The Greatest Mathematician? - Progressive Rock Music Forum

Based on whatever criteria you deem to constitute the greatest mathematician, who is the greatest from the list?

I think there's enough math nerds here for this to work, and I hope it does. I tried to keep the list small enough so I know some names are omitted. I don't like other options in polls so I also omitted that. In choosing the contenders I tried to healthily balance my personal opinion with general consensus.

I was about to type up my choice/reasoning but I just realized Man vs. Wild is on, so I'll do it a little later.

"One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. "

To many people suggesting any but Gauss is blasphemous. While he’s the obvious second choice for me, I think Euler deserves the title greatest mathematician. Admittedly, Gauss was greater at more fields, he was a master at anything he touched and he touched a great variety of things, but in regards simply to mathematics I believe Euler is the master.

First he has to be the greatest algebraist who ever lived. This point is rarely disputed and rightfully so from looking at his work. He originated and popularized so much of the modern notation we use today from i to pi to e to sigma for infinite sums to f(x). Also he laid the foundations which lead to the creation of my two favorite fields: analytical number theory and complex analysis.

His identity e^{i *pi} + 1 = 0 simply amazes me for its sheer beauty and simplicity. Gauss said of the result, if it’s not immediately apparent to you upon hearing it, you’ll never be a great mathematician. Another favorite of mine is his expression of the Zeta function and its infinite series as an infinite product.

"One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. "

Hari Seldon

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Equality 7-2521 wrote:

^ You know Euler is great when his achievements are even greater than a mathematician from science fiction

Euler never inspired me to study Mathematics hahhaha Wink

The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip

^

You know music was considered an area of math for hundreds of years. You would learn the foundations of music from a mathematician. It was actually Pythagoras who discoved and laid down the harmonic intervals of instruments.

Here's a quote from Leibniz, the inventor of the calculus.

"The pleasure we obtain from music comes from counting, but counting unconsciously. Music is nothing but unconscious arithmetic. "

So be careful who you are calling nerds

and of course because we know mathematicians are the smartest of all scientists and will eventually rule the world.

"One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. "

Sir Isaac Newton. For constructing a completely new form of mathematics (differential equations) to solve real "physical" problems. The world would look completely different nowadays without that. And sorry, I'm not a "pure" mathematician, but a chemist & I know what I use most....

To be the one who seeks so I may find .. (Metallica)

What about Blaise Pascal (1 Pa = 1 N/m²) ???

Not only he was a brilliant mathematician, but he also invented the first mechanical calculator (= the ancestor of "our" computer).

I'm running still,
I shall until,
one day I hope that I'll arrive

GoldenSpiral wrote:

Fourier!!!

"One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. "

What about Stefan Banach?

"Music is much like f**king, but some composers can't climax and others climax too often, leaving themselves and the listener jaded and spent."

Charles Bukowski

From the list - Euler.

Not Gauss because he was afraid to praise Lobachevskiy for his works publicly & for scientists - only after his death his letters to friends were published, and in at least one of which Gauss praised and recommended "Geometrical Investigations on the Theory of Parallels" (1840) of Lobachevskiy to his friend.
Gauss is undoubtly a great mathematician but his character doesn't seem to be ideal.
With Euler it's vice versa - he rarely finished his works up to the end, but he used to explain this like: "I gave the idea - there would be enough people to develop it more presicely than I did".

Actually, I think that Euler was just very lucky - he had mighty brains and he was given extremely inspiring working conditions.

If to speak about "all-time" best mathematician, but not regarding the list, then my vote will go to Thales just for being the first

. If the case is last ten years I would vote definitely for Perelman.

Edited by XPEHOPE3KA - July 16 2007 at 07:14

Poll Question: mathematiciWho is the greatest an of all time?
Poll Choice	Votes	Poll Statistics
Archimedes	3	[10.00%]
Euclid	3	[10.00%]
Leonhard Euler	11	[36.67%]
Pierre de Fermat	0	[0.00%]
Joseph Fourier	2	[6.67%]
Carl Gauss	3	[10.00%]
Joseph Lagrange	0	[0.00%]
Gottfried Leibniz	1	[3.33%]
Sir Isaac Newton	7	[23.33%]
Bernhard Riemann	0	[0.00%]
This topic is closed, no new votes accepted

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