Questions tagged [biographical-details]
For questions about the details of a particular scientist's life.
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Is there a specific age limit after which any mathematician is highly unlikely to make any real contribution to mathematics?
It seems to me that after a specific age limit mathematicians are highly unlikely to make any original contributions to maths.
Is it possible to determine that limit from historical information about ...
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43 views
Who is this Mathematician from 17th century or earlier?. Possibly the 18th century, but before calculus had spread?
I'm looking for a mathematician from this time period, 17th century or earlier, its probably at a period where trigonometry was the most advanced math that existed.
I'm not sure of the exact quote ...
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2answers
55 views
When did the concept of probability density explicitly appear in mathematics?
I was reading the wikipedia article about the normal distribution and it's attribution by some historians of science to De Moivre(althought he lacked the concept of the probability density function) ...
2
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79 views
Did Heisenberg ever accept Schrödinger's formulation of quantum mechanics or at least, did he relax his negative views about it?
Both Heisenberg and Schrödinger found each other's way of formulating Quantum Mechanics quite repellent.
My question is: Did any of the two changed their views towards each other (specially ...
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1answer
82 views
Portrait of Stephen Butterworth
Does anybody know of a portrait of Stephen Butterworth (1885 - 1958), a British physicist?
3
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1answer
80 views
Question about Hermite's 1858 solution to the quintic equation using elliptic modular functions and it's relation to Gauss' and Jacobi's work
The general quintic equation cannot be solved by radicals and is shown in a landmark and far reaching work of Galois from 1832, which became a template of modern Group theory and Galois theory. ...
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1answer
42 views
Lawrence and Segre: Further information about relationship
There is a oft-repeated story (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilio_Segr%C3%A8) about Lawrence, upon discovering that Segre was legally trapped in the USA, unable to return to Italy due to fascist ...
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How did Cramer's work on permutations influence early pre-group theory (particularly the work of Lagrange and Vandermonde)?
In his Réflexions paper, Lagrange is using one of Cramer's results on the Elimination Theory for the proof of a theorem. It seems that Cramer did some early work on the permutations of variables in ...
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Was it common for Lagrange to make his theorems so general to the point of ambiguousness?
In Harold Edward's book on the history of Galois Theory, there is the following theorem of Lagrange:
From the previous theorems of Lagrange on pre-group theory presented in this book, this one seems ...
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2answers
188 views
Does the word “God” appear regularly in the works of Joseph Lagrange?
In the Religious opinions section of the Wikipedia article on Laplace, there is an excerpt from Antommarchi's "The Last Moments of Napoleon", in which it is written that
the name of God appeared ...
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157 views
Was Tesla the only scientist whose possessions were confiscated by secret services?
Tesla, especially later in his life was constantly monitored by the FBI. When he died all his notes and other belongings were taken and for a very long time nothing was returned to his family. Has ...
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1answer
179 views
Were Gauss's 1846 remarks on the distinction between right and left related to orientability of surfaces?
Recently i was striked by a quotation of Gauss from a letter to his student Gerling from the date June 23, 1846. This letter states in very concise words that the distinction between right-handed and ...
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117 views
Where can one find the source of Fourier's recollections of his professors?
This link contains excerpts of Fourier's descriptions of some of his math professors but doesn't really provide any source.
What's the name of the original document containing these descriptions?
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Dénes Kőnig vs. König's Lemma
In Hungarian you spell the surname of Dénes Kőnig with a double acute accent, whereas Lemma von König is written in German with an umlaut. Why the difference? Is the reason behind it purely ...
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When was the first recorded occurence of irrational and imaginary number usage in number theory?
I saw a letter of Euler to Lagrange congratulating him on his usage of imaginary numbers in the "analysis devoted to rational numbers alone", was that the first known such usage? What was the likely ...
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Were Christoffel symbols used by Riemann?
The answer to the question would appear to be "no" looking at the transcription of Riemann's 1854 Ueber die Hypothesen, welche der Geometrie zu Grunde liegen lecture. However, Bernhard Riemann (1826-...
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Is there any scientist whose work was not recognised during his/her lifetime and was underestimated?
A lot of people have contributed to the development of science (which includes mathematics). I have read that Newton's popularity was powerful enough to dominate the wave-model. Similarly, do we have ...
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Who discovered pigeonhole principle in mathematics?
The principle was used as early as late 1760s by Lagrange but are there any earlier uses of it in math?
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258 views
When did the concept of palindromic sequences first appear in mathematics?
I have been reading one of Lagrange's works where he mentions palindromic sequences in the context of Periodic continued fractions.
I am wondering if that was the first time that palindromic sequences ...
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56 views
What are the context and motivation for Gauss's study of the “Pothenot problem”?
My question refers to p.307-335 of volume 8 of Gauss's werke, which are part of a section of volume 8 which deals with Gauss's applications of complex numbers for geometry. The pages mentioned are ...
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1answer
46 views
What was Lagrange's contribution to the Knights Tour Problem?
Did Lagrange made any noteworthy contribution to the Knights tour problem?
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Did Lagrange finish his law degree during the 1750s?
According to this Lagrange enrolled in the University of Turin to study law in the 1750 but eventually shifted to math.
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In which year did Lagrange start studying mathematics - 1752 or 1753?
Some articles indicate that he started studying maths "after reading an article by Edmund Halley" in 1753 but in this paper it is claimed that he started studying mathematics in 1752
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73 views
What did Hans Bethe think of von Neumann's quantum logic?
Nobel laureate Hans Bethe was a friend of mathematician-physicist John von Neumann, and he once said:
"I have sometimes wondered whether a brain like von Neumann's does not indicate a species ...
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1answer
258 views
Gauss on philosophers
Carl Friedrich Gauss said:
When a philosopher says something that is true then it is trivial. When he says something that is not trivial then it is false.
