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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)
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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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