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Henri Poincar

Henri Poincar
Henri Poincar

Jules Henri Poincar (18541912). Born 29 April 1854 Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France 17 July 1912 (aged58) Paris, France France French Mathematics and physics Corps des Mines Caen University La Sorbonne Bureau des Longitudes Lyce Nancy (later re-named as the Lyce Poincar) cole Polytechnique cole des Mines Charles Hermite Louis Bachelier Dimitrie Pompeiu Mihailo Petrovi

Died

Residence Nationality Fields Institutions

Alma mater

Doctoral advisor Doctoral students

Other notablestudents Tobias Dantzig Thophile de Donder

Henri Poincar

2
Knownfor Poincar conjecture Three-body problem Topology Special relativity PoincarHopf theorem Poincar duality PoincarBirkhoffWitt theorem Poincar inequality HilbertPoincar series Poincar metric Rotation number Coining term 'Betti number' Bifurcation theory Chaos theory Brouwer fixed-point theorem Sphere-world PoincarBendixson theorem PoincarLindstedt method Poincar recurrence theorem Lazarus Fuchs [1] Immanuel Kant Louis Rougier George David Birkhoff RAS Gold Medal (1900) Sylvester Medal (1901) Matteucci Medal (1905) Bolyai Prize (1905) Bruce Medal (1911) Signature

Influences

Influenced

Notable awards

Notes He was an uncle of Pierre Boutroux.

Jules Henri Poincar (French:[yl i pwkae];[2] 29 April 1854 17 July 1912) was a French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and a philosopher of science. He is often described as a polymath, and in mathematics as The Last Universalist, since he excelled in all fields of the discipline as it existed during his lifetime. As a mathematician and physicist, he made many original fundamental contributions to pure and applied mathematics, mathematical physics, and celestial mechanics. He was responsible for formulating the Poincar conjecture, which was one of the most famous unsolved problems in mathematics until it was solved in 20022003. In his research on the three-body problem, Poincar became the first person to discover a chaotic deterministic system which laid the foundations of modern chaos theory. He is also considered to be one of the founders of the field of topology. Poincar made clear the importance of paying attention to the invariance of laws of physics under different transformations, and was the first to present the Lorentz transformations in their modern symmetrical form. Poincar discovered the remaining relativistic velocity transformations and recorded them in a letter to Dutch physicist Hendrik Lorentz (18531928) in 1905. Thus he obtained perfect invariance of all of Maxwell's equations, an important step in the formulation of the theory of special relativity. The Poincar group used in physics and mathematics was named after him.

Henri Poincar

Life
Poincar was born on 29 April 1854 in Cit Ducale neighborhood, Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle into an influential family.[3] His father Leon Poincar (18281892) was a professor of medicine at the University of Nancy.[4] His adored younger sister Aline married the spiritual philosopher Emile Boutroux. Another notable member of Jules' family was his cousin, Raymond Poincar, who would become the President of France, 1913 to 1920, and a fellow member of the Acadmie franaise.[5] He was raised in the Roman Catholic faith. However, he rejected Christianity in later life and became an atheist.[6][7]

Education
During his childhood he was seriously ill for a time with diphtheria and received special instruction from his mother, Eugnie Launois (18301897). In 1862, Henri entered the Lyce in Nancy (now renamed the Lyce Henri Poincar in his honour, along with the University of Nancy). He spent eleven years at the Lyce and during this time he proved to be one of the top students in every topic he studied. He excelled in written composition. His mathematics teacher described him as a "monster of mathematics" and he won first prizes in the concours gnral, a competition between the top pupils from all the Lyces across France. His poorest subjects were music and physical education, where he was described as "average at best".[8] However, poor eyesight and a tendency towards absentmindedness may explain these difficulties.[9] He graduated from the Lyce in 1871 with a Bachelor's degree in letters and sciences. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, he served alongside his father in the Ambulance Corps. Poincar entered the cole Polytechnique in 1873. There he studied mathematics as a student of Charles Hermite, continuing to excel and publishing his first paper (Dmonstration nouvelle des proprits de l'indicatrice d'une surface) in 1874. He graduated in 1875 or 1876. He went on to study at the cole des Mines, continuing to study mathematics in addition to the mining engineering syllabus and received the degree of ordinary engineer in March 1879. As a graduate of the cole des Mines, he joined the Corps des Mines as an inspector for the Vesoul region in northeast France. He was on the scene of a mining disaster at Magny in August 1879 in which 18 miners died. He carried out the official investigation into the accident in a characteristically thorough and humane way. At the same time, Poincar was preparing for his doctorate in sciences in mathematics under the supervision of Charles Hermite. His doctoral thesis was in the field of differential equations. It was named Sur les proprits des fonctions dfinies par les quations diffrences. Poincar devised a new way of studying the properties of these equations. He not only faced the question of determining the integral of such equations, but also was the first person to study their general geometric properties. He realised that they could be used to model the behaviour of multiple bodies in free motion within the solar system. Poincar graduated from the University of Paris in 1879.

Henri Poincar

The first scientific achievements

After receiving his degree, Poincar began teaching at the University of Caen in Normandy (in December 1879). At the same time he published his first major article they are devoted to treatment with a class of automorphic functions. There, in Caen, he met his future wife, Louise Poulin d'Andesi (Louise Poulain d'Andecy) and on April 20, 1881, they held their wedding. They had a son and three daughters[10] Poincar immediately established himself among the greatest mathematicians of Europe, attracting the attention of many prominent mathematicians. In 1881 Poincar was invited to take a teaching position at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Paris; he accepted the invitation. During the years of 1883 to 1897, he taught mathematical analysis in cole Polytechnique.

The young Henri Poincar

In 18811882, Poincar created a new branch of mathematics: the qualitative theory of differential equations. He showed how it is possible to derive the most important information about the behavior of a family of solutions without having to solve the equation (since this may not always be possible). He successfully used this approach to problems in celestial mechanics and mathematical physics.

Career
Soon after, he was offered a post as junior lecturer in mathematics at Caen University, but he never fully abandoned his mining career to mathematics. He worked at the Ministry of Public Services as an engineer in charge of northern railway development from 1881 to 1885. He eventually became chief engineer of the Corps de Mines in 1893 and inspector general in 1910. Beginning in 1881 and for the rest of his career, he taught at the University of Paris (the Sorbonne). He was initially appointed as the matre de confrences d'analyse (associate professor of analysis).[11] Eventually, he held the chairs of Physical and Experimental Mechanics, Mathematical Physics and Theory of Probability, and Celestial Mechanics and Astronomy. Also in that same year, Poincar married Miss Poulain d'Andecy. Together they had four children: Jeanne (born 1887), Yvonne (born 1889), Henriette (born 1891), and Lon (born 1893). In 1887, at the young age of 32, Poincar was elected to the French Academy of Sciences. He became its president in 1906, and was elected to the Acadmie franaise in 1909. In 1887, he won Oscar II, King of Sweden's mathematical competition for a resolution of the three-body problem concerning the free motion of multiple orbiting bodies. (See #The three-body problem section below)

Henri Poincar

In 1893, Poincar joined the French Bureau des Longitudes, which engaged him in the synchronisation of time around the world. In 1897 Poincar backed an unsuccessful proposal for the decimalisation of circular measure, and hence time and longitude.[12] It was this post which led him to consider the question of establishing international time zones and the synchronisation of time between bodies in relative motion. (See #Work on relativity section below) In 1899, and again more successfully in 1904, he intervened in the trials of Alfred Dreyfus. He attacked the spurious scientific claims of some of the evidence brought against Dreyfus, who was a Jewish officer in the French army charged with treason by colleagues. In 1912, Poincar underwent surgery for a prostate problem and subsequently died from an embolism on 17 July 1912, in Paris. He was 58 years of age. He is buried in the Poincar family vault in the Cemetery of Montparnasse, Paris. A former French Minister of Education, Claude Allgre, has recently (2004) proposed that Poincar be reburied in the Panthon in Paris, which is reserved for French citizens only of the highest honour.[13] Students Poincar had two notable doctoral students at the University of Paris, Louis Bachelier (1900) and Dimitrie Pompeiu (1905).[14]

The Poincar family grave at the Cimetire du Montparnasse

Work
Summary
Poincar made many contributions to different fields of pure and applied mathematics such as: celestial mechanics, fluid mechanics, optics, electricity, telegraphy, capillarity, elasticity, thermodynamics, potential theory, quantum theory, theory of relativity and physical cosmology. He was also a populariser of mathematics and physics and wrote several books for the lay public. Among the specific topics he contributed to are the following: algebraic topology the theory of analytic functions of several complex variables the theory of abelian functions algebraic geometry Poincar was responsible for formulating one of the most famous problems in mathematics, the Poincar conjecture, proven in 2003 by Grigori Perelman. Poincar recurrence theorem hyperbolic geometry number theory the three-body problem the theory of diophantine equations the theory of electromagnetism the special theory of relativity In an 1894 paper, he introduced the concept of the fundamental group.

In the field of differential equations Poincar has given many results that are critical for the qualitative theory of differential equations, for example the Poincar sphere and the Poincar map.

Henri Poincar Poincar on "everybody's belief" in the Normal Law of Errors (see normal distribution for an account of that "law") Published an influential paper providing a novel mathematical argument in support of quantum mechanics.[15][]

The three-body problem

The problem of finding the general solution to the motion of more than two orbiting bodies in the solar system had eluded mathematicians since Newton's time. This was known originally as the three-body problem and later the n-body problem, where n is any number of more than two orbiting bodies. The n-body solution was considered very important and challenging at the close of the 19th century. Indeed in 1887, in honour of his 60th birthday, Oscar II, King of Sweden, advised by Gsta Mittag-Leffler, established a prize for anyone who could find the solution to the problem. The announcement was quite specific:

Given a system of arbitrarily many mass points that attract each according to Newton's law, under the assumption that no two points ever collide, try to find a representation of the coordinates of each point as a series in a variable that is some known function of time and for all of whose values the series converges uniformly.

In case the problem could not be solved, any other important contribution to classical mechanics would then be considered to be prizeworthy. The prize was finally awarded to Poincar, even though he did not solve the original problem. One of the judges, the distinguished Karl Weierstrass, said, "This work cannot indeed be considered as furnishing the complete solution of the question proposed, but that it is nevertheless of such importance that its publication will inaugurate a new era in the history of celestial mechanics." (The first version of his contribution even contained a serious error; for details see the article by Diacu[]). The version finally printed contained many important ideas which led to the theory of chaos. The problem as stated originally was finally solved by Karl F. Sundman for n=3 in 1912 and was generalised to the case of n>3 bodies by Qiudong Wang in the 1990s.

