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ListofImportantMathematiciansTheStoryofMathematics

TheStoryofMathematics
PrehistoricMathematics
Sumerian/Babylonian
Mathematics
EgyptianMathematics
GreekMathematics
HellenisticMathematics
RomanMathematics
MayanMathematics
ChineseMathematics
IndianMathematics
IslamicMathematics
MedievalEuropeanMathematics
16thCenturyMathematics
17thCenturyMathematics
18thCenturyMathematics
19thCenturyMathematics
20thCenturyMathematics

ListofImportantMathematicians

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LISTOFIMPORTANTMATHEMATICIANS
Thisisachronologicallistofsomeofthemostimportantmathematiciansinhistoryandtheirmajor
achievments,aswellassomeveryearlyachievementsinmathematicsforwhichindividualcontributionscan
notbeacknowledged.
Wherethemathematicianshaveindividualpagesinthiswebsite,thesepagesarelinkedotherwisemore
informationcanusuallybeobtainedfromthegeneralpagerelatingtotheparticularperiodinhistory,orfrom
thelistofsourcesused.Amoredetailedandcomprehensivemathematicalchronologycanbefoundat
http://wwwgroups.dcs.stand.ac.uk/~history/Chronology/full.html.
Date

Nationality

MajorAchievements

35000BCE

Name

African

Firstnotchedtallybones

3100BCE

Sumerian

Earliestdocumentedcountingandmeasuring
system

2700BCE

Egyptian

Earliestfullydevelopedbase10numbersystemin
use

2600BCE

Sumerian

Multiplicationtables,geometricalexercisesand
divisionproblems

20001800BCE

Egyptian

Earliestpapyrishowingnumerationsystemand
basicarithmetic

18001600BCE

Babylonian

Claytabletsdealingwithfractions,algebraand
equations

1650BCE

Egyptian

RhindPapyrus(instructionmanualinarithmetic,
geometry,unitfractions,etc)

1200BCE

Chinese

Firstdecimalnumerationsystemwithplacevalue
concept

1200900BCE

Indian

EarlyVedicmantrasinvokepowersoftenfroma
hundredallthewayuptoatrillion

800400BCE

Indian

SulbaSutralistsseveralPythagoreantriplesand
simplifiedPythagoreantheoremforthesidesofa
squareandarectangle,quiteaccurate
approximationto2

650BCE

Chinese

LoShuorderthree(3x3)magicsquareinwhich
eachrow,columnanddiagonalsumsto15

624546BCE

Thales

Greek

Earlydevelopmentsingeometry,includingworkon
similarandrighttriangles

570495BCE

Pythagoras

Greek

Expansionofgeometry,rigorousapproachbuilding
fromfirstprinciples,squareandtriangularnumbers,
Pythagorastheorem

500BCE

Hippasus

Greek

Discoveredpotentialexistenceofirrationalnumbers
whiletryingtocalculatethevalueof2

490430BCE

ZenoofElea

Greek

Describesaseriesofparadoxesconcerninginfinity
andinfinitesimals

470410BCE

Hippocratesof
Chios

Greek

Firstsystematiccompilationofgeometrical
knowledge,LuneofHippocrates

460370BCE

Democritus

Greek

Developmentsingeometryandfractions,volumeof
acone

428348BCE

Plato

Greek

Platonicsolids,statementoftheThreeClassical
Problems,influentialteacherandpopularizerof
mathematics,insistenceonrigorousproofand
logicalmethods

410355BCE

EudoxusofCnidus

Greek

Methodforrigorouslyprovingstatementsabout
areasandvolumesbysuccessiveapproximations

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384322BCE

Aristotle

Greek

Developmentandstandardizationoflogic(although
notthenconsideredpartofmathematics)and
deductivereasoning

300BCE

Euclid

Greek

Definitivestatementofclassical(Euclidean)
geometry,useofaxiomsandpostulates,many
formulas,proofsandtheoremsincludingEuclids
Theoremoninfinitudeofprimes

287212BCE

Archimedes

Greek

Formulasforareasofregularshapes,methodof
exhaustionforapproximatingareasandvalueof,
comparisonofinfinities

276195BCE

Eratosthenes

Greek

SieveofEratosthenesmethodforidentifyingprime
numbers

262190BCE

ApolloniusofPerga Greek

200BCE

190120BCE

Hipparchus

36BCE

Workongeometry,especiallyonconesandconic
sections(ellipse,parabola,hyperbola)

Chinese

NineChaptersontheMathematicalArt,including
guidetohowtosolveequationsusingsophisticated
matrixbasedmethods

