MacTutor
Mathematicians Of The Day
19th November
On this day in 1812 Jean Victor Poncelet was captured after being left for dead on the battlefield following the Battle of Krasnoi, near Smolensk, while with Napoleon's army retreating from Moscow. He profited from captivity (until his release in June 1814) by resuming his study of mathematics, and while in Russia he did important work on projective geometry.
Click on Ⓟ for a poster.
Born:
- 1855: John Steggall Ⓟ
- 1876: Tatiana Alexeyevna Afanassjewa Ⓟ
- 1894: Heinz Hopf Ⓟ
- 1900: Mikhail Alekseevich Lavrent'ev Ⓟ
- 1901: Nina Bari Ⓟ
- 1913: Göran Borg
- 1920: Udita Narayana Singh Ⓟ
Died:
- 1672: John Wilkins Ⓟ
- 1912: Wilhelm Fiedler Ⓟ
- 1918: Cristoforo Alasia Ⓟ
- 1949: Giulio Vivanti Ⓟ
- 1965: Robert Dunbar
- 2004: László Filep Ⓟ
Quotation of the day
From John Wilkins
It is an excellent rule to be observed in all disputes, that men should give soft words and hard arguments; that they should not so much strive to vex as to convince each other.