On one occasion I read that supposedly ...
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1answer
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Jean-Christophe Yoccoz (May 29, 1957 – September 3, 2016)
Outstanding French mathematician had also his Brasilian chapter in his life (or two chapters?). I'd like to know more.
The en.wikipedia tells us that Yoccoz was born, raised and educated in France,
"...
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82 views
Did Heisenberg defend that Germany should rule Europe?
The following has been attributed to the German physicist Werner Heisenberg:
History legitimizes Germany to rule Europe and later the world. Only a nation that rules ruthlessly can maintain itself. ...
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1answer
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Where to get more biographical information about Fritz Peter?
Fritz Peter (1899–1949) is known mainly as one of the authors of the Peter-Weyl theorem. This theorem appears in a paper (Die Vollständigkeit der primitiven Darstellungen einer geschlossenen ...
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137 views
What happened to the undergrad students who attended the Feynman Lecture Series in 1961-63?
Note: This question was originally asked here, but I was wondering if I could get further clarification as this has truly intrigued me.
In the academic years of 1962-2 and 1962-3, Richard Feynman ...
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328 views
Women in mathematics
I'd like to read something about the history of women in mathematics. I'd love to have reading suggestions of books in English or Italian, of 3 kinds:
1) History of math books, academic style;
2) ...
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181 views
Identification of scientists in de Gennes book
Petit Point: A Candid Portrait on the Aberrations of Science is a charming book written by the French physicist Pierre-Gilles de Gennes containing short essays on some of the prominent scientists that ...
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2answers
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What was the relationship between Einstein and Minkowski?
I read many Einstein's Biographies, but Minkowski was never mentioned, though his discovery of the union of space and time created the basis for GR.
Minkowski was Einstein's teacher of mathematics ...
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100 views
Did Paul Dirac believe in multiple universes?
Prominent physicist Paul Dirac proposed a hypothesis that said that constants and laws of physics would evolve with time into different constants and laws of nature.
This hypothesis was used by ...
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1answer
181 views
What was the “libration of Pallas” that Gauss studied, when Pallas is not a moon of Jupiter?
This question is a request for general explanation of an astronomical phenomenon known as "Pallas libration", and isn't much about the details of Gauss's mathematical model of this libration. As is ...
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170 views
Did anyone with formal medical education become a known theoretical physicist?
Was there someone in history who became a theoretical physicist after getting a medical education and later taking interest in physics? I am a medical student studying graduate mathematics, and ...
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103 views
Two questions about Gauss's contributions to capillarity and the calculus of variations
In the last page of the abstract of Gauss's paper on capillarity "Principia generalia theoriae figurae fluidorum in statu aequilibrii" (1829), the author (who is he?) mentions (Gauss's werke, volume V,...
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78 views
Textbooks used by Oliver Heaviside
Oliver Heaviside achieved a very high level in mathematics and physics by self-study, starting from a modest school-level math, and working alone in his room, without a tutor. Is it known what ...
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123 views
Is there a biography of Robert Risch?
The Risch algorithm for computing symbolic integrals was developed by Robert Risch in the 1968-70 time frame.
Based on the German Wikipedia article, I know that Risch was awarded a Ph.D. by U.C. ...
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3answers
437 views
Who all scientists made a mark in the world despite their disabilities?
Stephen Hawking is a famous scientist who despite being disabled made a big contribution to the scientific world. I want to know other such scientists who have a big influence on us.
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190 views
Looking for a specific story about young Stephen Hawking
There was a specific account of Stephen Hawking by one of his contemporaries in which Hawking was in his late undergrad or early postgrad.
As I remember, there was a small class of physics students (...
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3answers
235 views
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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1answer
137 views
Several questions about Gauss's contributions to observational astronomy
I just want to check if anyone has additional information about a private astronomical research begun by Gauss in 1819, which dealt with the "movements of the solar system" in the galaxy (motion of ...
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44 views
Did Ludwig Boltzmann ever go to Copenhagen or any other part of Denmark?
Did Ludwig Boltzmann ever go to Copenhagen or any other part of Denmark?
I also read that he was appointed "Honorary Doctor" by the university of Oslo. Does this mean that he went to Norway?
https://...
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1answer
78 views
Was Lord Kelvin at any point a proponent of vitalism?
Vitalism is the notion now discredited as pseudoscientific that there is some fundamental cleavage between living and non-living matter.
This blog post contains some quotes that suggest Lord Kelvin ...
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45 views
Ctesibius discovery of compressed air
I want to know where has he placed the tube and how he adjust the height ?
Please refer the link below marked in violet http://lnr.li/m19fP
Please explain using simple diagram for better ...
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1answer
120 views
Discovery of Suction pump
As I know that before Galileo,all the scientists believe that vacuum cannot exists. But how suction pump(which itself remove air)was discovered before Galileo. What was the steps involved in it to ...
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103 views
Did John von Neumann ever go to any Nordic Country? Did Eugene Paul Wigner ever go to any other Nordic Country apart from Sweden?
I'm researching about the presence of important scientists in Nordic Countries (Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland).
I was hoping that someone could help me since I've not been able to find ...
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41 views
Torricellis invention of barometer
Why has he used denser liquid that is mercury? Why didn't he thought of using lighter liquids than water?Please refer the link in the toricellis work in physics marked in violet
http://lnr.li/mttgq
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65 views
Galileo discovery of vacuum
I want to know how he thought that when his siphon could not raise water more than 10m it may be because of vacuum?
Please refer the link below https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Gasparo_Berti
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94 views
History behind the word pressure
I want to know who had used the word pressure for the first time and what was the reason for him to use the word pressure.
As I searched on google but it is only showing about barometer discovery