Work on relativity
Local time Poincar's work at the Bureau des Longitudes on establishing international time zones led him to consider how clocks at rest on the Earth, which would be moving at different speeds relative to absolute space (or the "luminiferous aether"), could be synchronised. At the same time Dutch theorist Hendrik Lorentz was developing Maxwell's theory into a theory of the motion of charged particles ("electrons" or "ions"), and their interaction with radiation. In 1895 Lorentz had introduced an auxiliary quantity (without physical interpretation) called [16] "local time" and introduced the hypothesis of

Marie Curie and Poincar talk at the 1911 Solvay Conference

length contraction to explain the failure of optical and electrical experiments to detect motion relative to the aether (see MichelsonMorley experiment).[17] Poincar was a constant interpreter (and sometimes friendly critic) of Lorentz's theory. Poincar as a philosopher was interested in the "deeper meaning". Thus he interpreted Lorentz's theory and in so doing he came up with many insights that are now associated with special relativity. In The Measure of Time (1898), Poincar said, " A little reflection is sufficient to understand that all these affirmations have by themselves no meaning. They can have one only as the result of a convention." He also argued that scientists have to set the constancy of the speed of light as a postulate to give physical theories the simplest form.[18] Based on these assumptions he discussed in 1900 Lorentz's "wonderful invention" of local time and remarked that it arose when moving clocks are synchronised by exchanging light signals assumed to travel with the same speed in both directions in a moving frame.[19]

Henri Poincar Principle of relativity and Lorentz transformations He discussed the "principle of relative motion" in two papers in 1900[19][20] and named it the principle of relativity in 1904, according to which no physical experiment can discriminate between a state of uniform motion and a state of rest.[] In 1905 Poincar wrote to Lorentz about Lorentz's paper of 1904, which Poincar described as a "paper of supreme importance." In this letter he pointed out an error Lorentz had made when he had applied his transformation to one of Maxwell's equations, that for charge-occupied space, and also questioned the time dilation factor given by Lorentz.[21] In a second letter to Lorentz, Poincar gave his own reason why Lorentz's time dilation factor was indeed correct after all: it was necessary to make the Lorentz transformation form a group and gave what is now known as the relativistic velocity-addition law.[22] Poincar later delivered a paper at the meeting of the Academy of Sciences in Paris on 5 June 1905 in which these issues were addressed. In the published version of that he wrote:[23]

The essential point, established by Lorentz, is that the equations of the electromagnetic field are not altered by a certain transformation (which I will call by the name of Lorentz) of the form:

and showed that the arbitrary function

must be unity for all

(Lorentz had set

by a different

argument) to make the transformations form a group. In an enlarged version of the paper that appeared in 1906 Poincar pointed out that the combination is invariant. He noted that a Lorentz transformation is merely a rotation in four-dimensional space about the origin by introducing imaginary coordinate, and he used an early form of four-vectors.
[24]

as a fourth

Poincar expressed a disinterest in a

four-dimensional reformulation of his new mechanics in 1907, because in his opinion the translation of physics into the language of four-dimensional geometry would entail too much effort for limited profit.[25] So it was Hermann Minkowski who worked out the consequences of this notion in 1907. Massenergy relation Like others before, Poincar (1900) discovered a relation between mass and electromagnetic energy. While studying the conflict between the action/reaction principle and Lorentz ether theory, he tried to determine whether the center of gravity still moves with a uniform velocity when electromagnetic fields are included.[19] He noticed that the action/reaction principle does not hold for matter alone, but that the electromagnetic field has its own momentum. Poincar concluded that the electromagnetic field energy of an electromagnetic wave behaves like a fictitious fluid ("fluide fictif") with a mass density of E/c2. If the center of mass frame is defined by both the mass of matter and the mass of the fictitious fluid, and if the fictitious fluid is indestructibleit's neither created or destroyedthen the motion of the center of mass frame remains uniform. But electromagnetic energy can be converted into other forms of energy. So Poincar assumed that there exists a non-electric energy fluid at each point of space, into which electromagnetic energy can be transformed and which also carries a mass proportional to the energy. In this way, the motion of the center of mass remains uniform. Poincar said that one should not be too surprised by these assumptions, since they are only mathematical fictions. However, Poincar's resolution led to a paradox when changing frames: if a Hertzian oscillator radiates in a certain direction, it will suffer a recoil from the inertia of the fictitious fluid. Poincar performed a Lorentz boost (to order v/c) to the frame of the moving source. He noted that energy conservation holds in both frames, but that the law of conservation of momentum is violated. This would allow perpetual motion, a notion which he abhorred. The laws of nature would have to be different in the frames of reference, and the relativity principle would not hold. Therefore he argued that also in this case there has to be another compensating mechanism in the ether. Poincar himself came back to this topic in his St. Louis lecture (1904).[] This time (and later also in 1908) he rejected[26] the possibility that energy carries mass and criticized the ether solution to compensate the above mentioned problems:

Henri Poincar The apparatus will recoil as if it were a cannon and the projected energy a ball, and that contradicts the principle of Newton, since our present projectile has no mass; it is not matter, it is energy. [..] Shall we say that the space which separates the oscillator from the receiver and which the disturbance must traverse in passing from one to the other, is not empty, but is filled not only with ether, but with air, or even in inter-planetary space with some subtile, yet ponderable fluid; that this matter receives the shock, as does the receiver, at the moment the energy reaches it, and recoils, when the disturbance leaves it? That would save Newton's principle, but it is not true. If the energy during its propagation remained always attached to some material substratum, this matter would carry the light along with it and Fizeau has shown, at least for the air, that there is nothing of the kind. Michelson and Morley have since confirmed this. We might also suppose that the motions of matter proper were exactly compensated by those of the ether; but that would lead us to the same considerations as those made a moment ago. The principle, if thus interpreted, could explain anything, since whatever the visible motions we could imagine hypothetical motions to compensate them. But if it can explain anything, it will allow us to foretell nothing; it will not allow us to choose between the various possible hypotheses, since it explains everything in advance. It therefore becomes useless. He also discussed two other unexplained effects: (1) non-conservation of mass implied by Lorentz's variable mass , Abraham's theory of variable mass and Kaufmann's experiments on the mass of fast moving electrons and (2) the non-conservation of energy in the radium experiments of Madame Curie. It was Albert Einstein's concept of massenergy equivalence (1905) that a body losing energy as radiation or heat was losing mass of amount m=E/c2 that resolved[27] Poincar's paradox, without using any compensating mechanism within the ether.[28] The Hertzian oscillator loses mass in the emission process, and momentum is conserved in any frame. However, concerning Poincar's solution of the Center of Gravity problem, Einstein noted that Poincar's formulation and his own from 1906 were mathematically equivalent.[29] Poincar and Einstein Einstein's first paper on relativity was published three months after Poincar's short paper,[23] but before Poincar's longer version.[24] Einstein relied on the principle of relativity to derive the Lorentz transformations and used a similar clock synchronisation procedure (Einstein synchronisation) to the one that Poincar (1900) had described, but Einstein's was remarkable in that it contained no references at all. Poincar never acknowledged Einstein's work on special relativity. Einstein acknowledged Poincar posthumously in the text of a lecture in 1921 called Geometrie und Erfahrung in connection with non-Euclidean geometry, but not in connection with special relativity. A few years before his death, Einstein commented on Poincar as being one of the pioneers of relativity, saying "Lorentz had already recognised that the transformation named after him is essential for the analysis of Maxwell's equations, and Poincar deepened this insight still further ...."[30]

Algebra and number theory

Poincar first introduced the group theory in physics, in particular, he first studied the group of Lorentz transformations. He also made major contributions to the theory of discrete groups and their representations. He applied the Poincare group a theoretical approach, which became a major tool in many future studies from topology to the theory of relativity. Poincar first introduced the group theory in physics, in particular, he first studied the group of Lorentz transformations.[31]

Henri Poincar

Topology
The subject is clearly defined by Felix Klein in his "Erlangen Program" (1872): the geometry invariants of arbitrary continuous transformation, a kind of geometry. The term "topology" was introduced, instead of previously used "Analysis situs". Some important concepts were introduced by Enrico Betti and Bernhard Riemann. But the foundation of this science, for a space of any dimension, was created by Poincare. His first article on this topic appeared in 1894.[32]

Topological transformation of the torus into a mug

His research in geometry led to the abstract topological definition of homotopy and homology. He also first introduced the basic concepts and invariants of combinatorial topology, such as Betti numbers and the fundamental group. Poincare proved a formula relating the number of edges, vertices and faces of n-dimensional polyhedron (the EulerPoincar theorem) and gave the first precise formulation of the intuitive notion of dimension.[33]

Astronomy and celestial mechanics

Poincare published two now classical monographs, "New Methods of Celestial Mechanics" (18921899) and "Lectures on Celestial Mechanics" (19051910). In them, he successfully applied the results of their research to the problem of the motion of three bodies and studied in detail the behavior of solutions (frequency, stability, asymptotic, and so on). They introduced the small parameter method, fixed points, integral invariants, variational equations, the convergence of the asymptotic expansions. Generalizing a theory of Bruns (1887), Poincar showed that the three-body problem is not integrable. In other words, the general solution of the three-body problem can not be expressed in terms of algebraic and transcendental functions through unambiguous coordinates and velocities of the bodies. His work in this area were the first major achievements in celestial mechanics since Isaac

chaotic motion in three-body problem (computer simulation)

Newton.[34] These include the idea of Poincar, who later became the base for mathematical "chaos theory" (see, in particular, the Poincare recurrence theorem) and the general theory of dynamical systems. Poincare authored important works on astronomy for the equilibrium figures gravitating rotating fluid. He introduced the important concept of bifurcation points, proved the existence of equilibrium figures of non-ellipsoid, including ring-shaped and pear-shaped figures, their stability. For this discovery, the Poincar received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1900).[35]

Differential equations and mathematical physics

After defending his doctoral thesis on the study of singular points of the system of differential equations, Poincar wrote a series of memoirs under the title "On curves defined by differential equations" (18811882). In these articles, he built a new branch of mathematics, called "qualitative theory of differential equations." Poincar showed that even if the differential equation can not be solved in terms of known functions, yet from the very form of the equation, a wealth of information about the properties and behavior of the solutions can be found. In particular, Poincar investigated the nature of the trajectories of the integral curves in the plane, gave a classification of singular points (saddle, focus, center, node), introduced the concept of a limit cycle and the loop index, and showed that the number of limit cycles is always finite, except for some special cases. Poincar also developed a general theory of integral invariants and solutions of the variational equations. For the finite-difference equations, he created a new

Henri Poincar direction the asymptotic analysis of the solutions. He applied all these achievements to study practical problems of mathematical physics and celestial mechanics, and the methods used were the basis of its topological works.[36][37]

10

The singular points of the integral curves

Saddle

Focus

Node

Assessments
Poincar's work in the development of special relativity is well recognised,[27] though most historians stress that despite many similarities with Einstein's work, the two had very different research agendas and interpretations of the work.[38] Poincar developed a similar physical interpretation of local time and noticed the connection to signal velocity, but contrary to Einstein he continued to use the ether-concept in his papers and argued that clocks in the ether show the "true" time, and moving clocks show the local time. So Poincar tried to keep the relativity principle in accordance with classical concepts, while Einstein developed a mathematically equivalent kinematics based on the new physical concepts of the relativity of space and time.[39][40][41][42][43] While this is the view of most historians, a minority go much further, such as E. T. Whittaker, who held that Poincar and Lorentz were the true discoverers of Relativity.[44]

Character

Henri Poincar

11

Poincar's work habits have been compared to a bee flying from flower to flower. Poincar was interested in the way his mind worked; he studied his habits and gave a talk about his observations in 1908 at the Institute of General Psychology in Paris. He linked his way of thinking to how he made several discoveries. The mathematician Darboux claimed he was un intuitif (intuitive), arguing that this is demonstrated by the fact that he worked so often by visual representation. He did not care about being rigorous and disliked logic. He believed that logic was not a way to invent but a way to structure ideas and that logic limits ideas.

