MacTutor
Mathematicians Of The Day
15th March
On this day in 1590, François Viète cracked the code of a message from Philip II of Spain and sent it to Henry IV of France.
... when Philip, assuming that the cipher could not be broken, discovered that the French were aware of his military plans, he complained to the Pope that black magic was being employed against his country.
Click on Ⓟ for a poster.
Born:
- 1713: Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille Ⓟ
- 1855: Charles Boys Ⓟ
- 1860: Raphael Weldon Ⓟ
- 1868: Grace Chisholm Ⓟ
- 1890: Boris Nikolaevich Delone Ⓟ
- 1924: Aldo Andreotti Ⓟ
- 1940: Jacob Palis Jr Ⓟ
Died:
- 1897: James Joseph Sylvester Ⓟ
- 1900: Elwin Christoffel Ⓟ
- 1912: Cesare Arzelà Ⓟ
- 1941: George Lawson Ⓟ
- 1952: Ernst Julius Amberg Ⓟ
- 1960: Eduard Čech Ⓟ
- 1992: Deane Montgomery Ⓟ
- 1994: Erling Sverdrup Ⓟ
- 2004: John Pople Ⓟ
- 2006: George Mackey Ⓟ
Quotation of the day
From James Joseph Sylvester
The world of ideas which it [mathematics] discloses or illuminates, the contemplation of divine beauty and order which it induces, the harmonious connexion of its parts, the infinite hierarchy and absolute evidence of the truths with which it is concerned, these, and such like, are the surest grounds of the title of mathematics to human regard, and would remain unimpeached and unimpaired were the plan of the universe unrolled like a map at our feet, and the mind of man qualified to take in the whole scheme of creation at a glance.
