MacTutor
Mathematicians Of The Day
27th August
On this day in 1760, Leonhard Euler, in his Letters to a German Princess explained how a surveyor uses a level. As an example he asked which end of the straight line between their homes was higher. He discussed the flow of the rivers that connect their homes, but gave the wrong answer to his question.
The postage stamp of one of today's mathematicians at THIS LINK was issued in 2003 .
The postage stamp of one of today's mathematicians at THIS LINK was issued in 2003 .
Click on Ⓟ for a poster.
Born:
- 1703: Augustin Hallerstein Ⓟ
- 1858: Giuseppe Peano Ⓟ
- 1923: Wim Cohen Ⓟ
- 1926: Kristen Nygaard Ⓟ
Died:
- 1898: John Hopkinson Ⓟ
- 1912: Mikhail Egorovich Vashchenko-Zakharchenko Ⓟ
- 1976: Wanda Szmielew Ⓟ
- 1987: Edwin Maxwell Ⓟ
- 1988: Max Black Ⓟ
- 1998: Gonzalo Pérez Iribarren Ⓟ
- 1999: Enzo Martinelli Ⓟ
- 2008: Masayoshi Nagata Ⓟ
Quotation of the day
From Max Black
... a result once generally accepted by mathematicians is seldom retracted, and then only with great pangs.