Toulouse's characterisation
Poincar's mental organisation was not only interesting to Poincar himself but also to douard Toulouse, a psychologist of the Psychology Laboratory of the School of Higher Studies in Paris. Toulouse wrote a book entitled Henri Poincar (1910).[45][46] In it, he discussed Poincar's regular schedule:

Photographic portrait of H. Poincar by Henri Manuel

He worked during the same times each day in short periods of time. He undertook mathematical research for four hours a day, between 10 a.m. and noon then again from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.. He would read articles in journals later in the evening. His normal work habit was to solve a problem completely in his head, then commit the completed problem to paper. He was ambidextrous and nearsighted. His ability to visualise what he heard proved particularly useful when he attended lectures, since his eyesight was so poor that he could not see properly what the lecturer wrote on the blackboard. These abilities were offset to some extent by his shortcomings: He was physically clumsy and artistically inept. He was always in a rush and disliked going back for changes or corrections. He never spent a long time on a problem since he believed that the subconscious would continue working on the problem while he consciously worked on another problem. In addition, Toulouse stated that most mathematicians worked from principles already established while Poincar started from basic principles each time (O'Connor et al., 2002). His method of thinking is well summarised as: Habitu ngliger les dtails et ne regarder que les cimes, il passait de l'une l'autre avec une promptitude surprenante et les faits qu'il dcouvrait se groupant d'eux-mmes autour de leur centre taient instantanment et automatiquement classs dans sa mmoire. (Accustomed to neglecting details and to looking only at mountain tops, he went from one peak to another with surprising rapidity, and the facts he discovered, clustering around their center, were instantly and automatically pigeonholed in his memory.) Belliver (1956)

Henri Poincar

12

Attitude towards transfinite numbers

Poincar was dismayed by Georg Cantor's theory of transfinite numbers, and referred to it as a "disease" from which mathematics would eventually be cured.[47] Poincar said, "There is no actual infinite; the Cantorians have forgotten this, and that is why they have fallen into contradiction."[48]

Honours
Awards Oscar II, King of Sweden's mathematical competition (1887) American Philosophical Society 1899 Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society of London (1900) Bolyai Prize in 1905 Matteucci Medal 1905 French Academy of Sciences 1906 Acadmie franaise 1909 Bruce Medal (1911)

Named after him Institut Henri Poincar (mathematics and theoretical physics center) Poincar Prize (Mathematical Physics International Prize) Annales Henri Poincar (Scientific Journal) Poincar Seminar (nicknamed "Bourbaphy") The crater Poincar on the Moon Asteroid 2021 Poincar

Philosophy
Poincar had philosophical views opposite to those of Bertrand Russell and Gottlob Frege, who believed that mathematics was a branch of logic. Poincar strongly disagreed, claiming that intuition was the life of mathematics. Poincar gives an interesting point of view in his book Science and Hypothesis: For a superficial observer, scientific truth is beyond the possibility of doubt; the logic of science is infallible, and if the scientists are sometimes mistaken, this is only from their mistaking its rule. Poincar believed that arithmetic is a synthetic science. He argued that Peano's axioms cannot be proven non-circularly with the principle of induction (Murzi, 1998), therefore concluding that arithmetic is a priori synthetic and not analytic. Poincar then went on to say that mathematics cannot be deduced from logic since it is not analytic. His views were similar to those of Immanuel Kant (Kolak, 2001, Folina 1992). He strongly opposed Cantorian set theory, objecting to its use of impredicative definitions. However, Poincar did not share Kantian views in all branches of philosophy and mathematics. For example, in geometry, Poincar believed that the structure of non-Euclidean space can be known analytically. Poincar held that convention plays an important role in physics. His view (and some later, more extreme versions of it) came to be known as "conventionalism". Poincar believed that Newton's first law was not empirical but is a conventional framework assumption for mechanics. He also believed that the geometry of physical space is conventional. He considered examples in which either the geometry of the physical fields or gradients of temperature can be changed, either describing a space as non-Euclidean measured by rigid rulers, or as a Euclidean space where the rulers are expanded or shrunk by a variable heat distribution. However, Poincar thought that we were so accustomed to Euclidean geometry that we would prefer to change the physical laws to save Euclidean geometry rather than shift to a non-Euclidean physical geometry.[49]

Henri Poincar

13

Free will
Poincar's famous lectures before the Socit de Psychologie in Paris (published as Science and Hypothesis, The Value of Science, and Science and Method) were cited by Jacques Hadamard as the source for the idea that creativity and invention consist of two mental stages, first random combinations of possible solutions to a problem, followed by a critical evaluation.[50] Although he most often spoke of a deterministic universe, Poincar said that the subconscious generation of new possibilities involves chance. It is certain that the combinations which present themselves to the mind in a kind of sudden illumination after a somewhat prolonged period of unconscious work are generally useful and fruitful combinations... all the combinations are formed as a result of the automatic action of the subliminal ego, but those only which are interesting find their way into the field of consciousness... A few only are harmonious, and consequently at once useful and beautiful, and they will be capable of affecting the geometrician's special sensibility I have been speaking of; which, once aroused, will direct our attention upon them, and will thus give them the opportunity of becoming conscious... In the subliminal ego, on the contrary, there reigns what I would call liberty, if one could give this name to the mere absence of discipline and to disorder born of chance.[51] Poincar's two stagesrandom combinations followed by selectionbecame the basis for Daniel Dennett's two-stage model of free will.[52]

References
This article incorporates material from Jules Henri Poincar on PlanetMath, which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

Footnotes and primary sources

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] "Poincars Philosophy of Mathematics" (http:/ / www. iep. utm. edu/ poi-math/ #H3): entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Poincar pronunciation examples at Forvo (http:/ / www. forvo. com/ word/ poincar/ ) Belliver, 1956 Sagaret, 1911 The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http:/ / www. utm. edu/ research/ iep/ p/ poincare. htm) Jules Henri Poincar article by Mauro Murzi Retrieved November 2006. [8] O'Connor et al., 2002 [9] Carl, 1968 [10] D. Stillwell, Mathematics and its history. pages = 432435 [11] Sageret, 1911 [12] see Galison 2003 [13] Lorentz, Poincar et Einstein (http:/ / www. lexpress. fr/ idees/ tribunes/ dossier/ allegre/ dossier. asp?ida=430274) [14] Mathematics Genealogy Project (http:/ / www. genealogy. ams. org/ id. php?id=34227) North Dakota State University. Retrieved April 2008. [16] , Section A5a, p 37 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=amLqckyrvUwC& pg=PA37) [19] . See also the English translation (http:/ / www. physicsinsights. org/ poincare-1900. pdf) [20] . Reprinted in "Science and Hypothesis", Ch. 910. [21] Letter from Poincar to Lorentz, Mai 1905 (http:/ / www. univ-nancy2. fr/ poincare/ chp/ text/ lorentz3. xml) [22] Letter from Poincar to Lorentz, Mai 1905 (http:/ / www. univ-nancy2. fr/ poincare/ chp/ text/ lorentz4. xml) [23] (Wikisource translation) [24] (Wikisource translation) [25] Walter (2007), Secondary sources on relativity [26] Miller 1981, Secondary sources on relativity [27] Darrigol 2005, Secondary sources on relativity [28] . See also English translation (http:/ / www. fourmilab. ch/ etexts/ einstein/ specrel/ www). [30] Darrigol 2004, Secondary sources on relativity [31] Poincare, Selected works in three volumes. page = 682

Henri Poincar
[32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] [47] [48] [49] [50] [51] [52] D. Stillwell, Mathematics and its history. pages = 419435 PS Aleksandrov, Poincare and topology. pages = 2781 D. Stillwell, Mathematics and its history. pages = 434 A. Kozenko, The theory of planetary figures, pages = 2526 Kolmogorov, AP Yushkevich, Mathematics of the 19th century Vol = 3. page = 283 ISBN 978-3764358457 Kolmogorov, AP Yushkevich, Mathematics of the 19th century. pages = 162174 Galison 2003 and Kragh 1999, Secondary sources on relativity Holton (1988), 196206 Hentschel (1990), 313 Miller (1981), 216217 Darrigol (2005), 1518 Katzir (2005), 286288 Whittaker 1953, Secondary sources on relativity Toulouse, E.,1910. Henri Poincar http:/ / books. google. com. mx/ books/ about/ Henri_Poincar%C3%A9_par_le_Dr_Toulouse. html?id=mpjWPQAACAAJ Dauben 1979, p. 266. , p 190 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=v4tBTBlU05sC& pg=PA190) , Extract of page 50 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=2QXqHaVbkgoC& pg=PA50#v=onepage& q& f=false) Hadamard, Jacques. An Essay On The Psychology Of Invention In The Mathematical Field. Princeton Univ Press (1949) Science and Method, Chapter 3, Mathematical Discovery, 1914, pp.58 Dennett, Daniel C. 1978. Brainstorms: Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology. The MIT Press, p.293

14

Poincar's writings in English translation

Popular writings on the philosophy of science: Poincar, Henri (19021908), The Foundations of Science (http://www.archive.org/details/ foundationsscie01poingoog), New York: Science Press; reprinted in 1921 (http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp. 39015010300351); This book includes the English translations of Science and Hypothesis (1902), The Value of Science (1905), Science and Method (1908). 1904. Science and Hypothesis, (http://www.archive.org/stream/sciencehypothesi00poin#page/n5/mode/2up) The Walter Scott Publishing Co. 1913. "The New Mechanics," (http://www.archive.org/stream/monistquart23hegeuoft#page/384/mode/2up) The Monist, Vol. XXIII. 1913. "The Relativity of Space," (http://www.archive.org/stream/monistquart23hegeuoft#page/160/mode/ 2up) The Monist, Vol. XXIII. 1913. Last Essays. (http://www.archive.org/details/mathematicsandsc001861mbp), New York: Dover reprint, 1963 1956. Chance. (http://www.unz.org/Pub/NewmanJames-1957v02-01380) In James R. Newman, ed., The World of Mathematics (4 Vols). 1958. The Value of Science, (http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015002454455) New York: Dover. On algebraic topology: 1895. Analysis Situs (http://www.maths.ed.ac.uk/~aar/papers/poincare2009.pdf). The first systematic study of topology. On celestial mechanics: 189299. New Methods of Celestial Mechanics, 3 vols. English trans., 1967. ISBN 1-56396-117-2. 1905. "The Capture Hypothesis of J. J. See," (http://www.archive.org/stream/monistquart22hegeuoft#page/ 460/mode/2up) The Monist, Vol. XV. 190510. Lessons of Celestial Mechanics. On the philosophy of mathematics: Ewald, William B., ed., 1996. From Kant to Hilbert: A Source Book in the Foundations of Mathematics, 2 vols. Oxford Univ. Press. Contains the following works by Poincar:

Henri Poincar 1894, "On the Nature of Mathematical Reasoning," 97281. 1898, "On the Foundations of Geometry," 9821011. 1900, "Intuition and Logic in Mathematics," 101220. 190506, "Mathematics and Logic, IIII," 102170. 1910, "On Transfinite Numbers," 107174. 1905. "The Principles of Mathematical Physics," (http://www.archive.org/stream/monist18instgoog#page/ n18/mode/2up) The Monist, Vol. XV. 1910. " The Future of Mathematics (http://archive.org/stream/monist09instgoog#page/n86/mode/2up)," The Monist, Vol. XX. 1910. " Mathematical Creation (http://archive.org/stream/monist09instgoog#page/n316/mode/2up)," The Monist, Vol. XX. Other: 1904. Maxwell's Theory and Wireless Telegraphy, (http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015021725596) New York, McGraw Publishing Company. 1905. "The New Logics," (http://www.archive.org/stream/monistquart22hegeuoft#page/242/mode/2up) The Monist, Vol. XV. 1905. "The Latest Efforts of the Logisticians," (http://www.archive.org/stream/monistquart22hegeuoft#page/ 524/mode/2up) The Monist, Vol. XV.

