Famous Mathematicians

Most people cringe when the subject turns to math, a subject that just seems too dry and abstract to command the attention for very long. Fortunately for the advancement of science, there are enough people truly interested in mathematics that the rest of us enjoy their discoveries, often without even being aware of them. Though they may seem eccentric at times, mathematicians are real people, too, and they don’t usually think of themselves as peculiar. In fact, they often think of themselves as artistic sorts. Sofia Kovalevskaya, one of the most famous mathematicians in history, even said it’s impossible to be a mathematician without being a poet in soul.

Zero - The number zero wasn’t known, understood, or used until the 13th century.

Money - Without math, and zeroes, we would never know how much money we have.

Gravity - Thanks to a famous mathematician, we know it’s gravity that keeps us from drifting off into space.

Sofia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya, 1850 to 1891, Russia

Kovalevskaya’s interest in mathematics started when she was just a young girl in Moscow, where girls were not allowed admission to universities. She needed a man’s permission to study elsewhere in Europe and her father would not consent so she and a paleontology student, Vladimir Kovalevskaya, arranged a marriage so that, with her husband’s permission, she could study in Germany. She eventually earned a doctorate in mathematics summa cum laude based on her research alone, without ever taking the usual exams; she was the first female to earn a doctorate in mathematics in Europe. Stockholm University appointed her a position as Professor Ordinarius, another first for women in northern Europe, and rules were changed to allow her to hold a chair in the Russian Academy of Sciences although she was never allowed to become a professor in her home country.

During her lifetime, Kovalevskaya enjoyed friendships with Charles Darwin, Thomas Huxley, and George Eliot. Her most famous work, the Cauchy-Kovalevski theorem, is applicable to the fields of mechanics, differential equations, and analysis. Other works involved the rings of Saturn and the refraction of light. Three movies have been made and one book written about her life. To this day, the Sofia Kovalevskaja award is given every other year to up-and-coming researchers in Germany. Kovalevskaya had one daughter, named Sofia, who she called Fufa. Kovalevskaya’s husband, with whom she’d always had a troublesome relationship, committed suicide in 1883, in fear of prosecution for his part in a stock swindle. After an Italian holiday, Sofia caught the flu and died at the age of 41. There is a crater on the moon named for her.

Women's Rights - Kovalevskaya was involved with women's rights as well as mathematics.

Awards - Kovalevskaya won awards and university posts throughout Europe.

Multiplication - In spite of her uncommon mathematical ability, she claimed to be weak in the multiplication tables.

Blaise Pascal, 1623 to 1662, France

When Blaise Pascal lost his mother when he was just three, his father assumed the role of full-time tutor to young Blaise and his two sisters. The boy showed an immediate mathematical ability, even writing proofs famous mathematicians of the day would argue and debate with serious intent. His first work to bear his name, the Pascal theorem, was published when he was just 16. In time, Pascal’s work involved the study of hydrostatics and hydrodynamics, which led to his invention of the hydraulic press and the syringe and allowed him to prove scientifically how barometers work. Criticism of his work on the barometer led him to describe in writing his concept of the scientific method, a definition that is considered the foundation for all scientific experimentation today.

Pascal’s probability theory proved the risk in a game of chance, an outcome referred to as “the odds” today. This theory provides the basis for thousands of games of chance enjoyed today and it’s proven itself invaluable in the field of economics as well. Economics played a pivotal role in Pascal’s life when his family wealth dropped from 66,00 livres to about 7,300 when the Thirty Year War led to defaults on government bonds the elder Pascal has invested in. Pascal’s invention, the Pascaline, was a mechanical calculator that proved its use when his father got a job as commissioner of taxes in war-ravaged Rouen but was more expensive to make than the wages it was intended to replace. The Pascaline has evolved into today’s analog odometers and water meters.

Pascal suffered medical ailments all his life, including migraines, digestive disorders, and hypochondria that stemmed from a carriage accident when he was 31. It is thought he lived in pain most of his life and, never marrying, he relied on his sister, Jacqueline, to nurse him through the rough spots. Of marriage, he once described it as “the lowest of the conditions of life permitted to a Christian.” He feared Jacqueline’s convent was becoming too cult-like, experienced a religious conversion himself, and endured sibling squabbles over how inheritances should be invested. An autopsy performed at his death at age 39 revealed the mathematician might have suffered from a brain lesion, stomach cancer, and tuberculosis. There is a crater on the moon named for him.

Probability - Pascal’s probability theory in simple terms.

Theology - Pascal’s Pensees (“Thoughts”), published posthumously, is said to be a masterpiece of theological insight.

Vacuum - Rene Descartes describes Pascal as having “too much vacuum in his head.”

Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss, 1777 to 1855, Kingdom of Hanover (Germany)

This child prodigy grew up to be called the Prince of Mathematicians, the greatest mathematician since antiquity, earning a reputation befitting the man who called mathematics the queen of sciences. His talent is said to have been revealed indisputably at age 3 when he pointed out errors his father was making with the family finances. Young Gauss was able to correct these errors flawlessly and entirely in his head. Gauss put that keen mind to work with the invention of the Gauss lens, used in today’s cameras; the heliotrope surveyors used to plot uncharted lands around the world; a magnetometer used to measure the magnetic field of the planet; and a version of photometer which forwarded the field of photography. These and many other inventions advanced the study of astronomy, optics, number theory, geophysics, geometry, statistics, and analysis. 

Gauss lost his first wife and a son in quick succession, leaving him with a lifelong battle with depression. He outlived his second wife by 16 years and fathered six children in his lifetime. Gauss‘ father, a business man of modest success, hoped his son would follow in his footsteps but Gauss chose mathematics instead. A perfectionist to the point of neurosis, Gauss discouraged his own sons from becoming mathematicians so as not to sully the family name. Gauss hated writing and avoided committing much of his work to paper, preferring instead to arrive at his conclusions simply out of the air. He wasn’t excited about teaching, either. Gauss’ daughter, Therese, cared for him until his death, choosing to marry only after her father’s death; she was 39. There is a crater on the moon named for him.

Speech - Gauss claimed to be able to do mathematical computations before he learned to talk.

Heptadecagon - Gauss’ discovery of how to draw a heptadecagon with just a ruler and compass was hailed as the first major advance in mathematics since the time of ancient Greece. He was a 21-year-old student publishing this finding in his university dissertation.

Death - The Royal Astronomical Society published a Gauss obituary.

These famous mathematicians changed the course of history simply by seeing life from a different perspective. Even though their thought processes were based in numbers and equations and may have been a bit too esoteric for general understanding in their time and ours, they lived through the everyday dramas that people everywhere face. They endured illness both mental and physical, loved and grieved with equal intensity, dealt with difficult family relationships, disappointed their parents, angered their children, questioned the integrity of their church and government, struggled through cultural and economic adversity, spent their money in unwise ways, and made many of the mistakes we’re all too familiar with ourselves. And there are parts of the moon named in their honor.

Additional Resources

Saturn - The rings of Saturn mystified astronomers since their 1610 discovery by Galileo.

Light - Light refraction from the mathematical perspective.

Odometer - The Pascaline calculator becomes today’s odometer.

Barometer - In explaining how a barometer works, the scientific method was established.

Syringe - The syringe uses air pressure and incompressible fluid to work effectively.

Moon - The US Geological Survey’s Astrogeology Research Program lists each lunar crater by name.