# All Questions

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373 views

### Who started calling the matrix multiplication “multiplication”?

As I searched for linear algebra, I found it odd that the linear map composition corresponds to the multiplication of matrices. Considering the intuition that the repetition of addition is ...
46 views

### Who first wrote the eigenvalue/eigenvector equation? [duplicate]

Who first wrote the eigenvalue/eigenvector equation $$Ax=\lambda x,$$ where $A$ is a linear operator and $x,\lambda$ the corresponding eigenvectors, eigenvalues?
47 views

### Why was it necessary to define the “Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics”?

Historically, why was it necessary to define the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics after defining the other Laws? In our current understanding of science, the way we study it in schools, it seems obvious. ...
78 views

### When has the notion of “programming language for machines” emerged?

Nowadays, it seems just common sense to write a program in a high-level programming language and let it be compiler (or interpreted) into machine code to run a computer. However, when did the ...
66 views

### What is the history behind defining temperature as measure of hotness?

I know that when two bodies of different temperature are kept in contact "heat" flows from hotter body to colder. But how did anyone know that it is the "hotness" that flows, one could have said that ...
41 views

### How did Carnot come up with the idea of Carnot Engine being the most efficient engine?

I am not asking the proof of why the Carnot Engine is the most efficient engine. I wish to know the history of the development of idea of the most efficient engine. I wish to know how Carnot came up ...
35 views

### How did Carnot come up with the idea of Carnot Engine being the most efficient engine? [duplicate]

I am not asking the proof of why the Carnot Engine is the most efficient engine. I wish to know the history of the development of idea of the most efficient engine. I wish to know how Carnot came ...
108 views

### Alexander Grothendieck's “stolen” correspondance in 1985?

On the website that now displays the part of Grothendieck's archives that had been held at the University of Montpellier, it is mentioned that: Dans une lettre adressée à Monsieur Lefranc datée du ...
68 views

### What was worldwide supply of disk storage in 1969?

I'd prefer a year-by-year graph, something like (not necessarily the "demand", just "supply")...     https://www.statista.com/statistics/751749/worldwide-data-storage-capacity-and-demand/ ...
48 views

### When was spin of subatomic particles other than the electron discovered?

The idea of a spin angular momentum was first proposed in a 1925 publication by George Uhlenbeck and Samuel Goudsmit to explain hyperfine splitting in atomic spectra. At what time was it measured ...
78 views

### Einstein praising Sophus Lie

p. 153 of Raúl M. Falcón Ganfornina and Juan Núñez Valdés, “Mathematical Foundations of Santilli Isotopies,” trans. Alan Aversa, Algebras, Groups, and Geometries 32 (2015): 135–308. quotes (but does ...
146 views

### Collection of open problems in Partial differential equations

Except Navier-Stokes equation, are there any other interesting open problems in partial differential equations? I want to know the collection of problems, which are easy to understand but ...
42 views

### When was the first quarter first used for moon phase?

For this doesn't make sense - we see one half of moon, not one quarter (at least compared to full moon).
63 views

### How does the concept of centre of mass came to existence?

I am wondering as how does the concept of centre of mass came into being. Considering the usefulness of the concept how were the physicist able to define such a quantity. I mean was it just trial and ...
161 views

### Do North Koreans use Latin letters in their equations?

Do North Koreans use Latin (and Greek) letters in their equations? On the one hand, being such an isolationist country, I wouldn't be surprised if they used the Korean alphabet (조선글) in their ...
52 views

### When was the inverse quadratic interpolation method first used?

Do you know anything about it? I couldn't really find something useful on web.
259 views

### Where are Galois's notes?

There are a number of photos of bits of Galois's notes floating around online, such as here and here. But where are they, physically? I'm hoping what remained of them wasn't tossed out once photos ...
431 views

### Historical origin of magnetic monopoles

There are two related historical questions that I'm trying to find answers to: Who was the first to introduce the concept of magnetic monopoles? Griffiths in his textbook Introduction to ...
87 views

### What is the source of this quote by Einstein on wave–particle duality?

I'm writing a paper which involves a lot of quantum mechanics. As a result of this, I'm finding it necessary to cite the likes of Einstein, Born and Jordan. Particularly in the case of Einstein, due ...
161 views

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### Is there a record of how Newton built his telescope?

Did Newton write down his process of building a reflector telescope? Even with modern knowledge and technology, building one is no easy task so I'm curious of exactly what Newton did.