Greatest Mathematicians from 1 CE ...

Jai Ganesh · 2025-08-24 21:32:05

21) Nicole Oresme

Nicole Oresme (1 January 1325 – 11 July 1382), also known as Nicolas Oresme, Nicholas Oresme, or Nicolas d'Oresme, was a French philosopher of the later Middle Ages. He wrote influential works on economics, mathematics, physics, astrology, astronomy, philosophy, and theology. He served as Bishop of Lisieux, translated Aristotelian texts for King Charles V of France, and was a prominent scholar of 14th-century Europe.

Life

Nicole Oresme was born c. 1320–1325 in the village of Allemagnes (today's Fleury-sur-Orne) in the vicinity of Caen, Normandy, in the diocese of Bayeux. Little is known about his family background, but his attendance at the royally sponsored College of Navarre in Paris, which supported students of modest means, suggests he likely came from a peasant or modest family.

Oresme studied the "arts" in Paris, together with Jean Buridan (the so-called founder of the French school of natural philosophy), Albert of Saxony and perhaps Marsilius of Inghen, and there received the Magister Artium. By 1342, he was a regent master in arts during debates over William of Ockham's natural philosophy.

In 1348, he was a student of theology in Paris.

In 1356 he received his doctorate and in the same year he became grand master (grand-maître) of the College of Navarre.

In 1364 he was appointed dean of the Cathedral of Rouen. From 1369, at the request of Charles V, he translated Aristotelian works into French, receiving a pension in 1371. In 1377, with royal support, he became bishop of Lisieux, where he died in 1382.

Mathematics

Oresme's most important contributions to mathematics are contained in Tractatus de configurationibus qualitatum et motuum. In a quality, or accidental form, such as heat, he distinguished the intensio (the degree of heat at each point) and the extensio (as the length of the heated rod). These two terms were often replaced by latitudo and longitudo. For the sake of clarity, Oresme conceived the idea of visualizing these concepts by plane figures, approaching what we would now call rectangular coordinates. The intensity of the quality was represented by a length or latitudo proportional to the intensity erected perpendicular to the base at a given point on the base line, which represents the longitudo. Oresme proposed that the geometrical form of such a figure could be regarded as corresponding to a characteristic of the quality itself. Oresme defined a uniform quality as that which is represented by a line parallel to the longitude, and any other quality as difform. Uniformly varying qualities are represented by a straight line inclined to the axis of the longitude, while he described many cases of nonuniformly varying qualities. Oresme extended this doctrine to figures of three dimensions. He considered this analysis applicable to many different qualities such as hotness, whiteness, and sweetness. Significantly for later developments, Oresme applied this concept to the analysis of local motion where the latitudo or intensity represented the speed, the longitudo represented the time, and the area of the figure represented the distance travelled. He formulated a theorem for uniformly accelerated motion, showing distance traveled as the area under a velocity-time graph, predating Galileo. have been cited to credit Oresme with the discovery of "proto bar charts". He also proved the divergence of the harmonic series and introduced early concepts of curvature. Oresme was the first mathematician to prove this fact, and (after his proof was lost) it was not proven again until the 17th century by Pietro Mengoli. He explored fractional powers and probability over infinite sequences, concepts developed centuries later.

Jai Ganesh · 2025-09-15 21:26:51

22) Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia

Nicolo, known as Tartaglia (1499/1500 – 13 December 1557), was an Italian mathematician, engineer (designing fortifications), a surveyor (of topography, seeking the best means of defense or offense) and a bookkeeper from the then Republic of Venice. He published many books, including the first Italian translations of Archimedes and Euclid, and an acclaimed compilation of mathematics. Tartaglia was the first to apply mathematics to the investigation of the paths of cannonballs, known as ballistics, in his Nova Scientia (A New Science, 1537); his work was later partially validated and partially superseded by Galileo's studies on falling bodies. He also published a treatise on retrieving sunken ships.

Personal life

Nicolo was born in Brescia, the son of Michele, a dispatch rider who travelled to neighbouring towns to deliver mail. In 1506, Michele was murdered by robbers, and Nicolo, his two siblings, and his mother were left impoverished. Nicolo experienced further tragedy in 1512 when King Louis XII's troops invaded Brescia during the War of the League of Cambrai against Venice. The militia of Brescia defended their city for seven days. When the French finally broke through, they took their revenge by massacring the inhabitants of Brescia. By the end of battle, over 45,000 residents were killed. During the massacre, Nicolo and his family sought sanctuary in the local cathedral. But the French entered and a soldier sliced Nicolo's jaw and palate with a saber and left him for dead. His mother nursed him back to health but the young boy was left with a speech impediment, prompting the nickname "Tartaglia" ("stammerer"). After this he would never shave, and grew a beard to camouflage his scars.

His surname at birth, if any, is disputed. Some sources have him as "Niccolò Fontana", but others claim that the only support for this is a will in which he named a brother, Zuampiero Fontana, as heir, and point out that this does not imply he had the same surname.

Jai Ganesh · 2025-10-01 17:13:24

23) Gerolamo Cardano

Gerolamo Cardano (also Girolamo or Geronimo: 24 September 1501– 21 September 1576) was an Italian polymath whose interests and proficiencies ranged through those of mathematician, physician, biologist, physicist, chemist, astrologer, astronomer, philosopher, music theorist, writer, and gambler. He became one of the most influential mathematicians of the Renaissance and one of the key figures in the foundation of probability; he introduced the binomial coefficients and the binomial theorem in the Western world. He wrote more than 200 works on science.

