Questions tagged [big-list]
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What are some examples of elegant solutions?
There are various problems in history such as the Basel problem which was solved by Euler using the Taylor expansion of the sine, then later by Cauchy by bounding the partial sum, both solutions were ...
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Folk stories and notions in mathematics that are likely false, inaccurate, apocryphal, or poorly founded?
There are numerous popular folklore stories in mathematics, and it is an interesting question to understand the accuracy of these folk stories.
Folklore stories, and urban legends are subborn things, ...
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Math concepts introduced by physicists and made rigorous later
I am looking for mathematical concepts (*) which have been introduced by physicists in a non rigorous way (e.g. without a formal definition, without rigorous proofs of the results, etc.) and used to ...
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Works of scientists, philosophers and mathematicians that (re)surfaced after a long time
Sometimes, for one reason or the other, the works of scholars get lost. In some cases, they're lost forever. This happened to many books during the fire of the library of Alexandria, for instance.
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Who are some scientists that were convicted for non-war non-political crimes?
I discovered that John Robert Schrieffer (Nobel Prize in Physics 1972 for superconductivity theory) was in prison after a tragic car accident (1 person died, 7 were injured) where he was driving ...
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Who are the youngest mathematicians that published an original research article in a peer-reviewed journal?
There is a lot of interesting information about young mathematicians, but I cannot find any information about the youngest mathematician that published an original research article in a peer-reviewed ...
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What are some famous named groups of scientists?
Scientists are often associated together and get famous group names. In physics, I know of
Via Panisperna boys (Enrico Fermi and co. working in Rome in nuclear physics)
Princeton string quartet (...
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What scientists and mathematicians were afraid to publish their findings?
Background
I am interested in scientists and mathematicians that were afraid to publish their findings during their lifetime, and to what degree such fears hinder scientific progress.
So far, I've ...
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Examples of flattering comments from a famous scientist concerning a young colleague
I want to know examples of very flattering comments from famous scientists or mathematicians concerning younger colleagues. Here's an example of what I have in mind (I shall provide more as an answer):...
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What research articles were inspired by web comics?
Currently, I'm doing a PhD on the applications of algorithms to generate timelines of textual content. Recently, I found an article entitled StoryFlow: Tracking the Evolution of Stories by S. Liu et ...
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References on the role of diagrams in scientific advancement
A number of diagrammatic formulations have played an important role in the advancement of science. Some embody representations of physical phenomena, while others model mathematical or logical ideas ...
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Engineering problems leading to mathematical research
I would like to know examples of mathematical research which had its origin in engineering problems (I am mainly interested in mechanical engineering and civil engineering) and which was actually ...
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Scientific Collaborations during World War
Nowadays, scientific progress is often based on very big collaborations, like the discovery of gravitational waves by the Ligo and Virgo collaborations. But also in many other branches of science, ...
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Is there any theorem/physical law with different names in more than two different languages/regions?
Mathematical statements and physics equations often are named after a person (like Pythagoras theorem or Newton's second law). Reading from different authors with different origins one may sometimes ...
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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 ...
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What are examples of serendipity in the history of the sciences and math?
Cosmic microwave background radiation was discovered after Penzias & Wilson couldn't get rid of the noise generated by their horn. In fact, the noise was their discovery.
The strings in string ...
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List of Nobel laureates classified by majors
I have been looking for a list of Nobel laureates classified by their majors, e.g., electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, etc. Since some of them may have changed the major from master ...
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Examples of when statistical distributions like Binomial or Normal distribution was critical in a law/policy decision, in a court case or otherwise
This was closed as off-topic on math.se, and it was suggested I post this here, so here goes.
Firstly, I am aware that this thread exists, and I'll definitely be ordering a copy of the book, "...
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Experimenters regretting throwing away data?
Modern experiments, especially in fields like particle physics, often collect far more data than they can process and save. Similarly, I can imagine that historical experimenters were limited by how ...
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Differences between modern and old mathematical notations
Note: I didn't write the word "ancient" in the title because I want to see the notation from 1400 A.D. to 1700 A.D.
Mathematical notation has changed very much from the past millennium, and ...
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Great scientists with chaotic private lives
In the arena of art, it is not uncommon to find great writers, composers or painters who suffer from chaotic personal lives (e.g., lifelong alcoholism, addiction to prostitutes, stormy marriages and ...
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What are some of the unsolved mathematical problems posed and stated clearly prior to the year 1900?
I chose year 1900 because of:
"Hilbert's problems are twenty-three problems in mathematics published by German mathematician David Hilbert in 1900. The problems were all unsolved at the time, and ...
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Examples of papers co-authored by parent/child, or siblings
I hope this question is not inappropriate for this site; I found hsm.stackexchange better suited for it than MathOverflow or math.stackexchange. The motivation for it is just curiosity.
Question: ...
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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?
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Pop-sci books that were publicly influential but based on weak science
(I hope this is on-topic on this site)
I am wondering what are some of the best examples of popular-science books that had large influence in public, but was based on weak science?
By "large ...
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Real effects long thought to be coincidences
What examples are there of scientific effects or correlations that we now know to be real, and were known about for a long time but thought to be coincidences?
To give an example of the kind of thing ...
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Mathematics PhD dissertations that opened a new field of research
I propose this as a companion wiki page to the one about PhD dissertations which contain a solution to an open problem in the style of big-list questions, thinking ...
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Contribution of non-western mathematics to modern mathematics
When I talk about the western mathematical tradition, I think roughly of the mathematics done by the Greeks, and then take up by European countries and then countries with primarily European ...
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Which mathematicians died very young or in a tragic way?
When I first thought of this question, I wanted to ask: If you could give one mathematician his remaining life until an average age for the time he lived in, who would you choose? However, this ...
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