The 15 most famous and outstanding mathematicians in history

Mathematics is an abstract science difficult to understand for the non-specialized public, as it is based on the study of the properties and relationships between entities as abstract as numbers, elements that after all are not visible to the eye human.

From the sum of the shopping list price to computational math, this science dominates our lives in each of the steps we take, both on a social and individual level. Without going any further, without mathematics you would not be able to read these lines, since binary code is the coding system that allows us to represent texts and instructions on a computer.

Thus, it is more than clear to us that numbers and mathematical operations are an underlying pillar of almost all the processes that unfold in our society, which is why the importance of this science is invaluable. Still, do you know what historical figures have allowed us to get here? To answer this question, today we show you the 15 most famous and outstanding mathematicians in history. Do not miss them.

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The greatest geniuses of numbers and geometry

Mathematics has been present in our society for thousands of years, as paleontologists have discovered, in 70,000-year-old deposits, ocher rocks adorned with indentations of geometric patterns. Artifacts more than 30,000 years old have also been found that suggest an intention to try to quantify time.

This tells us that mathematics has been a part of our species since long before the ancient greece, historical time with which we will begin this journey through the genius of the mind human. After this initial appreciation, we begin with the ranking.

1. Thales of Miletus (624 a. C-546 a. C)

We begin the list with the philosopher, mathematician, legislator and geometrist Thales of Miletus, a true genius who gave life to his works in ancient Greece.

There are two theorems of classical geometry named after her. Thales' first theorem describes how to build a triangle from another previously while the second is related to right triangles inscribed within a circumference.

Such is considered by many to be the father of physics and the first true mathematician, as he used his knowledge of geometry to solve everyday problems through a method of deductive reasoning.

2. Pythagoras (569 a. C-475 a. C)

Considered by many other historians as the first true pure mathematician, Pythagoras contributed significantly to the development of mathematics, geometry, and arithmetic.

This magnificent thinker is known (among many other things) for the theorem that shares his name, which is still used today. According to the Pythagorean theorem, the length of the hypotenuse is equal to the square root of the sum of the area of ​​the squares of the respective lengths of the legs in a right triangle. This application is considered, today, as the best known proposition in the world of mathematics.

• We recommend you read: "The 85 best phrases of Pythagoras (about science and life)"

3. Euclid (325 a. C- 265 a. C)

We move forward in time and we meet the father of geometry. Euclides wrote the work "elements", one of the best-known scientific productions in the world based on the compilation of the knowledge imparted in the academic sphere at his time. With 48 propositions from 23 definitions, Euclid collected notions as important as that all right angles are equal to each other.

4. Archimedes (287 a. C- 212 a. C)

"Give me a foothold and I will move the world". Without a doubt, the greatest mathematician of antiquity. This wonderful thinker gave an extremely accurate approximation of the number pi, he defined the spiral that It is named after her and created an ingenious system for the expression of very long numbers, among many others things.

In addition to this, Archimedes also postulated the law of the lever and Archimedes' principle, which follows the following statement: a body totally or partially submerged in a fluid at rest experiences an upward vertical thrust equal to the weight of the fluid evicted.

5. Al-Juraismi (dates unknown)

Muslim mathematician of the 9th century AD. C that gave birth to the treatise on algebra, a didactic work that aimed to teach the application of this branch of mathematics in the everyday problems that arose in the Islamic empire of then. Despite the ignorance of her as a historical figure, we are before the father of algebra.

6. René Descartes (1596-1650)

We took an important historical and geographical leap, since we now place ourselves in much more recent times and in Europe to speak of a true genius: René Descartes.

To this philosopher, mathematician and physicist milestones such as the development of analytic or Cartesian geometry (which uses algebra to describe geometry), the convention of representing unknowns with the letters x, y, z, the method of exponents and the explanation of the infinitesimal calculus, among many others things. Without a doubt, a true genius.

7. Pierre de Fermat (1601-1665)

Although he is less known than his partner Descartes, Pierre de Fermat is considered one of the leading mathematicians of the seventeenth century. He was a co-founder of probability theory, discovered the fundamental principle of analytic geometry (independently of Descartes) and made many contributions to number theory.

8. Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

Pascal is recognized for two mathematical areas of study: projective geometry and probability theory. In addition to make the first calculator (Pascal's wheel or pascalina), is famous for the creation of Pascal's triangle, a representation of binomial coefficients arranged in the form of a triangle.

9. Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

What to say about this eminence? Beyond the law of universal gravitation, the laws of dynamics (the famous 3 laws of Newton) and his work with light, Newton He also made multiple contributions in the world of mathematics, since he is the person credited for the development of the theorem binomial. Newton is, perhaps, the most important scientific figure in history.

10. Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)

We move to much more recent times and to the United States to discover the first black astronomer, mathematician and inventor of the list. Benjamin Banneker was a self-taught mathematician and, thanks to his incredible intellect, he is known for predicting with accuracy of a solar eclipse in the year 1789 and for building a wooden clock that measured time fairly precision.

11. Ada Lovelace (1815-1852)

Of course, this post and the previous one highlight how little known some eminences are due to their skin color or biological gender, so on which list does this true genius appear?

Ada is recognized by the most specialized circles as the world's first computer programmer, for he deduced the ability of computers to go beyond simple number calculations and was the first person to write a program for a programmable computer. We encourage you to learn more about this incredible figure, as it is usually buried by many other male thinkers.

• To know more: "7 incredible women from history to remember (and that you may not have known)"

12. Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

It is curious to know that Albert Einstein's widespread legend of suspense in mathematics is completely uncertain, since his grades in algebra and geometry were even more excellent than those obtained in the field of physical. Despite being known for his contributions to this latter branch of science, Einstein also he exceeded in mathematical grounds, as he had to rely on Tensor Calculus and Geometry Riemannian to shape his General Theory of Relativity.

13. Kurt Gödel (1906-1978)

East Austrian logician, mathematician and philosopher she tried to use logic and set theory to understand the fundamentals of mathematics. He is best known for his two incompleteness theorems. As we are dealing with really complex terms, we will limit ourselves to saying that both theorems are related to the existence of undecidable propositions (the impossibility of refuting one predicate from another) in certain theories arithmetic.

14. Alan Turing (1912-1954)

Alan Turing is considered to be one of the fathers of computing and a forerunner of the computing that we know today. A cryptographic specialist, this mathematician is known for the machine that bears his name, a device theoretical capable of simulating the logic of any algorithm by manipulating symbols on a strip of headband.

Beyond conceptual grounds, Turing is famous for cracking the Nazi code for the "Enigma" machine., with which the enemies of the United Kingdom passed encrypted information. It is estimated that her discoveries allowed the Second World War to end about 4 years earlier but, for Unfortunately, he did not receive the credit he deserved until 60 years later for a totally absurd cause: his homosexuality.

15. John Forbes Nash, Jr. (1928-2015)

We end this historical journey with a contemporary eminence, since not all geniuses lived outside of our present time. Specialist in game theory, differential geometry and partial derivative equations, this fantastic thinker won the nobel prize in economics in 1994 for his contributions to science economic.

As a last curiosity, we close this space remembering that the film “A Wonderful Mind”, winner of 4 Oscars, recounts his life with unmatched mastery. From here, we recommend it to any curious person who has been wanting more.

Resume

As we have seen, history has been full of thinkers, philosophers and mathematicians who have propelled this science to what it is today. We have tried to deviate a bit from the most typical "dogmas" and for this reason we have left some characters important in the pipeline, but such eminences as Al-Juarismi, Benjamin Banneker and Ada Lovelace deserved their own spaces, since making visible the work of minorities and stigmatized groups throughout history is, today, more important than ever.

Bibliographic references

• The great mathematicians, wonderfulbooks.com. Collected on November 1, 2020 in http://www.librosmaravillosos.com/grandesmatematicos/pdf/Los%20Grandes%20Matematicos%20-%20E.%20T.%20Bell.pdf
• Mathematicians in the World, storymaps.arcgis.com. Collected on November 1, 2020 in https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/abaac061530548b7b03cb4f720ea6ffb