- Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS, (18 May 1872 - 2 February 1970), was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, advocate for social reform, and pacifist. A prolific writer, he was also a populariser of philosophy and a commentator on a large variety of topics, ranging from very serious issues to those much less so. Continuing a family tradition in political affairs, he was a prominent anti-war activist, … - Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath: scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, and writer. The illegitimate son of a notary, Messer Piero, and a peasant girl, Caterina, Leonardo had no surname in the modern sense, "da Vinci" simply meaning "of Vinci": his full birth name was "Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci", meaning "Leonardo, … - Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal, (June 19 1623-August 19 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father. Pascal's earliest work was in the natural and applied sciences where he made important contributions to the construction of mechanical calculators, the study of fluids, and clarified the concepts of pressure and vacuum by generalizing the work of Evangelista Torricelli. - Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (January 27 1832 - January 14 1898), better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican clergyman and photographer. His most famous writings are "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and its sequel "Through the Looking-Glass" as well as the poems "The Hunting of the Snark" and "Jabberwocky", all considered to be within the genre of literary nonsense. - Leonhard Euler
Leonhard Euler , the most prolific mathematician of all time, wrote more than 500 books and papers during his lifetime about 800 pages per year with another 400 publications appearing posthumously; his collected works already fill 73 large volumes tens of thousands of pages with more volumes still to appear. - Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler (December 27 1571 - November 15 1630) was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, and a key figure in the 17th century astronomical revolution. He is best known for his eponymous laws of planetary motion, codified by later astronomers based on his works "Astronomia nova", "Harmonices Mundi", and "Epitome of Copernican Astronomy". - Roger Penrose
Sir Roger Penrose, OM, FRS (born 8 August 1931) is an English mathematical physicist and Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford and Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College. He is renowned for his work in mathematical physics, in particular his contributions to general relativity and cosmology. He is also a recreational mathematician and philosopher. - Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (born 16 December 1917) is a British science-fiction author and inventor, most famous for his novel "2001: A Space Odyssey", and for collaborating with director Stanley Kubrick on the film of the same name. Clarke is the last surviving member of what was sometimes known as the "Big Three" of science fiction, which included Robert A. Heinlein and Isaac Asimov. - René Descartes
René Descartes (March 31, 1596 - February 11, 1650), also known as "Renatus Cartesius" (latinized form), was a highly influential French philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and writer. Dubbed the "Father of Modern Philosophy", and the "Father of Modern Mathematics", much of subsequent western philosophy is a reaction to his writings, which have been closely studied from his time down to the present day. - Freeman Dyson
Freeman John Dyson FRS (born December 15, 1923) is an English-born American theoretical physicist and mathematician, famous for his work in quantum mechanics, solid-state physics, nuclear weapons design and policy, and for his serious theorizing in futurism and science fiction concepts, including the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. He is a lifelong opponent of nationalism, and proponent of nuclear disarmament and international cooperation. - Fibonacci
Leonardo of Pisa, also known as Leonardo Pisano, Leonardo Bonacci, Leonardo Fibonacci, or, most commonly, simply Fibonacci, was an Italian mathematician, considered by some "the most talented mathematician of the Middle Ages". Fibonacci is best known to the modern world for: * The spreading of Hindu-Arabic numeral system in Europe, … - Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner (b. October 21, 1914, Tulsa, Oklahoma) is a popular American mathematics and science writer specializing in recreational mathematics, but with interests encompassing magic (conjuring), pseudoscience, literature (especially Lewis Carroll), philosophy, and religion. He wrote the "Mathematical Games" column in "Scientific American" from 1956 to 1981 and has published over 60 books. - Ian Stewart
Ian Stewart, FRS (born 1945), is a professor of mathematics at University of Warwick, United Kingdom. - John Dee
John Dee was a noted English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, occultist, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. He also devoted much of his life to alchemy, divination, and Hermetic philosophy. Dee straddled the worlds of science and magic just as they were becoming distinguishable. One of the most learned men of his time, he had lectured to crowded halls at the University of Paris when still in his early twenties. - Keith Devlin
