26 Famous Mathematicians Everyone Should Know · Thales of Miletus · Pythagoras · Euclid · Aristotle · Archimedes · Eratosthenes · Hipparchus · Heron of …
link
As students learn math, it’s important for them to know that mathematics is more than just numbers and shapes. It’s also about famous mathematicians—the people, personalities, and discoveries that shaped what we know about math today. These 26 famous mathematicians show us how math discoveries have shaped history, come from all around the world, and are still happening today.
1. Thales of Miletus
Thales of Miletus used geometry to calculate the heights of pyramids and measure the distance from ships to the shore. He also discovered five geometric theorems and ideas:
A diameter bisects a circle.
Angles opposite two equal sides of a triangle are equal.
Opposite angles of two intersecting angles are equal.
An angle inside a semicircle is a right-angle triangle.
When we have the length of a triangle’s base and two angles at the base, we can determine the triangle.
His work sounds easy to us, but it was groundbreaking at the time and set the stage for other famous mathematicians and Western
philosophers, like Socrates.
2. Pythagoras
Pythagoras (remember his geometry theorem?) was a Greek philosopher, mathematician, and more. His ideas had a big impact on Western philosophy and the development of mathematics. He didn’t leave any writings, so it’s hard to figure out exactly what originated with Pythagoras and what came from his followers, including other mathematicians. But it’s generally agreed that he created the theory of functional numbers and the Pythagorean theorem for right triangles.
3. Euclid
If you’ve studied geometry, you’ve heard of Euclid. He was known as the Father of Geometry. Euclid’s most famous work is The Elements, his writing about mathematics. It was the center of math instruction for 2,000 years. In The Elements, Euclid lays out five postulates that are the foundation of geometry. Postulates one, two, and three are about lines, points, and circles. Postulate four states that all right angles are equal. Postulate five is about the nature of parallel lines. A lot of what Euclid did seems obvious to us now, but that’s because Euclid laid it all out so other scholars could build on it.
…
This Nomadic Eccentric Was the Most Prolific Mathematician in History | In Hoffman’s book, mathematician Michael Jacobson recounted a story in which Erdős came to his home, and they worked on math until 1 A.M., when …
link
Citation cartels help some mathematicians—and their universities—climb the rankings
Cliques of mathematicians at institutions in China, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere have been artificially boosting their colleagues’ citation counts
link
