MacTutor
Mathematicians Of The Day
11th January
On this day in 1787, William Herschel discovered the first two moons of Uranus: Titania and Oberon. In fact he discovered Oberon before spotting Titania. It is now known that Uranus has 27 satellites, most of which are named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.
The postage stamp of one of today's mathematicians at THIS LINK was issued in 1968.
The postage stamp of one of today's mathematicians at THIS LINK was issued in 1968.
Click on Ⓟ for a poster.
Born:
- 1545: Guidobaldo del Monte Ⓟ
- 1707: Vincenzo Riccati Ⓟ
- 1734: Achille-Pierre Dionis du Séjour Ⓟ
- 1825: William Spottiswoode Ⓟ
- 1826: Giuseppe Battaglini Ⓟ
- 1837: Hugh MacColl Ⓟ
- 1845: Victor Bäcklund Ⓟ
- 1938: Fischer Sheffey Black Ⓟ
Died:
- 1757: Louis Castel
- 1903: Henry Watson Ⓟ
- 1929: Micaiah Hill Ⓟ
- 1941: Emanuel Lasker Ⓟ
- 1946: J Watt Butters Ⓟ
- 1947: Edward Ross
- 1949: Torsten Carleman Ⓟ
- 2002: Shanti Swarup Gupta Ⓟ
- 2014: Zoltán Dienes Ⓟ
- 2019: Michael Atiyah Ⓟ
Quotation of the day
From Michael Atiyah
Scientists, outside of religion, have their own faith. They believe the universe is rational. They're trying to find the laws of nature. But why are there laws? That's the article of faith for scientists. It's not rational. It's useful. It's practical. There's evidence in its favor: The sun does rise every day. But nevertheless, at the end of the day, it's an article of faith.