Cardano partially invented and described several mechanical devices including the combination lock, the gimbal consisting of three concentric rings allowing a supported compass or gyroscope to rotate freely, and the Cardan shaft with universal joints, which allows the transmission of rotary motion at various angles and is used in vehicles to this day. He made significant contributions to hypocycloids - published in De proportionibus, in 1570. The generating circles of these hypocycloids, later named "Cardano circles" or "cardanic circles", were used for the construction of the first high-speed printing presses.

Today, Cardano is well known for his achievements in algebra. In his 1545 book Ars Magna he made the first systematic use of negative numbers in Europe, published (with attribution) the solutions of other mathematicians for cubic and quartic equations, and acknowledged the existence of imaginary numbers.

Jai Ganesh · 2025-10-21 17:04:24

24) Lodovico Ferrari

Lodovico de Ferrari (2 February 1522 – 5 October 1565) was an Italian mathematician best known today for solving the quartic equation.

Biography

Born in Bologna, Lodovico's grandfather, Bartolomeo Ferrari, was forced out of Milan to Bologna. Lodovico settled in Bologna, and he began his career as the servant of Gerolamo Cardano. He was extremely bright, so Cardano started teaching him mathematics. Ferrari aided Cardano on his solutions for quartic equations and cubic equations, and was mainly responsible for the solution of quartic equations that Cardano published. While still in his teens, Ferrari was able to obtain a prestigious teaching post in Rome after Cardano resigned from it and recommended him. Ferrari retired when young at 42 years old, and wealthy. He then moved back to his home town of Bologna where he lived with his widowed sister Maddalena to take up a professorship of mathematics at the University of Bologna in 1565.

Cardano–Tartaglia formula

In 1545 a famous dispute erupted between Ferrari and Cardano's contemporary Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia, involving the solution to cubic equations. Widespread stories that Tartaglia devoted the rest of his life to ruining Ferrari's teacher and erstwhile master Cardano, however, appear to be fabricated. Mathematical historians now credit both Cardano and Tartaglia with the formula to solve cubic equations, referring to it as the "Cardano–Tartaglia formula".

Jai Ganesh · Yesterday 16:19:48

25) John Napier

John Napier of Merchiston (Latinized as Ioannes Neper; 1 February 1550 – 4 April 1617), nicknamed Marvellous Merchiston, was a Scottish landowner known as a mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He was the 8th Laird of Merchiston. Napier is best known as the discoverer of logarithms. He also invented the "Napier's bones" calculating device and popularised the use of the decimal point in arithmetic.

Napier's birthplace, Merchiston Tower in Edinburgh, is now part of the facilities of Edinburgh Napier University. There is a memorial to him at St Cuthbert's Parish Church at the west end of Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh.

Life

Napier's father was Sir Archibald Napier of Merchiston Castle, and his mother was Janet Bothwell, daughter of the politician and judge Francis Bothwell, and a sister of Adam Bothwell who became the Bishop of Orkney. Archibald Napier was 16 years old when John Napier was born.

There are no records of Napier's early learning, but many believe that he was privately tutored during early childhood. At age 13, he was enrolled in St Salvator's College, St Andrews. Near the time of his matriculation the quality of the education provided by the university was poor, owing in part to the Reformation's causing strife between those of the old faith and the growing numbers of Protestants. There are no records showing that John Napier completed his education at St Andrews. It is believed he left Scotland to further his education in mainland Europe, following the advice given by his uncle Adam Bothwell in a letter written to John Napier's father on 5 December 1560, saying, "I pray you, sir, to send John to the schools either to France or Flanders, for he can learn no good at home". It is not known which university Napier attended in Europe, but when he returned to Scotland in 1571 he was fluent in Greek, a language that was not commonly taught in European universities at the time. There are also no records showing his enrollment in the premier universities in Paris or Geneva during this time.

In 1571, Napier, aged 21, returned to Scotland, and bought a castle at Gartness in 1574. On the death of his father in 1608, Napier and his family moved into Merchiston Castle in Edinburgh, where he resided the remainder of his life. He had a property within Edinburgh city as well on Borthwick's Close off the Royal Mile.

On 7 June 1596 Napier wrote a paper Secret inventions, profitable and necessary in these days for defence of this island. He describes two kinds of burning mirror for use against ships at a distance, a special kind of artillery shot, and a musket-proof metal chariot.

Napier died from the effects of gout at home at Merchiston Castle at the age of 67. He was buried in the kirkyard of St Giles in Edinburgh. Following the loss of the kirkyard of St Giles to build Parliament House, his remains were transferred to an underground vault on the north side of St Cuthbert's Parish Church at the west side of Edinburgh. There is also a wall monument to Napier at St Cuthbert's.

Napier, like many mathematicians at the time, worked on methods to reduce the labour required for calculations, and he became famous for the devices that he invented to assist with these issues of computation, for example the numbering rods more quaintly known as "Napier's bones".

In addition, Napier recognised the potential of the recent developments in mathematics, particularly those of prosthaphaeresis, decimal fractions, and symbolic index arithmetic, to tackle the issue of reducing computation. He appreciated that, for the most part, practitioners who had laborious computations generally did them in the context of trigonometry. Therefore, as well as developing the logarithmic relation, Napier set it in a trigonometric context so it would be even more relevant.

Math Is Fun Forum

#26 2025-08-24 21:32:05

Re: Greatest Mathematicians from 1 CE ...

#27 2025-09-15 21:26:51

Re: Greatest Mathematicians from 1 CE ...

#28 2025-10-01 17:13:24

Re: Greatest Mathematicians from 1 CE ...

#29 2025-10-21 17:04:24

Re: Greatest Mathematicians from 1 CE ...

#30 Yesterday 16:19:48

Re: Greatest Mathematicians from 1 CE ...

Board footer