15

General references
Bell, Eric Temple, 1986. Men of Mathematics (reissue edition). Touchstone Books. ISBN 0-671-62818-6. Belliver, Andr, 1956. Henri Poincar ou la vocation souveraine. Paris: Gallimard. Bernstein, Peter L, 1996. "Against the Gods: A Remarkable Story of Risk". (p.199200). John Wiley & Sons. Boyer, B. Carl, 1968. A History of Mathematics: Henri Poincar, John Wiley & Sons. Grattan-Guinness, Ivor, 2000. The Search for Mathematical Roots 18701940. Princeton Uni. Press. Dauben, Joseph (1993, 2004), "Georg Cantor and the Battle for Transfinite Set Theory" (http://www. acmsonline.org/journal/2004/Dauben-Cantor.pdf), Proceedings of the 9th ACMS Conference (Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA), pp.122. Internet version published in Journal of the ACMS 2004. Folina, Janet, 1992. Poincare and the Philosophy of Mathematics. Macmillan, New York. Gray, Jeremy, 1986. Linear differential equations and group theory from Riemann to Poincar, Birkhauser Jean Mawhin (October 2005), "Henri Poincar. A Life in the Service of Science" (http://www.ams.org/notices/ 200509/comm-mawhin.pdf) (PDF), Notices of the AMS 52 (9): 10361044 Kolak, Daniel, 2001. Lovers of Wisdom, 2nd ed. Wadsworth. Murzi, 1998. "Henri Poincar" (http://www.iep.utm.edu/p/poincare.htm). O'Connor, J. John, and Robertson, F. Edmund, 2002, "Jules Henri Poincar" (http://www-history.mcs. st-andrews.ac.uk/Mathematicians/Poincare.html). University of St. Andrews, Scotland. Peterson, Ivars, 1995. Newton's Clock: Chaos in the Solar System (reissue edition). W H Freeman & Co. ISBN 0-7167-2724-2. Sageret, Jules, 1911. Henri Poincar. Paris: Mercure de France. Toulouse, E.,1910. Henri Poincar (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/ text-idx?c=umhistmath;idno=AAS9989.0001.001).(Source biography in French) at University of Michigan Historic Math Collection.

Henri Poincar

16

Secondary sources to work on relativity

Cuvaj, Camillo (1969), "Henri Poincar's Mathematical Contributions to Relativity and the Poincar Stresses", American Journal of Physics 36 (12): 11021113, Bibcode: 1968AmJPh..36.1102C (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/ abs/1968AmJPh..36.1102C), doi: 10.1119/1.1974373 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.1974373) Darrigol, O. (1995), "Henri Poincar's criticism of Fin De Sicle electrodynamics", Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 26 (1): 144, doi: 10.1016/1355-2198(95)00003-C (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ 1355-2198(95)00003-C) Darrigol, O. (2000), Electrodynamics from Ampre to Einstein, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ISBN0-19-850594-9 Darrigol, O. (2004), "The Mystery of the EinsteinPoincar Connection" (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/ doi/full/10.1086/430652), Isis 95 (4): 614626, doi: 10.1086/430652 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/430652), PMID 16011297 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16011297) Darrigol, O. (2005), "The Genesis of the theory of relativity" (http://www.bourbaphy.fr/darrigol2.pdf) (PDF), Sminaire Poincar 1: 122 Galison, P. (2003), Einstein's Clocks, Poincar's Maps: Empires of Time, New York: W.W. Norton, ISBN0-393-32604-7 Giannetto, E. (1998), "The Rise of Special Relativity: Henri Poincar's Works Before Einstein", Atti del XVIII congresso di storia della fisica e dell'astronomia: 171207 Giedymin, J. (1982), Science and Convention: Essays on Henri Poincar's Philosophy of Science and the Conventionalist Tradition, Oxford: Pergamon Press, ISBN0-08-025790-9 Goldberg, S. (1967), "Henri Poincar and Einstein's Theory of Relativity", American Journal of Physics 35 (10): 934944, Bibcode: 1967AmJPh..35..934G (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1967AmJPh..35..934G), doi: 10.1119/1.1973643 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.1973643) Goldberg, S. (1970), "Poincar's silence and Einstein's relativity", British journal for the history of science 5: 7384, doi: 10.1017/S0007087400010633 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0007087400010633) Holton, G. (1973/1988), "Poincar and Relativity", Thematic Origins of Scientific Thought: Kepler to Einstein, Harvard University Press, ISBN0-674-87747-0 Katzir, S. (2005), "Poincar's Relativistic Physics: Its Origins and Nature", Phys. Perspect. 7 (3): 268292, Bibcode: 2005PhP.....7..268K (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005PhP.....7..268K), doi: 10.1007/s00016-004-0234-y (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00016-004-0234-y) Keswani, G.H., Kilmister, C.W. (1983), "Intimations Of Relativity: Relativity Before Einstein" (http://osiris. sunderland.ac.uk/webedit/allweb/news/Philosophy_of_Science/PIRT2002/Intimations of Relativity.doc), Brit. J. Phil. Sci. 34 (4): 343354, doi: 10.1093/bjps/34.4.343 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bjps/34.4.343) Kragh, H. (1999), Quantum Generations: A History of Physics in the Twentieth Century, Princeton University Press, ISBN0-691-09552-3 Langevin, P. (1913), "L'uvre d'Henri Poincar: le physicien" (http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k111418/ f93.chemindefer), Revue de mtaphysique et de morale 21: 703 Macrossan, M. N. (1986), "A Note on Relativity Before Einstein" (http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view. php?pid=UQ:9560), Brit. J. Phil. Sci. 37: 232234 Miller, A.I. (1973), "A study of Henri Poincar's "Sur la Dynamique de l'Electron", Arch. Hist. Exact. Scis. 10 (35): 207328, doi: 10.1007/BF00412332 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00412332) Miller, A.I. (1981), Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity. Emergence (1905) and early interpretation (19051911), Reading: AddisonWesley, ISBN0-201-04679-2 Miller, A.I. (1996), "Why did Poincar not formulate special relativity in 1905?", in Jean-Louis Greffe, Gerhard Heinzmann, Kuno Lorenz, Henri Poincar : science et philosophie, Berlin, pp.69100 Schwartz, H. M. (1971), "Poincar's Rendiconti Paper on Relativity. Part I", American Journal of Physics 39 (7): 12871294, Bibcode: 1971AmJPh..39.1287S (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1971AmJPh..39.1287S), doi: 10.1119/1.1976641 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.1976641)

Henri Poincar Schwartz, H. M. (1972), "Poincar's Rendiconti Paper on Relativity. Part II", American Journal of Physics 40 (6): 862872, Bibcode: 1972AmJPh..40..862S (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1972AmJPh..40..862S), doi: 10.1119/1.1986684 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.1986684) Schwartz, H. M. (1972), "Poincar's Rendiconti Paper on Relativity. Part III", American Journal of Physics 40 (9): 12821287, Bibcode: 1972AmJPh..40.1282S (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1972AmJPh..40.1282S), doi: 10.1119/1.1986815 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.1986815) Scribner, C. (1964), "Henri Poincar and the principle of relativity", American Journal of Physics 32 (9): 672678, Bibcode: 1964AmJPh..32..672S (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1964AmJPh..32..672S), doi: 10.1119/1.1970936 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.1970936) Walter, S. (2005), "Henri Poincar and the theory of relativity" (http://www.univ-nancy2.fr/DepPhilo/walter/ papers/hpeinstein2005.htm), in Renn, J., Albert Einstein, Chief Engineer of the Universe: 100 Authors for Einstein (Berlin: Wiley-VCH): 162165 Walter, S. (2007), "Breaking in the 4-vectors: the four-dimensional movement in gravitation, 19051910" (http:// www.univ-nancy2.fr/DepPhilo/walter/), in Renn, J., The Genesis of General Relativity (Berlin: Springer) 3: 193252 Zahar, E. (2001), Poincare's Philosophy: From Conventionalism to Phenomenology, Chicago: Open Court Pub Co, ISBN0-8126-9435-X Non-mainstream Keswani, G.H., (1965), "Origin and Concept of Relativity, Part I", Brit. J. Phil. Sci. 15 (60): 286306, doi: 10.1093/bjps/XV.60.286 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bjps/XV.60.286) Keswani, G.H., (1965), "Origin and Concept of Relativity, Part II", Brit. J. Phil. Sci. 16 (61): 1932, doi: 10.1093/bjps/XVI.61.19 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bjps/XVI.61.19) Keswani, G.H., (11966), "Origin and Concept of Relativity, Part III", Brit. J. Phil. Sci. 16 (64): 273294, doi: 10.1093/bjps/XVI.64.273 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bjps/XVI.64.273) Leveugle, J. (2004), La Relativit et Einstein, Planck, HilbertHistoire vridique de la Thorie de la Relativitn, Pars: L'Harmattan Logunov, A.A. (2004), Henri Poincar and relativity theory, Moscow: Nauka, arXiv: physics/0408077 (http:// arxiv.org/abs/physics/0408077), Bibcode: 2004physics...8077L (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2004physics. ..8077L), ISBN5-02-033964-4 Whittaker, E.T. (1953), "The Relativity Theory of Poincar and Lorentz", A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity: The Modern Theories 19001926, London: Nelson

17

External links
Works by Henri Poincar (http://www.gutenberg.org/author/Henri+Poincar) at Project Gutenberg Free audio download of Poincar's Science and Hypothesis (http://librivox.org/ science-and-hypothesis-by-henri-poincare/), from LibriVox. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: " Henri Poincare (http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/p/poincare. htm)"by Mauro Murzi. Henri Poincar (http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=34227) at the Mathematics Genealogy Project Henri Poincar on Information Philosopher (http://www.informationphilosopher.com/solutions/scientists/ poincare/) O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Henri Poincar" (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Biographies/Poincare.html), MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews. A timeline of Poincar's life (http://www.univ-nancy2.fr/ACERHP/documents/kronowww.html) University of Nancy (in French).

