Mathematicians Of The Day

15th December



On this day in 1612, Simon Mayr was the first to observe the Andromeda galaxy through a telescope, although of course he had no notion that he was observing a distant system of stars. He described it in the preface to his Mundus Jovialis of 1614 as, 'like the flame of a candle seen through horn'.

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Quotation of the day

From Freeman Dyson
The great advances in science usually result from new tools rather than from new doctrines.
American Mathematical Monthly 103 (1996), 805.