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 · Yesterday 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.

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

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