Henri Poincar Bruce Medal page (http://phys-astro.sonoma.edu/brucemedalists/Poincare/index.html) Collins, Graham P., " Henri Poincar, His Conjecture, Copacabana and Higher Dimensions, (http://www.sciam. com/print_version.cfm?articleID=0003848D-1C61-10C7-9C6183414B7F0000)" Scientific American, 9 June 2004. BBC In Our Time, " Discussion of the Poincar conjecture, (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/ inourtime.shtml)" 2 November 2006, hosted by Melvynn Bragg. See Internet Archive (http://web.archive.org/ web/*/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime.shtml) Poincare Contemplates Copernicus (http://www.mathpages.com/home/kmath305/kmath305.htm) at MathPages High Anxieties The Mathematics of Chaos (http://www.youtube.com/user/ thedebtgeneration?feature=mhum#p/u/8/5pKrKdNclYs0) (2008) BBC documentary directed by David Malone looking at the influence of Poincar's discoveries on 20th Century mathematics.
Cultural offices Precededby Sully Prudhomme Seat 24 Acadmie franaise 19081912 Succeededby Alfred Capus

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Pierre-Simon Laplace

19

Pierre-Simon Laplace
Pierre-Simon Laplace

Pierre-Simon Laplace (17491827). Posthumous portrait by Madame Feytaud, 1842. Born 23 March 1749 Beaumont-en-Auge, Normandy, France 5 March 1827 (aged77) Paris, France French Astronomer and Mathematician cole Militaire (17691776) University of Caen Jean d'Alembert Christophe Gadbled Pierre Le Canu Simon Denis Poisson

Died

Nationality Fields Institutions Alma mater Academic advisors

Doctoral students Knownfor

Signature

Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace (/lpls/; French:[pj sim laplas]; 23 March 1749 5 March 1827) was a French mathematician and astronomer whose work was pivotal to the development of mathematical astronomy and statistics. He summarized and extended the work of his predecessors in his five-volume Mcanique Cleste (Celestial Mechanics) (17991825). This work translated the geometric study of classical mechanics to one based on calculus, opening up a broader range of problems. In statistics, the Bayesian interpretation of probability was developed mainly by Laplace.[1] Laplace formulated Laplace's equation, and pioneered the Laplace transform which appears in many branches of mathematical physics, a field that he took a leading role in forming. The Laplacian differential operator, widely used in mathematics, is also named after him. He restated and developed the nebular hypothesis of the origin of the solar system and was one of the first scientists to postulate the existence of black holes and the notion of gravitational

Pierre-Simon Laplace collapse. Laplace is remembered as one of the greatest scientists of all time. Sometimes referred to as the French Newton or Newton of France, he possessed a phenomenal natural mathematical faculty superior to that of any of his contemporaries.[2] Laplace became a count of the First French Empire in 1806 and was named a marquis in 1817, after the Bourbon Restoration.

20

Early years
Many details of the life of Laplace were lost when the family chteau burned in 1925.[3] Laplace was born in Beaumont-en-Auge, Normandy in 1749. According to W. W. Rouse Ball,[4] he was the son of a small cottager or perhaps a farm-laborer, and owed his education to the interest excited in some wealthy neighbors by his abilities and engaging presence. Very little is known of his early years. It would seem that from a pupil he became an usher in the school at Beaumont; but, having procured a letter of introduction to d'Alembert, he went to Paris to advance his fortune. However, Karl Pearson[3] is scathing about the inaccuracies in Rouse Ball's account and states: Indeed Caen was probably in Laplace's day the most intellectually active of all the towns of Normandy. It was here that Laplace was educated and was provisionally a professor. It was here he wrote his first paper published in the Mlanges of the Royal Society of Turin, Tome iv. 17661769, at least two years before he went at 22 or 23 to Paris in 1771. Thus before he was 20 he was in touch with Lagrange in Turin. He did not go to Paris a raw self-taught country lad with only a peasant background! In 1765 at the age of sixteen Laplace left the "School of the Duke of Orleans" in Beaumont and went to the University of Caen, where he appears to have studied for five years. The 'cole Militaire' of Beaumont did not replace the old school until 1776. His parents were from comfortable families. His father was Pierre Laplace, and his mother was Marie-Anne Sochon. The Laplace family was involved in agriculture until at least 1750, but Pierre Laplace senior was also a cider merchant and syndic of the town of Beaumont. Pierre Simon Laplace attended a school in the village run at a Benedictine priory, his father intending that he be ordained in the Roman Catholic Church. At sixteen, to further his father's intention, he was sent to the University of Caen to read theology.[5] At the university, he was mentored by two enthusiastic teachers of mathematics, Christophe Gadbled and Pierre Le Canu, who awoke his zeal for the subject. Laplace did not graduate in theology but left for Paris with a letter of introduction from Le Canu to Jean le Rond d'Alembert.[5] According to his great-great-grandson,[3] d'Alembert received him rather poorly, and to get rid of him gave him a thick mathematics book, saying to come back when he had read it. When Laplace came back a few days later, d'Alembert was even less friendly and did not hide his opinion that it was impossible that Laplace could have read and understood the book. But upon questioning him, he realized that it was true, and from that time he took Laplace under his care. Another version is that Laplace solved overnight a problem that d'Alembert set him for submission the following week, then solved a harder problem the following night. D'Alembert was impressed and recommended him for a teaching place in the cole Militaire.[6] With a secure income and undemanding teaching, Laplace now threw himself into original research and in the next seventeen years, 17711787, he produced much of his original work in astronomy.[7] Laplace further impressed the Marquis de Condorcet, and already in 1771 Laplace felt that he was entitled to membership of the French Academy of Sciences. However, in that year, admission went to Alexandre-Thophile Vandermonde and in 1772 to Jacques Antoine Joseph Cousin. Laplace was disgruntled, and at the beginning of 1773, d'Alembert wrote to Lagrange in Berlin to ask if a position could be found for Laplace there. However, Condorcet became permanent secretary of the Acadmie in February and Laplace was elected associate member on

Pierre-Simon Laplace 31March, at age24.[8] On 15 March 1788,[9][3] at the age of thirty-nine, Laplace married Marie-Charlotte de Courty de Romanges, a pretty eighteen-and-a-half-year-old girl from a good family in Besanon.[10] The wedding was celebrated at Saint-Sulpice, Paris. The couple had a son, Charles-mile (17891874), and a daughter, Sophie-Suzanne (17921813).[11][12]

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Analysis, probability and astronomical stability

Laplace's early published work in 1771 started with differential equations and finite differences but he was already starting to think about the mathematical and philosophical concepts of probability and statistics.[13] However, before his election to the Acadmie in 1773, he had already drafted two papers that would establish his reputation. The first, Mmoire sur la probabilit des causes par les vnements was ultimately published in 1774 while the second paper, published in 1776, further elaborated his statistical thinking and also began his systematic work on celestial mechanics and the stability of the solar system. The two disciplines would always be interlinked in his mind. "Laplace took probability as an instrument for repairing defects in knowledge."[14] Laplace's work on probability and statistics is discussed below with his mature work on the analytic theory of probabilities.

Stability of the solar system

Sir Isaac Newton had published his Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687 in which he gave a derivation of Kepler's laws, which describe the motion of the planets, from his laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation. However, though Newton had privately developed the methods of calculus, all his published work used cumbersome geometric reasoning, unsuitable to account for the more subtle higher-order effects of interactions between the planets. Newton himself had doubted the possibility of a mathematical solution to the whole, even concluding that periodic divine intervention was necessary to guarantee the stability of the solar system. Dispensing with the hypothesis of divine intervention would be a major activity of Laplace's scientific life.[15] It is now generally regarded that Laplace's methods on their own, though vital to the development of the theory, are not sufficiently precise to demonstrate the stability of the Solar System,[16] and indeed, the Solar System is now understood to be chaotic, although it actually appears to be fairly stable. One particular problem from observational astronomy was the apparent instability whereby Jupiter's orbit appeared to be shrinking while that of Saturn was expanding. The problem had been tackled by Leonhard Euler in 1748 and Joseph Louis Lagrange in 1763 but without success.[17] In 1776, Laplace published a memoir in which he first explored the possible influences of a purported luminiferous ether or of a law of gravitation that did not act instantaneously. He ultimately returned to an intellectual investment in Newtonian gravity.[18] Euler and Lagrange had made a practical approximation by ignoring small terms in the equations of motion. Laplace noted that though the terms themselves were small, when integrated over time they could become important. Laplace carried his analysis into the higher-order terms, up to and including the cubic. Using this more exact analysis, Laplace concluded that any two planets and the sun must be in mutual equilibrium and thereby launched his work on the stability of the solar system.[19] Gerald James Whitrow described the achievement as "the most important advance in physical astronomy since Newton".[15] Laplace had a wide knowledge of all sciences and dominated all discussions in the Acadmie.[20] Laplace seems to have regarded analysis merely as a means of attacking physical problems, though the ability with which he invented the necessary analysis is almost phenomenal. As long as his results were true he took but little trouble to explain the steps by which he arrived at them; he never studied elegance or symmetry in his processes, and it was sufficient for him if he could by any means solve the particular question he was discussing.[7]

Pierre-Simon Laplace

22

On the figure of the Earth

During the years 17841787 he published some memoirs of exceptional power. Prominent among these is one read in 1783, reprinted as Part II of Thorie du Mouvement et de la figure elliptique des plantes in 1784, and in the third volume of the Mcanique cleste. In this work, Laplace completely determined the attraction of a spheroid on a particle outside it. This is memorable for the introduction into analysis of spherical harmonics or Laplace's coefficients, and also for the development of the use of what we would now call the gravitational potential in celestial mechanics.

Spherical harmonics
In 1783, in a paper sent to the Acadmie, Adrien-Marie Legendre had introduced what are now known as associated Legendre functions.[7] If two points in a plane have polar co-ordinates (r, ) and (r ', '), where r ' r, then, by elementary manipulation, the reciprocal of the distance between the points, d, can be written as:

This expression can be expanded in powers of r/r ' using Newton's generalised binomial theorem to give:

Spherical harmonics.

The sequence of functions P0k(cos) is the set of so-called "associated Legendre functions" and their usefulness arises from the fact that every function of the points on a circle can be expanded as a series of them.[7] Laplace, with scant regard for credit to Legendre, made the non-trivial extension of the result to three dimensions to yield a more general set of functions, the spherical harmonics or Laplace coefficients. The latter term is not in common use now .[7]

Potential theory
This paper is also remarkable for the development of the idea of the scalar potential.[7] The gravitational force acting on a body is, in modern language, a vector, having magnitude and direction. A potential function is a scalar function that defines how the vectors will behave. A scalar function is computationally and conceptually easier to deal with than a vector function. Alexis Clairaut had first suggested the idea in 1743 while working on a similar problem though he was using Newtonian-type geometric reasoning. Laplace described Clairaut's work as being "in the class of the most beautiful mathematical productions".[21] However, Rouse Ball alleges that the idea "was appropriated from Joseph Louis Lagrange, who had used it in his memoirs of 1773, 1777 and 1780".[7] The term "potential" itself was due to Daniel Bernoulli, who introduced it in his 1738 memoire Hydrodynamica. However, according to Rouse Ball, the term "potential function" was not actually used (to refer to a function V of the coordinates of space in Laplace's sense) until George Green's 1828 An Essay on the Application of Mathematical Analysis to the Theories of Electricity and Magnetism.[22][23] Laplace applied the language of calculus to the potential function and showed that it always satisfies the differential equation:[7]

Pierre-Simon Laplace An analogous result for the velocity potential of a fluid had been obtained some years previously by Leonard Euler.[24][25] Laplace's subsequent work on gravitational attraction was based on this result. The quantity 2V has been termed the concentration of V and its value at any point indicates the "excess" of the value of V there over its mean value in the neighbourhood of the point. Laplace's equation, a special case of Poisson's equation, appears ubiquitously in mathematical physics. The concept of a potential occurs in fluid dynamics, electromagnetism and other areas. Rouse Ball speculated that it might be seen as "the outward sign" of one of the a priori forms in Kant's theory of perception.[7] The spherical harmonics turn out to be critical to practical solutions of Laplace's equation. Laplace's equation in spherical coordinates, such as are used for mapping the sky, can be simplified, using the method of separation of variables into a radial part, depending solely on distance from the centre point, and an angular or spherical part. The solution to the spherical part of the equation can be expressed as a series of Laplace's spherical harmonics, simplifying practical computation.

