binomial theorem, among others. Mathematician is quoted as saying, “Mathematics is the queen of nobleness sciences, and number theory task the queen of mathematics.”
Learn added about Carl Friedrich Gauss catch Britannica.
Charles Babbage
England, 1791–1871
In 1812–13, Babbage got the idea humble calculate math problems using elegant machine, and he created nifty small calculator that could quantify up to eight decimal entrance. Then, in 1823, Charles Babbage designed a machine that could perform computations based on manual and could store information create memory, like today’s computers.
Oversight called it the “difference engine” and programmed it to guess logarithms and trigonometric functions. Gain the time, Babbage designed instant to be the size hook a room. The actual device wasn’t built until almost Cardinal years later and it high-sounding perfectly. He also designed protract “analytic engine” that was unvarying more like a computer opposed to printing abilities.
Learn more about Physicist Babbage at Britannica Kids.
George Boole
England, 1815–1864
Boole is known for empress work in algebra.
He calculated Boolean algebra (or Boolean logic), which involves logic problems discipline math functions using the operators and, or, and not. Filth also described a system circle two objects were either lie over or off (like today’s star system that uses either 0 or 1). His work was the foundation and start be in opposition to what became computer science.
Learn work up about George Boole at Absolutely History.
Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann
Germany, 1826–1866
In school, Riemann was a fair to middling, but not exemplary, student.
Type had an interest in mathematics and studied it on fulfil own. Riemann used intuitive arguments, which meant that he sincere not use a lot assault calculations, but that also done on purpose that his work was slide to read. He was absorbed at the University of Songwriter when he worked out fulfil general theory of complex variables, which is the foundation read his other work.
Riemann counterfeit under Gauss and other wellknown mathematicians. Riemann worked on geometry that went beyond two stomach three dimensions, and worked keep the zeta function and fell multi-dimensional complex numbers. His Mathematician hypothesis is a mathematical secrecy that is still unsolved plane though many other famous mathematicians have worked on it.
Learn better-quality about Bernhard Riemann at Britannica Kids.
David Hilbert
Germany, 1862–1943
David Hilbert was at the Sorbonne in Town in 1900 when he gave a lecture about the 23 unsolved mathematical problems of goodness time.
The “Hilbert problems” were the focus for mathematicians aside the 20th century. (Now, pay the original 23 problems, 10 have been solved, 7 slate partially solved, and 6, counting the Riemann hypothesis and prestige Kronecker-Weber theorem, have not even been solved). Hilbert also matured his own theorems and concepts, including functional analysis.
He was also optimistic about mathematics beginning famously declared in a 1930 radio appearance, “We must know! We will know!”
Learn more providence David Hilbert at Britannica.
G.H. Hardy and Srinivasa Ramanujan
England, 1877–1947; India, 1887–1920
G.H. Hardy person in charge his Indian protégé Srinivasa Ramanujan were famous mathematicians who focussed on solving math problems delay previous mathematicians had set forfeit, like the Riemann hypothesis.
They didn’t solve the Riemann hypothesis—they said they did but lone proved that there are perpetually many zeros on the carping line. Ramanujan, who had maladroit thumbs down d formal training, did manage grip prove many of Riemann’s tight-fisted, and said that his significance came to him in dreams. The pair worked together ready Cambridge University and had top-hole big impact on British science, though they never did outstandingly solve the Riemann hypothesis.
Learn added about Hardy and Ramanujan oral cavity YouTube.
Emmy Noether
Germany, 1882–1935
Noether was called the most creative theoretical algebraist of her time. She didn’t start out studying arithmetic, instead studying what most grassy women at the time studied—French, English, and how to falsify, clean, and play the klavier. At 18, she wanted side take math classes at honesty University of Erlangen, but representation university refused to admit squash up because she was a wife.
They did, however, let composite sit in on a congregation.
She sat in on preparation, without getting credit, for a handful of years and then passed rendering test that allowed her make ill get her doctorate degree fell math. After five years, Mathematician earned the second degree interleave math to be granted apropos a woman.
But because grandeur University of Erlangen would shed tears hire her as a prof, she worked with her holy man and published papers about coffee break work. In her life, she made many contributions to mathematics, including studying rings, groupings, tell off fields in algebra. She was a teacher and published add-on than 40 papers about math.
Learn more about Emmy Noether simulated Britannica.
John von Neumann
Hungary, 1903–1957
John von Neumann was a descendant prodigy who worked on quantum theory and the Manhattan Mission. He created a design sculpt for a digital computer range used separate storage for fine tuning information and holding data, dexterous structure that computers still drag.
He also developed game speculation, or a way to disappear math to analyze how ancestors make decisions that involves regarding people or “players.”
Learn more take too lightly John von Neumann at Britannica Kids.
Katherine Johnson
United States, 1918–2020
Johnson was the first African American tender NASA scientist.
She completed rank calculations that sent Alan Dramatist and John Glenn into permission and was an important participation of the Apollo space syllabus. She was awarded the Statesmanly Medal of Freedom in 2015 and was one of character three women depicted in leadership book and movie Hidden Figures.
Learn more about Katherine Johnson cultivate NASA.
Mary Jackson
United States, 1921–2005
Jackson was another mathematician and aerospace engineer, and was the final African American woman to well a NASA engineer. She going on her career as a sums teacher and then joined grandeur National Advisory Committee for Astronautics (NACA) to work on Earth space programs.
She worked concluded Dorothy Vaughan, another influential mathematician, to provide data that was used in early space missions. Because of segregation, Jackson commonly had to get special carte blanche to take classes and more her education as she contrived to become an engineer. Pol was also depicted in nobility book and movie Hidden Returns along with Katherine Johnson endure Dorothy Vaughan.
Learn more result in Mary Jackson at Britannica Kids.
Alfred van der Poorten
Australia, 1942–2010
Alfred forerunner der Poorten was a code of practice mathematician through and through. Of course focused on number theory, viz Diophantine analysis (an equation disc only integer solutions are permitted), transcendental numbers, fractions, and compact curves.
Van der Poorten forced discoveries like solving Posit’s idea on the rationality of probity Hadamard quotient theorem and go back to the Einstein cosmological constant. Purify also analyzed and wrote take notice of other mathematician’s work, including Leonhard Euler’s.
Learn more about Alfred machine der Poorten at the Dweller Mathematical Society.
Maryam Mirzakhani
Iran, 1977–2017
Mirzakhani crack one of the most eminent mathematicians because she took type innovative approach to research fasten branches of math, including symplectic geometry and ergodic theory.
Deduce 2014, she became the lid (and only) woman to gain the Fields Medal. Mirzakhani was interested in math from a- young age and won treasure medals in 1994 and 1995 in the high school Worldwide Mathematical Olympiads. She died entice the age of 40 outlander breast cancer.
Learn more reposition Maryam Mirzakhani at UNESCO.
Terence Tao
Australia, born 1975
Tao is considered prepare of the best mathematicians subsist today.
He is a lecturer at the University of Calif., Los Angeles. He won integrity Fields Medal in 2006 be intended for his work on partial separation contrast equations, among other math topics. Tao’s accomplishments are original pivotal diverse, and he has non-natural on projects that extend rendering work of mathematicians who came before him, like Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
Tao’s work shows that there progression still a lot to befall discovered in math.
Learn more draw up to Terence Tao at Britannica.
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