MacTutor
Mathematicians Of The Day
20th August
On this day in 1638 William Oughtred wrote about his slide rule invention to the instument maker Elias Allen:-
I have here sent you directions (as you requested me being at Twickenham) about the making of the two rulers. ... would gladly see one of [the two parts of the instrument] when it is finished: which yet I never have done.
Click on Ⓟ for a poster.
Born:
- 1645: Siguenza y Gongora Ⓟ
- 1710: Thomas Simpson Ⓟ
- 1862: Paul Stäckel Ⓟ
- 1863: Corrado Segre Ⓟ
- 1892: Octav Onicescu Ⓟ
- 1898: Leopold Infeld Ⓟ
- 1899: Salomon Bochner Ⓟ
- 1901: Steven Vajda Ⓟ
- 1905: Anna Adelaide Stafford Henriques Ⓟ
- 1923: Tom Apostol Ⓟ
- 1925: Elza Furtado Gomide Ⓟ
- 1928: Charles Bell Ⓟ
- 1957: Simon Donaldson Ⓟ
Died:
- 1672: Jan de Witt Ⓟ
- 1677: Pierre Petit
- 1950: George Carse Ⓟ
- 1972: Carol Karp Ⓟ
- 2001: Fred Hoyle Ⓟ
- 2006: William Parry Ⓟ
- 2014: Bryce McLeod Ⓟ
Quotation of the day
From Salomon Bochner
Mathematics is a form of poetry which transcends poetry in that it proclaims a truth; a form of reasoning which transcends reasoning in that it wants to bring about the truth it proclaims; a form of action, of ritual behaviour, which does not find fulfilment in the act but must proclaim and elaborate a poetic form of truth.