23

Planetary and lunar inequalities

JupiterSaturn great inequality
Laplace presented a memoir on planetary inequalities in three sections, in 1784, 1785, and 1786. This dealt mainly with the identification and explanation of the perturbations now known as the "great JupiterSaturn inequality". Laplace solved a longstanding problem in the study and prediction of the movements of these planets. He showed by general considerations, first, that the mutual action of two planets could never cause large changes in the eccentricities and inclinations of their orbits; but then, even more importantly, that peculiarities arose in the JupiterSaturn system because of the near approach to commensurability of the mean motions of Jupiter and Saturn. In this context commensurability means that the ratio of the two planets' mean motions is very nearly equal to a ratio of some pair small whole numbers. Two periods of Saturn's orbit around the Sun almost equal five of Jupiter's. The corresponding difference between multiples of the mean motions, (2nJ 5nS), corresponds to a period of nearly 900years, and it occurs as a small divisor in the integration of a very small perturbing force with this same period. As a result, the integrated perturbations with this period are disproportionately large, about 0.8 degrees of arc in orbital longitude for Saturn and about 0.3 for Jupiter. Further developments of these theorems on planetary motion were given in his two memoirs of 1788 and 1789, but with the aid of Laplace's discoveries, the tables of the motions of Jupiter and Saturn could at last be made much more accurate. It was on the basis of Laplace's theory that Delambre computed his astronomical tables.[7]

Lunar inequalities
Laplace also produced an analytical solution (as it turned out later, a partial solution), to a significant problem regarding the motion of the Moon. Edmond Halley had been the first to suggest, in 1695,[26] that the mean motion of the Moon was apparently getting faster, by comparison with ancient eclipse observations, but he gave no data. It was not yet known in Halley's or Laplace's times that what is actually occurring includes a slowing down of the Earth's rate of rotation: see also Ephemeris time History. When measured as a function of mean solar time rather than uniform time, the effect appears as a positive acceleration. In 1749, Richard Dunthorne confirmed Halley's suspicion after re-examining ancient records, and produced the first quantitative estimate for the size of this apparent effect:[27] a rate of +10" (arcseconds) per century in lunar longitude, which was a surprisingly good result for its time and not far different from values assessed later, e.g. in 1786 by de Lalande,[28] and to compare with values from about 10" to nearly 13" being derived about century later.[29][30] The effect became known as the secular acceleration of the Moon, but until Laplace, its cause remained unknown.

Pierre-Simon Laplace Laplace gave an explanation of the effect in 1787, showing how an acceleration arises from changes (a secular reduction) in the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit, which in turn is one of the effects of planetary perturbations on the Earth. Laplace's initial computation accounted for the whole effect, thus seeming to tie up the theory neatly with both modern and ancient observations. However, in 1853, J. C. Adams caused the question to be re-opened by finding an error in Laplace's computations: it turned out that only about half of the Moon's apparent acceleration could be accounted for on Laplace's basis by the change in the Earth's orbital eccentricity.[31] Adams showed that Laplace had in effect considered only the radial force on the moon and not the tangential, and the partial result thus had overestimated the acceleration; when the remaining (negative) terms were accounted for, it showed that Laplace's cause could only explain about half of the acceleration. The other half was subsequently shown to be due to tidal acceleration.[32] Laplace used his results concerning the lunar acceleration when completing his attempted "proof" of the stability of the whole solar system on the assumption that it consists of a collection of rigid bodies moving in a vacuum.[7] All the memoirs above alluded to were presented to the Acadmie des sciences, and they are printed in the Mmoires prsents par divers savants.[7]

24

Celestial mechanics

Classical mechanics

History Timeline

Laplace now set himself the task to write a work which should "offer a complete solution of the great mechanical problem presented by the solar system, and bring theory to coincide so closely with observation that empirical equations should no longer find a place in astronomical tables." The result is embodied in the Exposition du systme du monde and the Mcanique cleste.[7] The former was published in 1796, and gives a general explanation of the phenomena, but omits all details. It contains a summary of the history of astronomy. This summary procured for its author the honour of admission to the forty of the French Academy and is commonly esteemed one of the masterpieces of French literature, though it is not altogether reliable for the later periods of which it treats.[7] Laplace developed the nebular hypothesis of the formation of the solar system, first suggested by Emanuel Swedenborg and expanded by Immanuel Kant, a hypothesis that continues to dominate accounts of the origin of planetary systems. According to Laplace's description of the hypothesis, the solar system had evolved from a globular mass of incandescent gas rotating around an axis through its centre of mass. As it cooled, this mass contracted, and successive rings broke off from its outer edge. These rings in their turn cooled, and finally condensed into the planets, while the sun represented the central core which was still left. On this view, Laplace predicted that the more distant planets would be older than those nearer the sun.[7][33] As mentioned, the idea of the nebular hypothesis had been outlined by Immanuel Kant in 1755,[33] and he had also suggested "meteoric aggregations" and tidal friction as causes affecting the formation of the solar system. Laplace was probably aware of this, but, like many writers of his time, he generally did not reference the work of others.[3] Laplace's analytical discussion of the solar system is given in his Mchanique cleste published in five volumes. The first two volumes, published in 1799, contain methods for calculating the motions of the planets, determining their figures, and resolving tidal problems. The third and fourth volumes, published in 1802 and 1805, contain applications of these methods, and several astronomical tables. The fifth volume, published in 1825, is mainly historical, but it gives as appendices the results of Laplace's latest researches. Laplace's own investigations embodied in it are so numerous and valuable that it is regrettable to have to add that many results are appropriated from other

Pierre-Simon Laplace writers with scanty or no acknowledgement, and the conclusions which have been described as the organized result of a century of patient toil are frequently mentioned as if they were due to Laplace.[7] Jean-Baptiste Biot, who assisted Laplace in revising it for the press, says that Laplace himself was frequently unable to recover the details in the chain of reasoning, and, if satisfied that the conclusions were correct, he was content to insert the constantly recurring formula, "Il est ais voir que..." ("It is easy to see that..."). The Mcanique cleste is not only the translation of Newton's Principia into the language of the differential calculus, but it completes parts of which Newton had been unable to fill in the details. The work was carried forward in a more finely tuned form in Flix Tisserand's Trait de mcanique cleste (18891896), but Laplace's treatise will always remain a standard authority.[7]

25

Black holes
Laplace also came close to propounding the concept of the black hole. He pointed out that there could be massive stars whose gravity is so great that not even light could escape from their surface (see escape velocity).[34] Laplace also speculated that some of the nebulae revealed by telescopes might not be part of the Milky Way but rather galaxies themselves.[citation needed] Thus, he anticipated Edwin Hubble's major discovery 100 years in advance.

Arcueil
In 1806, Laplace bought a house in Arcueil, then a village and not yet absorbed into the Paris conurbation. Claude Louis Berthollet was a neighbourtheir gardens were not separated[35]and the pair formed the nucleus of an informal scientific circle, latterly known as the Society of Arcueil. Because of their closeness to Napoleon, Laplace and Berthollet effectively controlled advancement in the scientific establishment and admission to the more prestigious offices. The Society built up a complex pyramid of patronage.[36] In 1806, Laplace was also elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Laplace's house at Arcueil.

Analytic theory of probabilities

In 1812, Laplace issued his Thorie analytique des probabilits in which he laid down many fundamental results in statistics. The first half of this treatise was concerned with probability methods and problems, the second half with statistical methods and applications. Laplace's proofs are not always rigorous according to the standards of a later day, and his perspective slides back and forth between the Bayesian and non-Bayesian views with an ease that makes some of his investigations difficult to follow, but his conclusions remain basically sound even in those few situations where his analysis goes astray.[37] In 1819, he published a popular account of his work on probability. This book bears the same relation to the Thorie des probabilits that the Systme du monde does to the Mchanique cleste.[7]

Pierre-Simon Laplace

26

Inductive probability
While he conducted much research in physics, another major theme of his life's endeavours was probability theory. In his Essai philosophique sur les probabilits (1814), Laplace set out a mathematical system of inductive reasoning based on probability, which we would today recognise as Bayesian. He begins the text with a series of principles of probability, the first six being: 1. Probability is the ratio of the "favored events" to the total possible events. 2. The first principle assumes equal probabilities for all events. When this is not true, we must first determine the probabilities of each event. Then, the probability is the sum of the probabilities of all possible favored events. 3. For independent events, the probability of the occurrence of all is the probability of each multiplied together. 4. For events not independent, the probability of event B following event A (or event A causing B) is the probability of A multiplied by the probability that A and B both occur. 5. The probability that A will occur, given that B has occurred, is the probability of A and B occurring divided by the probability ofB. 6. Three corollaries are given for the sixth principle, which amount to Bayesian probability. Where event Ai {A1, A2, ...An} exhausts the list of possible causes for event B, Pr(B) = Pr(A1, A2, ...An). Then

One well-known formula arising from his system is the rule of succession, given as principle seven. Suppose that some trial has only two possible outcomes, labeled "success" and "failure". Under the assumption that little or nothing is known a priori about the relative plausibilities of the outcomes, Laplace derived a formula for the probability that the next trial will be a success.

where s is the number of previously observed successes and n is the total number of observed trials. It is still used as an estimator for the probability of an event if we know the event space, but have only a small number of samples. The rule of succession has been subject to much criticism, partly due to the example which Laplace chose to illustrate it. He calculated that the probability that the sun will rise tomorrow, given that it has never failed to in the past, was

where d is the number of times the sun has risen in the past. This result has been derided as absurd, and some authors have concluded that all applications of the Rule of Succession are absurd by extension. However, Laplace was fully aware of the absurdity of the result; immediately following the example, he wrote, "But this number [i.e., the probability that the sun will rise tomorrow] is far greater for him who, seeing in the totality of phenomena the principle regulating the days and seasons, realizes that nothing at the present moment can arrest the course of it."[38]

Probability-generating function
The method of estimating the ratio of the number of favorable cases to the whole number of possible cases had been previously indicated by Laplace in a paper written in 1779. It consists of treating the successive values of any function as the coefficients in the expansion of another function, with reference to a different variable. The latter is therefore called the probability-generating function of the former. Laplace then shows how, by means of interpolation, these coefficients may be determined from the generating function. Next he attacks the converse problem, and from the coefficients he finds the generating function; this is effected by the solution of a finite difference equation.[7]