Greek

Developfirstdetailedtrigonometrytables

Mayan

PreclassicMayansdevelopedtheconceptofzero
byatleastthistime
HeronsFormulaforfindingtheareaofatriangle
fromitssidelengths,HeronsMethodforiteratively
computingasquareroot

1070CE

Heron(orHero)of
Alexandria

Greek

90168CE

Ptolemy

Greek/Egyptian Developevenmoredetailedtrigonometrytables

200CE

SunTzu

Chinese

FirstdefinitivestatementofChineseRemainder
Theorem

Indian

Refinedandperfecteddecimalplacevaluenumber
system

200CE
200284CE

Diophantus

Greek

DiophantineAnalysisofcomplexalgebraic
problems,tofindrationalsolutionstoequationswith
severalunknowns

220280CE

LiuHui

Chinese

Solvedlinearequationsusingamatrices(similarto
Gaussianelimination),leavingrootsunevaluated,
calculatedvalueofcorrecttofivedecimalplaces,
earlyformsofintegralanddifferentialcalculus

Indian

SuryaSiddhantacontainsrootsofmodern
trigonometry,includingfirstrealuseofsines,
cosines,inversesines,tangentsandsecants

400CE

476550CE

Aryabhata

Indian

Definitionsoftrigonometricfunctions,completeand
accuratesineandversinetables,solutionsto
simultaneousquadraticequations,accurate
approximationfor(andrecognitionthatisan
irrationalnumber)

598668CE

Brahmagupta

Indian

Basicmathematicalrulesfordealingwithzero(+,
andx),negativenumbers,negativerootsof
quadraticequations,solutionofquadraticequations
withtwounknowns

600680CE

BhaskaraI

Indian

FirsttowritenumbersinHinduArabicdecimal
systemwithacircleforzero,remarkablyaccurate
approximationofthesinefunction

780850CE

MuhammadAl
Khwarizmi

Persian

AdvocacyoftheHindunumerals19and0in
Islamicworld,foundationsofmodernalgebra,
includingalgebraicmethodsofreductionand
balancing,solutionofpolynomialequationsupto
seconddegree

908946CE

IbrahimibnSinan

Arabic

ContinuedArchimedes'investigationsofareasand
volumes,tangentstoacircle

9531029CE

MuhammadAl
Karaji

Persian

Firstuseofproofbymathematicalinduction,
includingtoprovethebinomialtheorem

9661059CE

IbnalHaytham
(Alhazen)

Persian/Arabic

Derivedaformulaforthesumoffourthpowers
usingareadilygeneralizablemethod,Alhazen's
problem,establishedbeginningsoflinkbetween
algebraandgeometry

10481131

OmarKhayyam

Persian

GeneralizedIndianmethodsforextractingsquare
andcuberootstoincludefourth,fifthandhigher
roots,notedexistenceofdifferentsortsofcubic
equations

11141185

BhaskaraII

Indian

Establishedthatdividingbyzeroyieldsinfinity,
foundsolutionstoquadratic,cubicandquartic
equations(includingnegativeandirrational
solutions)andtosecondorderDiophantine

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equations,introducedsomepreliminaryconceptsof
calculus
11701250

LeonardoofPisa
(Fibonacci)

Italian

FibonacciSequenceofnumbers,advocacyofthe
useoftheHinduArabicnumeralsysteminEurope,
Fibonacci'sidentity(productoftwosumsoftwo
squaresisitselfasumoftwosquares)

12011274

NasiralDinalTusi

Persian

Developedfieldofsphericaltrigonometry,
formulatedlawofsinesforplanetriangles

12021261

QinJiushao

Chinese

Solutionstoquadratic,cubicandhigherpower
equationsusingamethodofrepeated
approximations

12381298

YangHui

Chinese

CulminationofChinesemagicsquares,circlesand
triangles,YangHuisTriangle(earlierversionof
PascalsTriangleofbinomialcoefficients)

12671319

KamalalDinal
Farisi

Persian

Appliedtheoryofconicsectionstosolveoptical
problems,exploredamicablenumbers,factorization
andcombinatorialmethods

13501425

Madhava

Indian

Useofinfiniteseriesoffractionstogiveanexact
formulafor,sineformulaandothertrigonometric
functions,importantsteptowardsdevelopmentof
calculus

13231382

NicoleOresme

French

Systemofrectangularcoordinates,suchasfora
timespeeddistancegraph,firsttousefractional
exponents,alsoworkedoninfiniteseries

14461517

LucaPacioli

Italian

Influentialbookonarithmetic,geometryandbook
keeping,alsointroducedstandardsymbolsforplus
andminus