Keith J. Devlin is an English mathematician and writer. He currently is Executive Director of Stanford University's Center for the Study of Language and Information and a Consulting Professor of mathematics at Stanford. In addition, he is a commentator on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition Saturday, where he is known as "The Math Guy." As of 2004, he is the author of 24 books. Several of his books are aimed at an audience of the general public, … - William A. Dembski
William Dembski Researcher, Writer A mathematician and philosopher, William Dembski is a senior fellow with Seattle's Discovery Institute. Dr. Dembski has published articles in mathematics, philosophy, and theology journals and is the author/editor of more than ten books. - Ada Lovelace
Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (December 10, 1815 - November 27, 1852), born Augusta Ada Byron, is mainly known for having written a description of Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine. - Donald Knuth
Don's father was a Lutheran school teacher and church organist. Don studied piano, and for a brief time organ, through high school. Later as a faculty member of Caltech, he was called upon to be a long-term substitute organist at Faith Lutheran Church in Pasadena, California. He became a member of the American Guild of Organists in 1965, and saw his first Abbott and Sieker organ at that time. - Simon Newcomb
Simon Newcomb (March 12 1835 - July 11 1909) was an astronomer and mathematician. Born in the town of Wallace, Nova Scotia, Newcomb had a short apprenticeship to a charlatan herbalist in 1851. He graduated from The Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard (1858, B.S.) and studied mathematics under Prof. Benjamin Peirce. The impecunious Newcomb was often a welcome guest at the Peirce home (Brent, Joseph, infra, p. 288), but later is notable for his jealousy of Prof. - Vernor Vinge
Vernor Steffen Vinge (born October 2, 1944 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA) is a retired San Diego State University Professor of Mathematics, computer scientist, and science fiction author. He is best known for his Hugo Award-winning novels "A Fire Upon the Deep" (1992) and "A Deepness in the Sky" (1999), as well as for his 1993 essay "The Coming Technological Singularity", … - Omar Khayyám
Ghiyās al-Dīn Abu al-Fath Omār ibn Ibrāhīm Khayyām Nishābūrī or Omar Khayyam (b. May 18, 1048 Nishapur, (Persia) - d. December 4, 1131), was a Persian poet, mathematician, philosopher and astronomer who lived in Persia. His name is also given as Omar al-Khayyami. He is best known for his poetry, and outside Iran, for the quatrains ("rubaiyaa"s) in "Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam", … - David Brewster
Sir David Brewster,FRS, (11 December 1781 - 10 February 1868) was a Scottish scientist, inventor and writer. He was born at Jedburgh, where his father, a teacher of high reputation, was rector of the grammar school. At the age of twelve, he was sent to the University of Edinburgh, being intended for the clergy. However, he had already shown a strong inclination for natural science, and this had been fostered by his intimacy with a "self-taught philosopher, … - Nicole Oresme
Nicole Oresme, also known as Nicolas Oresme, Nicholas Oresme, or Nicolas d'Oresme (c. 1323 - July 11, 1382) was one of the most famous and influential philosophers of the later Middle Ages. He was an economist, mathematician, physicist, astronomer, philosopher, psychologist, and musicologist, a passionate theologian and Bishop of Lisieux, a competent translator, counselor of King Charles V of France, … - Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemaeus, known in English as Ptolemy, was a Greek mathematician, geographer, astronomer, and astrologer who lived in Roman Egypt. Although no description of his family background or physical appearance exists, it is likely he was born in Egypt, probably in or near Alexandria. Ptolemy was the author of several scientific treatises, three of which would be of continuing importance to later Islamic and European science. - John Mighton
Canadian author and mathematician John Mighton is the founder of JUMP (Junior Undiscovered Math Prodigies), a charitable organization that works to educate students in mathematics. He is the author of "The Myth of Ability" (2003) and "The End of Ignorance" (2007). Mighton is also a playwright, whose works include "Possible Worlds", "The Little Years", "Body & Soul", "Scientific Americans", … - John D. Barrow
John David Barrow FRS (born November 29, 1952, London) is an English cosmologist, theoretical physicist, and mathematician. He is currently Research Professor of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge. Barrow is also a writer of popular science and an amateur playwright. Barrow obtained his first degree in Mathematics and physics from Van Mildert College at the University of Durham in 1974. - Rebecca Goldstein
Rebecca Goldstein is an American novelist and professor of Philosophy. She has written five novels, a number of short stories and essays, and biographical studies of mathematician Kurt Gödel and philosopher Baruch Spinoza. Goldstein, born Rebecca Newberger, grew up in White Plains, New York, and did her undergraduate work at Barnard College. After earning her Ph.D. from Princeton University, she returned to Barnard to teach courses in various philosophical studies. - Thomas Malthus