Pierre-Simon Laplace

27

Least squares and central limit theorem

The fourth chapter of this treatise includes an exposition of the method of least squares, a remarkable testimony to Laplace's command over the processes of analysis. In 1805 Legendre had published the method of least squares, making no attempt to tie it to the theory of probability. In 1809 Gauss had derived the normal distribution from the principle that the arithmetic mean of observations gives the most probable value for the quantity measured; then, turning this argument back upon itself, he showed that, if the errors of observation are normally distributed, the least squares estimates give the most probable values for the coefficients in regression situations. These two works seem to have spurred Laplace to complete work toward a treatise on probability he had contemplated as early as 1783.[37] In two important papers in 1810 and 1811, Laplace first developed the characteristic function as a tool for large-sample theory and proved the first general central limit theorem. Then in a supplement to his 1810 paper written after he had seen Gauss's work, he showed that the central limit theorem provided a Bayesian justification for least squares: if one were combining observations, each one of which was itself the mean of a large number of independent observations, then the least squares estimates would not only maximize the likelihood function, considered as a posterior distribution, but also minimize the expected posterior error, all this without any assumption as to the error distribution or a circular appeal to the principle of the arithmetic mean.[37] In 1811 Laplace took a different non-Bayesian tack. Considering a linear regression problem, he restricted his attention to linear unbiased estimators of the linear coefficients. After showing that members of this class were approximately normally distributed if the number of observations was large, he argued that least squares provided the "best" linear estimators. Here "best" in the sense that they minimized the asymptotic variance and thus both minimized the expected absolute value of the error, and maximized the probability that the estimate would lie in any symmetric interval about the unknown coefficient, no matter what the error distribution. His derivation included the joint limiting distribution of the least squares estimators of two parameters.[37]

Laplace's demon
In 1814, Laplace published what is usually known as the first articulation of causal or scientific determinism:[] We may regard the present state of the universe as the effect of its past and the cause of its future. An intellect which at a certain moment would know all forces that set nature in motion, and all positions of all items of which nature is composed, if this intellect were also vast enough to submit these data to analysis, it would embrace in a single formula the movements of the greatest bodies of the universe and those of the tiniest atom; for such an intellect nothing would be uncertain and the future just like the past would be present before its eyes. Pierre Simon Laplace, A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities[39] This intellect is often referred to as Laplace's demon (in the same vein as Maxwell's demon) and sometimes Laplace's Superman (after Hans Reichenbach). Laplace, himself, did not use the word "demon", which was a later embellishment. As translated into English above, he simply referred to: "Une intelligence... Rien ne serait incertain pour elle, et l'avenir comme le pass, serait prsent ses yeux." Even though Laplace is known as the first to express such ideas about causal determinism, his view is very similar to the one proposed by Boscovich as early as 1763 in his book Theoria philosophiae naturalis.[40]

Pierre-Simon Laplace

28

Laplace transforms
As early as 1744, Euler, followed by Lagrange, had started looking for solutions of differential equations in the form:[41]

In 1785, Laplace took the key forward step in using integrals of this form in order to transform a whole difference equation, rather than simply as a form for the solution, and found that the transformed equation was easier to solve than the original.[42][43]

Other discoveries and accomplishments

Mathematics
Amongst the other discoveries of Laplace in pure and applied mathematics are: Discussion, contemporaneously with Alexandre-Thophile Vandermonde, of the general theory of determinants, (1772);[7] Proof that every equation of an even degree must have at least one real quadratic factor;[7] Laplace's method for approximating integrals Solution of the linear partial differential equation of the second order;[7] He was the first to consider the difficult problems involved in equations of mixed differences, and to prove that the solution of an equation in finite differences of the first degree and the second order might always be obtained in the form of a continued fraction;[7] and In his theory of probabilities: de Moivre-Laplace theorem that approximates binomial distribution with a normal distribution Evaluation of several common definite integrals;[7] and General proof of the Lagrange reversion theorem.[7]

Surface tension
Laplace built upon the qualitative work of Thomas Young to develop the theory of capillary action and the YoungLaplace equation.

Speed of sound
Laplace in 1816 was the first to point out that the speed of sound in air depends on the heat capacity ratio. Newton's original theory gave too low a value, because it does not take account of the adiabatic compression of the air which results in a local rise in temperature and pressure. Laplace's investigations in practical physics were confined to those carried on by him jointly with Lavoisier in the years 1782 to 1784 on the specific heat of various bodies.[7]

Politics
Minister of the Interior
In his early years Laplace was careful never to become involved in politics, or indeed in life outside the Acadmie des sciences. He prudently withdrew from Paris during the most violent part of the Revolution.[44] In November 1799, immediately after seizing power in the coup of 18 Brumaire, Napoleon appointed Laplace to the post of Minister of the Interior. The appointment, however, lasted only six weeks, after which Lucien, Napoleon's brother, was given the post. Evidently, once Napoleon's grip on power was secure, there was no need for a prestigious but inexperienced scientist in the government.[45] Napoleon later (in his Mmoires de Sainte Hlne)

Pierre-Simon Laplace wrote of Laplace's dismissal as follows:[7] Gomtre de premier rang, Laplace ne tarda pas se montrer administrateur plus que mdiocre; ds son premier travail nous reconnmes que nous nous tions tromp. Laplace ne saisissait aucune question sous son vritable point de vue: il cherchait des subtilits partout, n'avait que des ides problmatiques, et portait enfin l'esprit des `infiniment petits' jusque dans l'administration. (Geometrician of the first rank, Laplace was not long in showing himself a worse than average administrator; from his first actions in office we recognized our mistake. Laplace did not consider any question from the right angle: he sought subtleties everywhere, conceived only problems, and finally carried the spirit of "infinitesimals" into the administration.) Grattan-Guinness, however, describes these remarks as "tendentious", since there seems to be no doubt that Laplace "was only appointed as a short-term figurehead, a place-holder while Napoleon consolidated power".[45]

29

From Bonaparte to the Bourbons

Although Laplace was removed from office, it was desirable to retain his allegiance. He was accordingly raised to the senate, and to the third volume of the Mcanique cleste he prefixed a note that of all the truths therein contained the most precious to the author was the declaration he thus made of his devotion towards the peacemaker of Europe. In copies sold after the Bourbon Restoration this was struck out. (Pearson points out that the censor would not have allowed it anyway.) In 1814 it was evident that the empire was falling; Laplace hastened to tender his services to the Bourbons, and in 1817 during the Restoration he was rewarded with the title of marquis. According to Rouse Ball, the contempt that his more honest colleagues felt for his conduct in the matter may be read in the pages of Paul Louis Courier. His knowledge was useful on the numerous scientific commissions on which he served, and, says Rouse Ball, probably accounts for the manner in which his political insincerity was overlooked.[7]
Laplace.

Roger Hahn disputes this portrayal of Laplace as an opportunist and turncoat, pointing out that, like many in France, he had followed the debacle of Napoleon's Russian campaign with serious misgivings. The Laplaces, whose only daughter Sophie had died in childbirth in September 1813, were in fear for the safety of their son mile, who was on the eastern front with the emperor. Napoleon had originally come to power promising stability, but it was clear that he had overextended himself, putting the nation at peril. It was at this point that Laplace's loyalty began to weaken. Although he still had easy access to Napoleon, his personal relations with the emperor cooled considerably. As a grieving father, he was particularly cut to the quick by Napoleon's insensitivity in an exchange related by Jean-Antoine Chaptal: "On his return from the rout in Leipzig, he [Napoleon] accosted Mr Laplace: 'Oh! I see that you have grown thinSire, I have lost my daughterOh! that's not a reason for losing weight. You are a mathematician; put this event in an equation, and you will find that it adds up to zero.'"[46]

Political philosophy
In the second edition (1814) of the Essai philosophique, Laplace added some revealing comments on politics and governance. Since it is, he says, "the practice of the eternal principles of reason, justice and humanity that produce and preserve societies, there is a great advantage to adhere to these principles, and a great inadvisability to deviate from them".[47][48] Noting "the depths of misery into which peoples have been cast" when ambitious leaders disregard these principles, Laplace makes a veiled criticism of Napoleon's conduct: "Every time a great power intoxicated by the love of conquest aspires to universal domination, the sense of liberty among the unjustly threatened nations breeds a coalition to which it always succumbs." Laplace argues that "in the midst of the multiple causes that direct and restrain various states, natural limits" operate, within which it is "important for the stability as

Pierre-Simon Laplace well as the prosperity of empires to remain". States that transgress these limits cannot avoid being "reverted" to them, "just as is the case when the waters of the seas whose floor has been lifted by violent tempests sink back to their level by the action of gravity".[49][50] About the political upheavals he had witnessed, Laplace formulated a set of principles derived from physics to favor evolutionary over revolutionary change: Let us apply to the political and moral sciences the method founded upon observation and calculation, which has served us so well in the natural sciences. Let us not offer fruitless and often injurious resistance to the inevitable benefits derived from the progress of enlightenment; but let us change our institutions and the usages that we have for a long time adopted only with extreme caution. We know from past experience the drawbacks they can cause, but we are unaware of the extent of ills that change may produce. In the face of this ignorance, the theory of probability instructs us to avoid all change, especially to avoid sudden changes which in the moral as well as the physical world never occur without a considerable loss of vital force.[51] In these lines, Laplace expressed the views he had arrived at after experiencing the Revolution and the Empire. He believed that the stability of nature, as revealed through scientific findings, provided the model that best helped to preserve the human species. "Such views," Hahn comments, "were also of a piece with his steadfast character."[50] Laplace died in Paris in 1827. His brain was removed by his physician, Franois Magendie, and kept for many years, eventually being displayed in a roving anatomical museum in Britain. It was reportedly smaller than the average brain.[3]

30

Religious opinions
I had no need of that hypothesis
A frequently cited but apocryphal interaction between Laplace and Napoleon purportedly concerns the existence of God. A typical version is provided by Rouse Ball:[7] Laplace went in state to Napoleon to present a copy of his work, and the following account of the interview is well authenticated, and so characteristic of all the parties concerned that I quote it in full. Someone had told Napoleon that the book contained no mention of the name of God; Napoleon, who was fond of putting embarrassing questions, received it with the remark, 'M. Laplace, they tell me you have written this large book on the system of the universe, and have never even mentioned its Creator.' Laplace, who, though the most supple of politicians, was as stiff as a martyr on every point of his philosophy, drew himself up and answered bluntly, Je n'avais pas besoin de cette hypothse-l. ("I had no need of that hypothesis.") Napoleon, greatly amused, told this reply to Lagrange, who exclaimed, Ah! c'est une belle hypothse; a explique beaucoup de choses. ("Ah, it is a fine hypothesis; it explains many things.") In 1884, however, the astronomer Herv Faye[52][53] affirmed that this account of Laplace's exchange with Napoleon presented a "strangely transformed" (trangement transforme) or garbled version of what had actually happened. It was not God that Laplace had treated as a hypothesis, but merely his intervention at a determinate point: In fact Laplace never said that. Here, I believe, is what truly happened. Newton, believing that the secular perturbations which he had sketched out in his theory would in the long run end up destroying the solar system, says somewhere that God was obliged to intervene from time to time to remedy the evil and somehow keep the system working properly. This, however, was a pure supposition suggested to Newton by an incomplete view of the conditions of the stability of our little world. Science was not yet advanced enough at that time to bring these conditions into full view. But Laplace, who had discovered them by a deep analysis, would have replied to the First Consul that Newton had wrongly invoked the intervention of God to adjust from time to time the machine of the world (la machine du monde) and that he, Laplace, had no need of such an assumption. It was not God, therefore, that Laplace treated as a hypothesis, but his intervention in a certain

Pierre-Simon Laplace place. Laplace's younger colleague, the astronomer Franois Arago, who gave his eulogy before the French Academy in 1827,[54] told Faye that the garbled version of Laplace's interaction with Napoleon was already in circulation towards the end of Laplace's life. Faye writes:[52][53] I have it on the authority of M. Arago that Laplace, warned shortly before his death that that anecdote was about to be published in a biographical collection, had requested him [Arago] to demand its deletion by the publisher. It was necessary to either explain or delete it, and the second way was the easiest. But, unfortunately, it was neither deleted nor explained. The Swiss-American historian of mathematics Florian Cajori appears to have been unaware of Faye's research, but in 1893 he came to a similar conclusion.[55] Stephen Hawking said in 1999,[] "I don't think that Laplace was claiming that God does not exist. It's just that he doesn't intervene, to break the laws of Science." The only eyewitness account of Laplace's interaction with Napoleon is an entry in the diary of the British astronomer Sir William Herschel. Since this makes no mention of Laplace saying, "I had no need of that hypothesis," Daniel Johnson[56] argues that "Laplace never used the words attributed to him." Arago's testimony, however, appears to imply that he did, only not in reference to the existence of God.