14991557

NiccolFontana
Tartaglia

Italian

Formulaforsolvingalltypesofcubicequations,
involvingfirstrealuseofcomplexnumbers
(combinationsofrealandimaginarynumbers),
TartagliasTriangle(earlierversionofPascals
Triangle)

15011576

GerolamoCardano

Italian

Publishedsolutionofcubicandquarticequations
(byTartagliaandFerrari),acknowledgedexistence
ofimaginarynumbers(basedon1)

15221565

LodovicoFerrari

Italian

Devisedformulaforsolutionofquarticequations

15501617

JohnNapier

British

Inventionofnaturallogarithms,popularizedtheuse
ofthedecimalpoint,NapiersBonestoolforlattice
multiplication

15881648

MarinMersenne

French

Clearinghouseformathematicalthoughtduring17th
Century,Mersenneprimes(primenumbersthatare
onelessthanapowerof2)

15911661

GirardDesargues

French

Earlydevelopmentofprojectivegeometryandpoint
atinfinity,perspectivetheorem

15961650

RenDescartes

French

DevelopmentofCartesiancoordinatesandanalytic
geometry(synthesisofgeometryandalgebra),also
creditedwiththefirstuseofsuperscriptsforpowers
orexponents

15981647

Bonaventura
Cavalieri

Italian

Methodofindivisiblespavedwayforthelater
developmentofinfinitesimalcalculus

16011665

PierredeFermat

French

Discoveredmanynewnumberspatternsand
theorems(includingLittleTheorem,TwoSquare
ThereomandLastTheorem),greatlyextending
knowlegeofnumbertheory,alsocontributedto
probabilitytheory

16161703

JohnWallis

British

Contributedtowardsdevelopmentofcalculus,
originatedideaofnumberline,introducedsymbol
forinfinity,developedstandardnotationforpowers

16231662

BlaisePascal

French

Pioneer(withFermat)ofprobabilitytheory,Pascals
Triangleofbinomialcoefficients

16431727

IsaacNewton

British

Developmentofinfinitesimalcalculus(differentiation
andintegration),laidgroundworkforalmostallof
classicalmechanics,generalizedbinomialtheorem,
infinitepowerseries

16461716

GottfriedLeibniz

German

Independentlydevelopedinfinitesimalcalculus(his
calculusnotationisstillused),alsopractical
calculatingmachineusingbinarysystem(forerunner
ofthecomputer),solvedlinearequationsusinga
matrix

16541705

JacobBernoulli

Swiss

Helpedtoconsolidateinfinitesimalcalculus,
developedatechniqueforsolvingseparable

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differentialequations,addedatheoryof
permutationsandcombinationstoprobability
theory,BernoulliNumberssequence,
transcendentalcurves
16671748

JohannBernoulli

16671754

AbrahamdeMoivre French

DeMoivre'sformula,developmentofanalytic
geometry,firststatementoftheformulaforthe
normaldistributioncurve,probabilitytheory

16901764

ChristianGoldbach

German

GoldbachConjecture,GoldbachEulerTheoremon
perfectpowers

17071783

LeonhardEuler

Swiss

Madeimportantcontributionsinalmostallfieldsand
foundunexpectedlinksbetweendifferentfields,
provednumeroustheorems,pioneerednew
methods,standardizedmathematicalnotationand
wrotemanyinfluentialtextbooks

17281777

JohannLambert

Swiss

Rigorousproofthatisirrational,introduced
hyperbolicfunctionsintotrigonometry,made
conjecturesonnonEuclideanspaceandhyperbolic
triangles

17361813

JosephLouis
Lagrange

Italian/French

Comprehensivetreatmentofclassicalandcelestial
mechanics,calculusofvariations,Lagranges
theoremoffinitegroups,foursquaretheorem,mean
valuetheorem

17461818

GaspardMonge

French

Inventorofdescriptivegeometry,orthographic
projection

17491827

PierreSimon
Laplace

French

Celestialmechanicstranslatedgeometricstudyof
classicalmechanicstoonebasedoncalculus,
Bayesianinterpretationofprobability,beliefin
scientificdeterminism

17521833

AdrienMarie
Legendre

French

Abstractalgebra,mathematicalanalysis,least
squaresmethodforcurvefittingandlinear
regression,quadraticreciprocitylaw,primenumber
theorem,ellipticfunctions

17681830

JosephFourier

French

Studiedperiodicfunctionsandinfinitesumsin
whichthetermsaretrigonometricfunctions(Fourier
series)

