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Mathematicians Of The Day
13th June
On this day in 1771, Lagrange presented the first proof of Wilson's theorem to the Berlin Academy:-
A number p is prime if and only if is divisible by p.Edward Waring published the theorem in 1770, but Leibniz knew it previously.
Click on Ⓟ for a poster.
Born:
- 1555: Giovanni Magini Ⓟ
- 1580: Willebrord Snell Ⓟ
- 1773: Thomas Young Ⓟ
- 1831: James Clerk Maxwell Ⓟ
- 1839: James Bolam
- 1871: Ernst Steinitz Ⓟ
- 1872: Chrystal Macmillan Ⓟ
- 1876: William Gosset Ⓟ
- 1883: Neil McArthur
- 1891: Pierre Humbert Ⓟ
- 1902: Carolyn Eisele Ⓟ
- 1906: Bruno de Finetti Ⓟ
- 1928: John F Nash Ⓟ
- 1931: Herbert Wilf Ⓟ
- 1966: Grigori Yakovlevich Perelman Ⓟ
Died:
- 1660: William Oughtred Ⓟ
- 1882: William Shanks Ⓟ
- 1909: Albin Herzog Ⓟ
- 1939: Hermann Wiener Ⓟ
- 1991: Marek Kuczma Ⓟ
- 1994: John Britton Ⓟ
Quotation of the day
From James Clerk Maxwell
... that, in a few years, all great physical constants will have been approximately estimated, and that the only occupation which will be left to men of science will be to carry these measurements to another place of decimals.
[Maxwell strongly disagreed with these views and was attacking them.]
