# History of Science and Mathematics Stack Exchange Community Digest

## Top new questions this week:

### Nicollet and the notions of systematic and random errors

I recently read Ken Alder's "The measure of all things" about the first steps of the metric system definition. The project described in the book was the measure the meridian arc between ...

scientific-method history

### What were some historically important Fermi estimates in the history of science?

What were some back-of-the-envelope estimates that scientists made where the result of the estimate was important to either the intellectual development of the field or had significant social ...

examples big-list estimation

### Who is Donald Fisk?

In stochastic calculus, the name Stratonovich appears all over the place. However, even though Donald Fisk supposedly obtained similar results, his name appears nowhere. Who was Donald Fisk? I cannot ...

mathematics mathematicians probability

### What was Einstein's first publication of the final form of general relativity?

What was Einstein's first published exposition of his final form of general relativity, be it a scientific article or a book? I've been googling the answer for hours now, with no luck, really. The ...

physics reference-request relativity-theory einstein

## Greatest hits from previous weeks:

### Who invented the integers?

I know that Kronecker claimed it was God's doing, and that even prehistoric humans used some ways of counting. But I am curious where the idea of a sequence of numbers stretching out into infinity ...

mathematics terminology

### Who first proposed the theory of tidal locking?

I'm interested in the history of the concept of tidal locking but haven't been able to find any articles presenting a timeline of its development. I'm hoping to have a look at the first published ...

physics gravity

### Euler's first proof of $e^{ix}=\cos(x)+i\sin(x)$

What was Eulers first proof of his famous formula? In Euler's book on complex functions he used the following proof. But was this his first proof? Euler starts with writing down De Moivre's Formula (...

mathematics complex-analysis

### Examples of when the professional scientists or mathematicians were wrong, but the nonprofessionals were right

What are the most glaring examples — if any — of when the professional scientists or mathematicians were wrong, but the nonprofessionals were right?

mathematicians examples big-list scientists

### What is the difference between Calculus of Newton and that of Leibniz?

Are there any differences between the study of Calculus done by Newton as compared to that done by Leibniz? If yes, please mention point by point.

mathematics biographical-details calculus newton leibniz

### Did Lorentz remain an ether advocate till his death?

I remember that I read somewhere that Lorentz remained an ether advocate till his death despite the empirical successes of Einstein's relativity in rejecting any kind of ether. However, I cannot ...

theoretical-physics

### How did Ramanujan learn to do mathematics?

Did Ramanujan have any formal training in mathematics? I read that he did not. Then how did he learn to do mathematics? Mathematics does not come from instinct. You have to learn the basic facts. How ...

mathematics mathematicians education ramanujan