17771825

CarlFriedrichGauss German

Patterninoccurrenceofprimenumbers,
constructionofheptadecagon,Fundamental
TheoremofAlgebra,expositionofcomplex
numbers,leastsquaresapproximationmethod,
Gaussiandistribution,Gaussianfunction,Gaussian
errorcurve,nonEuclideangeometry,Gaussian
curvature

17891857

AugustinLouis
Cauchy

French

Earlypioneerofmathematicalanalysis,
reformulatedandprovedtheoremsofcalculusina
rigorousmanner,Cauchy'stheorem(afundamental
theoremofgrouptheory)

17901868

AugustFerdinand
Mbius

German

Mbiusstrip(atwodimensionalsurfacewithonly
oneside),Mbiusconfiguration,Mbius
transformations,Mbiustransform(numbertheory),
Mbiusfunction,Mbiusinversionformula

17911858

GeorgePeacock

British

Inventorofsymbolicalgebra(earlyattempttoplace
algebraonastrictlylogicalbasis)

17911871

CharlesBabbage

British

Designeda"differenceengine"thatcould
automaticallyperformcomputationsbasedon
instructionsstoredoncardsortape,forerunnerof
programmablecomputer.

17921856

Nikolai
Lobachevsky

Russian

Developedtheoryofhyperbolicgeometryand
curvedspacesindependendlyofBolyai

18021829

NielsHenrikAbel

Norwegian

Provedimpossibilityofsolvingquinticequations,
grouptheory,abeliangroups,abeliancategories,
abelianvariety

18021860

JnosBolyai

Hungarian

Exploredhyperbolicgeometryandcurvedspaces
independentlyofLobachevsky

18041851

CarlJacobi

German

Importantcontributionstoanalysis,theoryof
periodicandellipticfunctions,determinantsand
matrices

18051865

WilliamHamilton

Irish

Theoryofquaternions(firstexampleofanon
commutativealgebra)

http://www.storyofmathematics.com/mathematicians.html

Swiss

Furtherdevelopedinfinitesimalcalculus,including
thecalculusofvariation,functionsforcurveof
fastestdescent(brachistochrone)andcatenary
curve

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18111832

varisteGalois

French

Provedthatthereisnogeneralalgebraicmethodfor
solvingpolynomialequationsofdegreegreaterthan
four,laidgroundworkforabstractalgebra,Galois
theory,grouptheory,ringtheory,etc

18151864

GeorgeBoole

British

DevisedBooleanalgebra(usingoperatorsAND,OR
andNOT),startingpointofmodernmathematical
logic,ledtothedevelopmentofcomputerscience

18151897

KarlWeierstrass

German

Discoveredacontinuousfunctionwithnoderivative,
advancementsincalculusofvariations,
reformulatedcalculusinamorerigorousfashion,
pioneerindevelopmentofmathematicalanalysis

18211895

ArthurCayley

British

Pioneerofmoderngrouptheory,matrixalgebra,
theoryofhighersingularities,theoryofinvariants,
higherdimensionalgeometry,extendedHamilton's
quaternionstocreateoctonions

18261866

BernhardRiemann

German

NonEuclideanellipticgeometry,Riemannsurfaces,
Riemanniangeometry(differentialgeometryin
multipledimensions),complexmanifoldtheory,zeta
function,RiemannHypothesis

18311916

RichardDedekind

German

Definedsomeimportantconceptsofsettheory
suchassimilarsetsandinfinitesets,proposed
Dedekindcut(nowastandarddefinitionofthereal
numbers)

18341923

JohnVenn

British

IntroducedVenndiagramsintosettheory(nowa
ubiquitoustoolinprobability,logicandstatistics)

18421899

MariusSophusLie

Norwegian

Appliedalgebratogeometrictheoryofdifferential
equations,continuoussymmetry,Liegroupsof
transformations

18451918

GeorgCantor

German

Creatorofsettheory,rigoroustreatmentofthe
notionofinfinityandtransfinitenumbers,Cantor's
theorem(whichimpliestheexistenceofaninfinity
ofinfinities)

18481925

GottlobFrege

German

Oneofthefoundersofmodernlogic,firstrigorous
treatmentoftheideasoffunctionsandvariablesin
logic,majorcontributortostudyofthefoundations
ofmathematics

18491925

FelixKlein

German

Kleinbottle(aonesidedclosedsurfaceinfour
dimensionalspace),ErlangenProgramtoclassify
geometriesbytheirunderlyingsymmetrygroups,
workongrouptheoryandfunctiontheory

18541912

HenriPoincar

French

Partialsolutiontothreebodyproblem,foundations
ofmodernchaostheory,extendedtheoryof
mathematicaltopology,Poincarconjecture

