Mathematicians Of The Day

24th June



On this day in 1634, Gilles Personne de Roberval was proclaimed the winner of the triennial competition for the Ramus chair at the Collège Royal in Paris. Thereafter he kept his mathematical discoveries secret so that he could continue to win the competition and keep the chair. As a consequence he lost credit for many of his discoveries.

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Quotation of the day

From Oswald Veblen
[What is] not always understood by those who try to bring about closer relations between faculty and students [is] that in all forms of social intercourse the provisions for privacy are as important as those for proximity.