Robert Thomas Malthus, FRS (13th February, 1766 - 29th December, 1834), usually known as Robert Malthus, although he preferred to be known as Thomas Malthus, was an English demographer and political economist. He is best known for his highly influential views on population growth. - Manil Suri
Manil Suri (born July 1959) is an Indian-American mathematician and writer, most notable for his first and so far only novel, "The Death of Vishnu". Suri was born in Mumbai, India, which was then known as Bombay. He attended the University of Bombay before moving to the United States, where he attended Carnegie Mellon University. He received a PHD in mathematics in 1983, and became a mathematics professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. - Eric Temple Bell
Eric Temple Bell (February 7 1883, Peterhead, Scotland - December 21 1960, Watsonville, California) was a mathematician and science fiction author born in Scotland who lived in the USA for most of his life. He published his non-fiction under his given name and his fiction as John Taine. - John Maynard Smith
Professor John Maynard Smith, F.R.S. (6 January 1920 - 19 April 2004) was a British evolutionary biologist and geneticist. Originally an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War, he then took a second degree in genetics under the well-known biologist J.B.S. Haldane. Maynard Smith was instrumental in the application of game theory to evolution and theorised on other problems such as the evolution of sex and signaling theory. - John Winthrop
John Winthrop was the 2nd Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Harvard College. He was a distinguished mathematician, physicist and astronomer, born in Boston, Mass. His great-great-grandfather, also named John Winthrop, was founder of the Massachusetts Bay colony. He graduated in 1732 at Harvard, where, from 1738 until his death he was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy. - Mary Somerville
Mary Somerville (December 26, 1780 - November 28, 1872) was a Scottish science writer and polymath, at a time when women's participation in science was discouraged. She was the daughter of Admiral Sir William George Fairfax, and was born at the manse of Jedburgh, in the Borders, the house of her mother's sister, wife of Dr Thomas Somerville (1741-1830), author of "My Own Life and Times", whose son would become Mary's second husband. - Theon Of Alexandria
Theon was a Greek scholar in Alexandria, Egypt, and the last director of the Library of Alexandria before it was burnt and destroyed by Christian riots, in the "Museion" until it was closed by the patriarch Theophilus on order of the Christian Roman emperor Theodosius I in 391 AD. Theon was the father of the mathematician and pagan martyr Hypatia who was murdered by Christians. Theon's most durable achievement may be his edition of Euclid's "Elements", … - Reuben Hersh
Reuben Hersh (born December 9 1927) is an American mathematician, now an emeritus professor of the University of New Mexico. He is best known for his books on the philosophy of mathematics and its social impact. His book "The Mathematical Experience", co-authored with Philip J. Davis, won the National Book Award in 1983. He received his B.A. in English literature from Harvard University, and did his graduate work in mathematics at New York University (Ph.D., … - Fred Brooks
Frederick Phillips Brooks, Jr. (born April 19, 1931) is a software engineer and computer scientist, best-known for managing the development of OS/360, then later writing candidly about the process in his seminal book "The Mythical Man-Month". "It is a very humbling experience to make a multi-million-dollar mistake, but it is also very memorable." Brooks received a Turing Award in 1999 and many other awards. Born in Durham, North Carolina, he attended Duke University, … - Carol Vorderman
Carol Jean Vorderman MBE (born 24 December 1960 in Bedford) is an English television personality and mathematician best known for being a long-standing co-presenter of Channel 4 game show "Countdown". She was awarded an MBE in June 2000. - Zhang Heng
Zhang Heng (78 - 139 AD) was an astronomer, mathematician, inventor, geographer, artist, poet, statesman, and literary scholar of the Eastern Han Dynasty in ancient China. He had extensive knowledge of mechanics and gears, applying this knowledge to several of his known inventions. According to historian Joseph Needham, Zhang Heng was noted in his day for being able to "make three wheels rotate as if they were one" ("neng ling san lun du zhuan ye")". - Apostolos Doxiadis
Apostolos Doxiadis (b. 1953 in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia) and raised in Greece is a Greek writer. In his earliest years he was drawn to mathematics. At age 15 in 1968, he attended Columbia University in New York City. He later attended École Pratique des Hautes Études, literally the Practical School of Higher Studies, in Paris where he studied mathematical models for the nervous system. - Ibn Al-Banna
Ibn al-Banna al-Murrakushi al-Azdi ["c."1256–"c."1321] was an Arab mathematician and astronomer.
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