MacTutor
Mathematicians Of The Day
20th May
On this day in 1608, the Dalmatian mathematician Marino Ghetaldi wrote to Christopher Clavius saying that with his latest parabolic mirror:-
... the sun melts not only lead, but silver.
Click on Ⓟ for a poster.
Born:
- 1861: Henry White Ⓟ
- 1870: Robert de Montessus Ⓟ
- 1874: Friedrich Hartogs Ⓟ
- 1901: Machgielis Euwe Ⓟ
- 1908: Hannes Alfvén Ⓟ
- 1946: George Lusztig Ⓟ
Died:
- 1782: William Emerson Ⓟ
- 1798: Erland Bring Ⓟ
- 1943: Henry White Ⓟ
- 1975: Jacy Monteiro Ⓟ
- 2010: Walter Rudin Ⓟ
Quotation of the day
From Hannes Alfvén
Scientists tend to resist interdisciplinary inquiries into their own territory. In many instances, such parochialism is founded on the fear that intrusion from other disciplines would compete unfairly for limited financial resources and thus diminish their own opportunity for research.
[Naming territorial dominance, greed, and fear of the unknown, as some of the influences on the increasing specialisation of science]