18581932

GiuseppePeano

Italian

Peanoaxiomsfornaturalnumbers,developerof
mathematicallogicandsettheorynotation,
contributedtomodernmethodofmathematical
induction

18611947

AlfredNorth
Whitehead

British

CowrotePrincipiaMathematica(attempttoground
mathematicsonlogic)

18621943

DavidHilbert

German

23Hilbertproblems,finitenesstheorem,
Entscheidungsproblem(decisionproblem),Hilbert
space,developedmodernaxiomaticapproachto
mathematics,formalism

18641909

HermannMinkowski German

Geometryofnumbers(geometricalmethodinmulti
dimensionalspaceforsolvingnumbertheory
problems),Minkowskispacetime

18721970

BertrandRussell

British

Russellsparadox,cowrotePrincipiaMathematica
(attempttogroundmathematicsonlogic),theoryof
types

18771947

G.H.Hardy

British

ProgresstowardsolvingRiemannhypothesis
(provedinfinitelymanyzeroesonthecriticalline),
encouragednewtraditionofpuremathematicsin
Britain,taxicabnumbers

18781929

PierreFatou

French

Pioneerinfieldofcomplexanalyticdynamics,
investigatediterativeandrecursiveprocesses

18811966

L.E.J.Brouwer

Dutch

Provedseveraltheoremsmarkingbreakthroughsin
topology(includingfixedpointtheoremand
topologicalinvarianceofdimension)

18871920

Srinivasa
Ramanujan

Indian

Provedover3,000theorems,identitiesand
equations,includingonhighlycompositenumbers,
partitionfunctionanditsasymptotics,andmock
thetafunctions

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18931978

GastonJulia

19031957

JohnvonNeumann Hungarian/
American

French

Developedcomplexdynamics,Juliasetformula
Pioneerofgametheory,designmodelformodern
computerarchitecture,workinquantumandnuclear
physics

19061978

KurtGdel

Austria

Incompletenesstheorems(therecanbesolutionsto
mathematicalproblemswhicharetruebutwhich
canneverbeproved),Gdelnumbering,logicand
settheory

19061998

AndrWeil

French

Theoremsallowedconnectionsbetweenalgebraic
geometryandnumbertheory,Weilconjectures
(partialproofofRiemannhypothesisforlocalzeta
functions),foundingmemberofinfluentialBourbaki
group

19121954

AlanTuring

British

BreakingoftheGermanenigmacode,Turing
machine(logicalforerunnerofcomputer),Turing
testofartificialintelligence

19131996

PaulErds

Hungarian

Setandsolvedmanyproblemsincombinatorics,
graphtheory,numbertheory,classicalanalysis,
approximationtheory,settheoryandprobability
theory

19172008

EdwardLorenz

American

Pioneerinmodernchaostheory,Lorenzattractor,
fractals,Lorenzoscillator,coinedtermbutterfly
effect

19191985

JuliaRobinson

American

WorkondecisionproblemsandHilbert'stenth
problem,Robinsonhypothesis

19242010

BenotMandelbrot

French

Mandelbrotsetfractal,computerplottingsof
MandelbrotandJuliasets

19282014

Alexander
Grothendieck

French

Mathematicalstructuralist,revolutionaryadvances
inalgebraicgeometry,theoryofschemes,
contributionstoalgebraictopology,numbertheory,
categorytheory,etc

19282015

JohnNash

American

Workingametheory,differentialgeometryand
partialdifferentialequations,providedinsightinto
complexsystemsindailylifesuchaseconomics,
computingandmilitary

19342007

PaulCohen

American

Provedthatcontinuumhypothesiscouldbeboth
trueandnottrue(i.e.independentfromZermelo
Fraenkelsettheory)

1937

JohnHorton
Conway

British

Importantcontributionstogametheory,group
theory,numbertheory,geometryand(especially)
recreationalmathematics,notablywiththeinvention
ofthecellularautomatoncalledthe"GameofLife"

1947

YuriMatiyasevich

Russian

FinalproofthatHilbertstenthproblemisimpossible
(thereisnogeneralmethodfordeterminingwhether
Diophantineequationshaveasolution)

1953

AndrewWiles

British

FinallyprovedFermatsLastTheoremforall
numbers(byprovingtheTaniyamaShimura
conjectureforsemistableellipticcurves)

1966

GrigoriPerelman

Russian

FinallyprovedPoincarConjecture(byproving
Thurston'sgeometrizationconjecture),contributions
toRiemanniangeometryandgeometrictopology

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