MacTutor
Mathematicians Of The Day
26th February
On this day in 1765, Nevil Maskelyne was appointed Astronomer Royal to succeed Nathaniel Bliss who had only held the post for two years.
See THIS LINK.
The postage stamp of one of today's mathematicians at THIS LINK was issued in 1986.
See THIS LINK.
The postage stamp of one of today's mathematicians at THIS LINK was issued in 1986.
Click on Ⓟ for a poster.
Born:
- 1786: François Arago Ⓟ
- 1843: Karl Geiser Ⓟ
- 1926: J A Green Ⓟ
Died:
- 1638: Claude Gaspar Bachet Ⓟ
- 1974: René de Possel Ⓟ
- 1985: Tjalling Charles Koopmans Ⓟ
- 1985: Albert Bharucha-Reid Ⓟ
- 2004: Víctor Neumann-Lara Ⓟ
- 2017: Ludwig Faddeev Ⓟ
Quotation of the day
From François Arago
The calculus of probabilities, when confined within just limits, ought to interest, in an equal degree, the mathematician, the experimentalist, and the statesman. Form the time when Pascal and Fermat established its first principles, it has rendered, and continues to render, services of the most eminent kind. It is the calculus of probabilities, which, after having suggested the best arrangements of the tables of populations and mortality, teaches us to deduce from those numbers, in useful character; it is the calculus of probabilities which alone can regulate justly the premiums to be paid for assurances; the reserve funds for the disbursements of pensions, annuities, discounts, etc. It is under its influence that lotteries and other shameful snares cunningly laid for avarice and ignorance have definitely disappeared.
