Trivia about Famous Mathematicians

Date: 05/21/98 at 18:25:17
From: Abdi Nur
Subject: mathematicians

I have some questions about famous mathematicians:

 1) This European, who is famous as the prince of amateurs and for his    
    work on number theory, was a lawyer by profession. Who is it?

 2) Born on an island that is now part of Italy, this person 
    introduced exponents as a way to show multiplication. Who is it?

 3) A computer language is named in tribute to this British 
    mathematician, whose father was a famous poet. Who is it?

 4) The grandson of an indentured servant from England and the great- 
    grandson of an African chieftain, this person had his almanacs 
    published from 1791-1797. Who is it?

 5) This person wrote _Elements_ and was director of the Math
    Department at Alexandria. Who is it?

 6) The son of Bonacci, this person popularized the use of Hindu-
    Arabic numbers in Europe. Who is it?

 7) A philosopher often associated with planes, this mathematician was 
    so famous after his death that a politician kept the bones of his 
    right hand as a souvenir. Who is it?

 8) This Scandinavian, who proved no algebraic formula existed for the
    quintic equation, died of tuberculosis, requesting as a final wish 
    that his good friend marry his fiancee. Who is it?

 9) This 16th century mathematician, having predicted the day of his
    death, took poison to make sure it came true. Who is it?

10) In 1888, this Russian won the Prix Bordin, an annual competition
    sponsored by the Paris Academy of Sciences. She married simply to 
    get out of Russia, where women at that time could not attend 
    universities. Who is it?

11) This author of _How to Solve It_ started out as a language teacher 
    before moving to Zurich, Switzerland, where he took "random
    walks." Who is it?

12) This mathematician, who used the alias Monsieur LeBlanc, is known 
    for her work regarding vibrating elastic surfaces. Who is it?

13) His fellow Scotsmen knew him by his title, Baron of Murchistin, 
    but we know him as the person who introduced the use of the 
    decimal point. Who is it?

14) This French mathematician, who died at the age of 20 in a duel 
    over a woman, was twice jailed for his radical political 
    affiliations. Who is it?

15) Best known for adding up to the numbers 1 to 100 (and showing up a  
    mean teacher at the same time), this person was called "The Prince 
    of Mathematics" by the King of Hanover. Who is it?

16) This author of _The Mathematical Analysis of Logic_ was born into 
    lower-class family, allowing him only a common school education, 
    but he taught himself both Greek and Latin. Who is it?

17) This mathematician designed many things, included the first one-
    wheeled wheelbarrow, made to ease his father's workload, but his 
    most famous design is of the first calculating machine. Who is 
    it?

18) This mathematician was the head of the committee that decided to 
    set the length of a meter as one ten-millionth of the distance 
    between the North Pole and the equator. Who is it?

Thank you very much. I had 100 of these questions, and I could answer 
the rest of them. Thank you again, I appreciate it.

P.S. This is a great web site. Thank you, Doctor Math.

Date: 05/22/98 at 10:27:49
From: Doctor Wilkinson
Subject: Re: mathematicians

I'll answer the ones I know. You can ask again about the rest.

  1) Pierre de Fermat

  3) Ada, Countess of Lovelace (daughter of Byron)

  5) Euclid

  6) Leonardo of Pisa, known as Fibonacci

  7) Rene Descartes

  8) Niels Henrik Abel

 10) Sonya Kovaleskaya (Kovalevsky)

 11) George Polya

 13) Probably John Napier, but you should try to check this

 14) Evariste Galois

 15) Carl Friedrich Gauss

 16) George Boole

-Doctor Wilkinson, The Math Forum
Check out our web site! http://mathforum.org/dr.math/   

Date: 05/22/98 at 10:45:56
From: Doctor Wilkinson
Subject: Re: mathematicians

Here are a couple more answers for you:

 17) Blaise Pascal

 18) Pierre-Simon Laplace

-Doctor Wilkinson, The Math Forum
Check out our web site! http://mathforum.org/dr.math/