Mathematicians Of The Day

30th March



On this day in 1796, the nineteen year old Gauss began his scientific diary with his construction of the regular 17-gon.
See THIS LINK.
A week later he would obtain his first proof of the quadratic reciprocity law.

The postage stamp of one of today's mathematicians at THIS LINK was issued in 1982.

Click on for a poster.


Quotation of the day

From Alfréd Rényi
If I feel unhappy, I do mathematics to become happy. If I am happy, I do mathematics to keep happy.
Quoted in P Turán, "The Work of Alfréd Rényi", Matematikai Lapok 21 (1970) 199 - 210.