3.

Mathematicians and their

contributions

Charles Hermite
Pierre de Fermat He is Perhaps the most prominent
famous for the factorization method named mathematician of the nineteenth century was
Fermat’s factorization method and discovering a Charles Hermite. His work on elliptic functions,
unique method for finding the greatest and algebra and orthogonal polynomials are match-
smallest ordinates in curved lines. less to date.

Simon Laplace
Laplace’s work on probability and Blaise Pascal
statistics theories inspired an entire generation He is known for his invention of the
of mathematicians mechanical calculator.

Marie Legendre Joseph Fourier He was

pioneering mathematician and physicist, famous
Inventor of the Legendre polynomials
for developing the ‘Fourier Series’.
and Legendre transformation he developed the
quadratic reciprocity law and contributed to
applying analysis to division of primes and
number theory.

Henri Poincaré
Given the name Polymath for being
well-versed in diverse fields of knowledge
Louis Cauchy was Jules Henri Poincaré. He is known as the
First mathematician to develop rules inventor of topology and theory of functions of
and definitions for mathematics. Contributed analytics.
greatly to the theory of substitution groups and
mathematical analysis.

Andre Weil
His most important achievement was
Albert Einstein when he discovered a connection between
Albert Einstein excelled in mathematics number theory and algebraic geometry.
early in his childhood. Famous For: E=m*c2
 Leonardo Bigollo Pierre de Fermat
He is usually better known by his As an amateur mathematician, de
nickname, Fibonacci. Famous For: Fibonnaci Fermat is given recognition for his work that
Numbers has led to infinitesimal calculus. Famous
For: Fermat’s Last Theorem.

Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton is one of the most
celebrated and recognized mathematicians and Gottfried Leibniz
physicists in world history. Famous German-born Gottfried Wilhelm
For: Newton’s method for estimating roots of a
Leibniz was a co-inventor of calculus, which he
function.
developed independently of Isaac Newton.
Famous For: Refining the binary system.

John Forbes Nash, Jr.

Mathematician who did his work on
David Hilbert
differential geometry and game theory.
Famous For: Formulating Hilbert
Famous For: Developing the Nash equilibrium.
Spaces, a major theory in functional analysis.

Alan Turing
He was a prominent and Luca Pacioli
influential mathematician, cryptanalyst, logician Famous For: Father of accounting
and computer designer and scientist. Famous
For: Father of Computer Science

Benjamin Banneker George Boole

Famous For: Developing a Famous For: Boolean algebra
mathematical formula to predict a solar eclipse
 Sophie Germain Srinivasa Ramanujan
Sophie Germain worked extensively in Ramanujan was a genius in
the mathematical field of number theory and mathematics. He helped expand mathematical
differential geometry. Famous For: Sophie theory. Famous For: Landau-Ramanujan
Germain prime numbers. constant.

Edward Witten
Edward Witten specialized in the field of
Omar Khayyám
mathematical physics. Famous For: String Famous For: Treatise on Demonstration
theory. of Problems of Algebra

Blaise Pascal John von Neumann

Pascal is recognized for two The mathematical evaluation of self-
mathematical areas of study, projective replication by John von Neumann came before
geometry and probability theory. Famous the DNA model was introduced. Famous
For: Pascal’s Triangle. For: Operator theory and quantum mechanics.

Aryabhata
Indian mathematician Aryabhatta’s
John Napier
contribution includes his work on providing an John Napier is responsible for
manufacturing logarithms. Famous
approximate value to pi.
For: Inventing “logarithms”

Ada Lovelace
Andrew Wiles
Famous For: Work on the Analytical
Andrew Wiles was successful in proving
Engine. “Fermat’s Last Theorem”.
 Daniel Bernoulli G. F. Bernhard Riemann
Famous For: Bernoulli principle He is perhaps most famous (or
Hydrodynamica. infamous) for his legendarily difficult Riemann
Hypothesis.

Georg Cantor
Famous For: Inventor of set theory.
One of the basic theories in mathematics is the Carl Friedrich Gauss
set theory. Famous for: number theory (especially
on Prime numbers). He went on to prove the
fundamental theorem of algebra, and
introduced the Gaussian gravitational constant
in physics,

Evariste Galois
Famous For: Helping develop the
foundation for group theory.

Leonhard Euler
He pioneered the use of analytic
methods to solve number theory problems.
Famous for: Euler–Lagrange equation.
Emmy Noether
Emmy Noether and her work on
abstract algebra make her one of the most
important mathematicians of her time. Famous
For: Abstract algebra.

Gottfried Wilhelm
Famous for: his co-invention of the
infinitesimal calculus

JACOB BERNOULLI
Jacob Bernoulli’s foremost significant
contributions to mathematics were noted in the
pamphlets which accounted information on the
parallels of logic and algebra and his work on Carl Ludwig Siegel
probability. Famous for: Number theory and
Celestial mechanics
 Richard Dedekind Isaac Barrow
Famous for: 'Lectures on Number He was given credit for his early role in
Theory', 'Continuity and Irrational Numbers' and the development of infinitesimal calculus; in
Modular Lattices. particular, for the discovery of the fundamental
theorem of calculus.

Kurt Gödel
Kurt Gödel, a math genius, was known
for his 'incompleteness theorem', which is also James Gregory
famous as the 'Gödel's theorem'. He also gained He founded calculus.
popularity by proving the fundamental results on
axioms in mathematics.

Marin Mersenne
Bonaventura Cavalieri He is perhaps best known today among
He is known for his work on the mathematicians for Mersenne prime numbers,
problems of optics and motion, work on those which can be written in the form Mₙ = 2ⁿ −
indivisibles, the precursors of infinitesimal 1 for some integer n.
calculus, and the introduction of logarithms to
Italy.

Gilles de Roberval
He wrote a treatise on algebra and
William,Viscount Brouncker one of analytic geometry which appeared in
English mathematician who introduced
his posthumous 1693 publication.
Brouncker's formula.

Christian Huygens Van Schooten

Huygens is credited as the first He was known for popularizing the
theoretical physicist to use formulae in physics. analytic geometry of René Descartes.
 Lady Lovelace
Grégoire de Saint-Vincent She made an influential contribution to
He is remembered for his work on the analytical engine. She was the first computer
quadrature of the hyperbola. programmer.

Christian Andreas Doppler

Evangelista Torricelli
He was known as the Doppler effect —
He invented the barometer and whose
that the observed frequency of a wave depends
work in geometry aided in the eventual
on the relative speed of the source and the
development of integral calculus.
observer.

Johann Hudde Colin Maclaurin

He contributed to the theory of Scottish mathematician who developed
equations. and extended Sir Isaac Newton's work in
calculus, geometry, and gravitation.

Nicholas Mercator
Mathematically, he is most well-known
Siméon Denis Poisson
for his treatise Logarithmo-technia on
He is known for his work on definite
logarithms, published in 1668.
integrals, advances in Fourier series,
electromagnetic theory, and probability.

Lenore Blum She is

known for her contributions to the theory of real
number computation. Anaxagoras

In mathematics, Anaxagoras was the first to

attempt squaring the circle.