10- RENÉ DESCARTES
NATIONALITY French
GREAT DEED Created analytic geometry in the 17th century
Responsible for representing the numbers in that graph with x and y axes, named Cartesian in his honor. Analytical geometry revolutionized mathematics, making it easier to “see” relationships between numbers and understand abstract concepts. Descartes died of pneumonia in the castle of Queen Christina of Sweden, who had hired him as a professor of philosophy.
9- HENRI POINCARÉ
NATIONALITY French
GREAT FACT Invented algebraic topology in the 19th century
From there, imaginary solids such as cubes, spheres and cones were classified using theorems. With algebraic topology, it is possible to demonstrate, for example, how a mug is the deformation of half a ring – whatever that means… The conjecture (unproved hypothesis) that he proposed in 1904 was only resolved in 2006.
8- EUCLIDES
NATIONALITY Greek
GREAT DEED Founded geometry in the 3rd century BC
His book Elements, with the foundations of classical geometry, is still required reading among mathematicians. In the work of 23 centuries ago, its axioms are compiled – logical truths that still apply today. An example of an axiom is “a single line can be drawn connecting any two points”. Euclid’s masterpiece is the second most translated book in history, behind only the Bible.
7- AL-KHWARIZMI
Persian NATIONALITY
GREAT ACHIEVEMENT Created theoretical foundations for modern algebra in the 8th century
He founded Western mathematics. His work describes methods for solving linear and quadratic equations, as taught in school to this day. The Italian Fibonacci took Khwarizmi’s teachings to Europe, propagating the use of Arabic numerals and numbers from 0 to 9 to represent them.
6- ARCHIMEDES
NATIONALITY Greek
GREAT FACT Applied geometry in practice in the 3rd century BC
The leading mathematician of antiquity united the abstract world of numbers with the real world. He is considered the father of mechanics for studying forces, levers and material density. He was the first to note the constant relationship between the length of any circle and its diameter: the number π (pi). Archimedes was also an inventor. Among his works are the Archimedes screw, used to draw water from the inside of ships, and the improvement of the catapult.
5- ISAAC NEWTON
NATIONALITY English
GREAT DEED Created calculus in the 17th century
Responsible for scientific advances that changed humanity, such as the law of universal gravitation, Newton was also a remarkable mathematician, considered one of the inventors of calculus – an advanced discipline of mathematics, taught in specific higher education courses. Without calculus it would be impossible to accurately measure the volume of curved objects or calculate the speed of accelerating objects.
4- GOTTFRIED LEIBNIZ
NATIONALITY German
GREAT DEED Created calculus in the 17th century
He wasn’t as popular as Newton, but those who knew him compare his genius to da Vinci’s. Leibniz deepened the concept of infinitesimal magnitudes, that is, infinitely small – which by name may not seem like it, but are very relevant in mathematics. Newton accused Leibniz of plagiarism, but it was proven that both developed studies on calculus at the same time, reaching the same conclusions
3- ÉVARISTE GALOIS
NATIONALITY French
GREAT FACT Created algebraic structures in the 19th century
Rebellious and brilliant, he is the only great mathematician whose work has no errors, perhaps because it is too short. His main work was on polynomials and algebraic structures, which led him to solve mathematical problems that had been open since antiquity. Experts believe that if he hadn’t died at the age of 21 – in a duel – he would be number one on our list.
2- CARL GAUSS
NATIONALITY German
GREAT DEED Most complete mathematician of the first half of the 19th century
The “prince of mathematicians” published, at the age of 21, his masterpiece on number theory. He died aged 77 as mathematics’ greatest generalist, contributing to areas such as statistics, analysis, differential geometry, and geodesy, to name a few. The defunct German ten-mark banknote featured a portrait of the mathematician with one of his “inventions”: the Gauss curve, which always appears in statistical graphs.
1- LEONHARD EULER
NATIONALITY Swiss
GREAT ACHIEVEMENT Revolutionized almost all of mathematics in the 18th century
His nearly 800 books laid the groundwork for fields that would be studied in the future, such as topology, and revolutionized nearly all those that were already in vogue, such as calculus and functions. By solving a problem involving seven bridges connecting two islands in the city of Königsberg, former Prussia, he founded graph theory, which enabled the emergence of topology and is used today, for example, to
set up the Brazilian Championship tables! Euler became blind at age 50 and began dictating his texts to his son. Many mathematicians believe that his work became richer after losing his sight.
– French mathematician François Arago declared that Euler effortlessly calculated, “as men breathe and eagles stay aloft”
CONSULTANCY Sérgio Roberto Nobre, professor and coordinator of the History of Mathematics Research Group of the Mathematics department at Unesp (Rio Claro) SOURCES https://www.math-atlas.org; https://www.shsu.edu; https://www.guardian.co.uk; https://www.sci.hkbu.edu.hk