MacTutor
Mathematicians Of The Day
28th May
On this day in 1555, John Dee was arrested and charged with "calculating". At this time mathematics in England was considered to be equivalent to the possession of magical powers. Aubrey writes that the authorities had:-
... burned mathematical books for conjuring books.Although he was guilty of the charges brought against him, Dee was released in August after being held for three months.
Click on Ⓟ for a poster.
Born:
- 1676: Jacopo Riccati Ⓟ
- 1710: Johann (II) Bernoulli Ⓟ
- 1871: James Mitchell Ⓟ
- 1872: Marian Smoluchowski Ⓟ
- 1881: Lajos Dávid Ⓟ
- 1902: Stefan Cohn-Vossen Ⓟ
- 1908: Egbert van Kampen Ⓟ
- 1912: Hans Zassenhaus Ⓟ
- 1920: George Butcher Ⓟ
- 1930: Bill Morton Ⓟ
Died:
- 1968: Karel Rychlik Ⓟ
- 1980: Rolf Nevanlinna Ⓟ
- 1982: Carlo Miranda Ⓟ
- 1997: Ron Book
- 2000: Donald Davies Ⓟ
Quotation of the day
From Jacopo Riccati
I do not want to claim that every topic should be probed in detail. Following one's own talent and inclination, one should select at least one topic, and study it in depth. In the others, one should follow the example of the bee which sucks a drop of nectar from each flower ...
