MacTutor
Mathematicians Of The Day
1st August
On this day in 1786, Caroline Herschel discovered her first comet which was described by some as the "first lady's comet".
Click on Ⓟ for a poster.
Born:
- 1823: Stephen Parkinson
- 1861: Ivar Bendixson Ⓟ
- 1881: Otto Toeplitz Ⓟ
- 1913: Mischa Cotlar Ⓟ
- 1937: Barry Johnson Ⓟ
- 1955: Bernadette Perrin-Riou Ⓟ
Died:
- 1968: Thomas Havelock Ⓟ
- 1987: Evelyn Nelson Ⓟ
- 1992: Leslie Fox Ⓟ
Quotation of the day
From Otto Toeplitz
Regarding all these basic topics in infinitesimal calculus which we teach today as canonical requisites ... the question is never raised, "Why so?" or "How does one arrive at them?" Yet all these matters must at one time have been goals of an urgent quest, answers to burning questions, at the time, namely, when they were created. If we were to go back to the origins of these ideas, they would lose that dead appearance of cut-and-dried facts and instead take on fresh and vibrant life again.