31

Views on God
Born a Catholic, Laplace appears for most of his life to have veered between deism (presumably his considered position, since it is the only one found in his writings) and atheism. Faye thought that Laplace "did not profess atheism",[52] but Napoleon, on Saint Helena, told General Gaspard Gourgaud, "I often asked Laplace what he thought of God. He owned that he was an atheist."[57] Roger Hahn, in his biography of Laplace, mentions a dinner party at which "the geologist Jean-tienne Guettard was staggered by Laplace's bold denunciation of the existence of God". It appeared to Guettard that Laplace's atheism "was supported by a thoroughgoing materialism".[58] But the chemist Jean-Baptiste Dumas, who knew Laplace well in the 1820s, wrote that Laplace "gave materialists their specious arguments, without sharing their convictions".[59][60] Hahn states: "Nowhere in his writings, either public or private, does Laplace deny God's existence."[61] Expressions occur in his private letters that appear inconsistent with atheism.[2] On 17 June 1809, for instance, he wrote to his son, "Je prie Dieu qu'il veille sur tes jours. Aie-Le toujours prsent ta pense, ainsi que ton pre et ta mre [I pray that God watches over your days. Let Him be always present to your mind, as also your father and your mother]."[53][62] Ian S. Glass, quoting Herschel's account of the celebrated exchange with Napoleon, writes that Laplace was "evidently a deist like Herschel".[63] In Exposition du systme du monde, Laplace quotes Newton's assertion that "the wondrous disposition of the Sun, the planets and the comets, can only be the work of an all-powerful and intelligent Being".[64] This, says Laplace, is a "thought in which he [Newton] would be even more confirmed, if he had known what we have shown, namely that the conditions of the arrangement of the planets and their satellites are precisely those which ensure its stability".[65] By showing that the "remarkable" arrangement of the planets could be entirely explained by the laws of motion, Laplace had eliminated the need for the "supreme intelligence" to intervene, as Newton had "made" it do.[66] Laplace cites with approval Leibniz's criticism of Newton's invocation of divine intervention to restore order to the solar system: "This is to have very narrow ideas about the wisdom and the power of God."[67] He evidently shared Leibniz's astonishment at Newton's belief "that God has made his machine so badly that unless he affects it by some extraordinary means, the watch will very soon cease to go".[68] In a group of manuscripts, preserved in relative secrecy in a black envelope in the library of the Acadmie des sciences and published for the first time by Hahn, Laplace mounted a deist critique of Christianity. It is, he writes, the "first and most infallible of principles ... to reject miraculous facts as untrue".[69] As for the doctrine of transubstantiation, it "offends at the same time reason, experience, the testimony of all our senses, the eternal laws of

Pierre-Simon Laplace nature, and the sublime ideas that we ought to form of the Supreme Being". It is the sheerest absurdity to suppose that "the sovereign lawgiver of the universe would suspend the laws that he has established, and which he seems to have maintained invariably".[70] In old age, Laplace remained curious about the question of God[71] and frequently discussed Christianity with the Swiss astronomer Jean-Frdric-Thodore Maurice.[72] He told Maurice that "Christianity is quite a beautiful thing" and praised its civilizing influence. Maurice thought that the basis of Laplace's beliefs was, little by little, being modified, but that he held fast to his conviction that the invariability of the laws of nature did not permit of supernatural events.[71] After Laplace's death, Poisson told Maurice, "You know that I do not share your [religious] opinions, but my conscience forces me to recount something that will surely please you." When Poisson had complimented Laplace about his "brilliant discoveries", the dying man had fixed him with a pensive look and replied, "Ah! we chase after phantoms [chimres]."[73] These were his last words, interpreted by Maurice as a realization of the ultimate "vanity" of earthly pursuits.[74] Laplace received the last rites from the cur of the Missions trangres (in whose parish he was to be buried)[60] and the cur of Arcueil.[74] However, according to his biographer, Roger Hahn, since it is "not credible" that Laplace "had a proper Catholic end", the "last rights" (sic) were ineffective and he "remained a skeptic" to the very end of his life.[75] Laplace in his last years has been described as an agnostic.[76][77][78]

32

Excommunication of a comet
In 1470 the humanist scholar Bartolomeo Platina wrote[79] that Pope Callixtus III had asked for prayers for deliverance from the Turks during a 1456 appearance of Halley's Comet. Platina's account does not accord with Church records, which do not mention the comet. Laplace is alleged to have embellished the story by claiming the Pope had "excommunicated" Halley's comet.[80] What Laplace actually said, in Exposition du systme du monde (1796), was that the Pope had ordered the comet to be "exorcized" (conjur). It was Arago, in Des Comtes en gnral (1832), who first spoke of an excommunication. Neither the exorcism nor the excommunication can be regarded as anything but pure fiction.[81][82][83]

Honors
The asteroid 4628 Laplace is named for Laplace.[84] Laplace is one of only seventy-two persons to have his name engraved on the Eiffel Tower. The tentative working name of the European Space Agency Europa Jupiter System Mission is the "Laplace" space probe.

Quotes
I had no need of that hypothesis. ("Je n'avais pas besoin de cette hypothse-l", allegedly as a reply to Napoleon, who had asked why he hadn't mentioned God in his book on astronomy.)[7] It is therefore obvious that ... (Frequently used in the Celestial Mechanics when he had proved something and mislaid the proof, or found it clumsy. Notorious as a signal for something true, but hard to prove.) "We are so far from knowing all the agents of nature and their diverse modes of action that it would not be philosophical to deny phenomena solely because they are inexplicable in the actual state of our knowledge. But we ought to examine them with an attention all the more scrupulous as it appears more difficult to admit them."[85] This is restated in Theodore Flournoy's work From India to the Planet Mars as the Principle of Laplace or, "The weight of the evidence should be proportioned to the strangeness of the facts."[86] Most often repeated as "The weight of evidence for an extraordinary claim must be proportioned to its strangeness."

Pierre-Simon Laplace This simplicity of ratios will not appear astonishing if we consider that all the effects of nature are only mathematical results of a small number of immutable laws.[87] What we know is little, and what we are ignorant of is immense. (Fourier comments: "This was at least the meaning of his last words, which were articulated with difficulty.")[35]

33

In popular culture
In Kamen Rider Fourze the Libra Horoscopes develops an ability called "The eye of Laplace" In Mega Man Star Force 3 Solo gains a wizard named Laplace. The idea of the Laplace Demon has been cited several times in Japanese pop culture: In the Super Robot Wars serial, Elemental Lord of the Wind Cybuster is said to be equipped with the Laplace Demon which can alter the Laws of Probabilities. In Gundam UC, the titular machine, the Gundam Unicorn, has the La+ (Laplus; Laplace) operative system, which is the key to obtain the Box of Laplacea repository of secret information whose possession could change the course of the world.

References
[1] Stigler, Stephen M. (1986). The History of Statistics: The Measurement of Uncertainty before 1900. Harvard University Press, Chapter 3. [2] [Anon.] (1911) " Pierre Simon, Marquis De Laplace (http:/ / www. 1911encyclopedia. org/ Pierre_Simon,_Marquis_De_Laplace)", Encyclopaedia Britannica [3] "Laplace, being Extracts from Lectures delivered by Karl Pearson", Biometrika, vol. 21, December 1929, pp. 202216. [4] W. W. Rouse Ball A Short Account of the History of Mathematics, 4th edition, 1908. [5] *, accessed 25 August 2007 [6] Gillispie (1997), pp. 34 [7] Rouse Ball (1908) [8] Gillispie (1997), p. 5 [9] Hahn (2005), p. 99. However, Gillispie (1997), p. 67, gives the month of the marriage as May. [10] Hahn (2005), pp. 99100 [11] Gillispie (1997), p. 67 [12] Hahn (2005), p. 101 [13] Gillispie (1989), pp. 712 [14] Gillispie (1989). pp. 1415 [15] Whitrow (2001) [17] Whittaker (1949b) [18] Gillispie (1989). pp. 2935 [19] Gillispie (1989), pp. 3536 [20] School of Mathematics and Statistics (http:/ / www-history. mcs. st-andrews. ac. uk/ Biographies/ Laplace. html), University of St Andrews, Scotland. [22] W. W. Rouse Ball A Short Account of the History of Mathematics (4th edition, 1908) (http:/ / www. maths. tcd. ie/ pub/ HistMath/ People/ Clairaut/ RouseBall/ RB_Clairaut. html) [26] Halley, Edmond (1695), "Some Account of the Ancient State of the City of Palmyra, with Short Remarks upon the Inscriptions Found there" (http:/ / rstl. royalsocietypublishing. org/ content/ 19/ 215-235/ 160. full. pdf), Phil. Trans., vol.19 (16951697), pages 160175; esp. at pages 174175. [27] Dunthorne, Richard (1749), "A Letter from the Rev. Mr. Richard Dunthorne to the Reverend Mr. Richard Mason F. R. S. and Keeper of the WoodWardian Museum at Cambridge, concerning the Acceleration of the Moon" (http:/ / rstl. royalsocietypublishing. org/ content/ 46/ 491-496/ 162. full. pdf), Philosophical Transactions (16831775), Vol. 46 (17491750) #492, pp. 162172; also given in Philosophical Transactions (abridgements) (1809), vol.9 (for 174449), p669675 (http:/ / www. archive. org/ stream/ philosophicaltra09royarich#page/ 669/ mode/ 2up) as "On the Acceleration of the Moon, by the Rev. Richard Dunthorne". [28] de Lalande, Jrme (1786), "Sur les equations seculaires du soleil et de la lune" (http:/ / www. academie-sciences. fr/ membres/ in_memoriam/ Lalande/ Lalande_pdf/ Mem1786_p390. pdf), Memoires de l'Academie Royale des Sciences, pp. 390397, at page 395. [29] North, John David (2008), Cosmos: an illustrated history of astronomy and cosmology. University of Chicago Press, Chapter 14, at page 454 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=qq8Luhs7rTUC& pg=PA454). [30] See also P Puiseux (1879), "Sur l'acceleration seculaire du mouvement de la Lune" (http:/ / archive. numdam. org/ article/ ASENS_1879_2_8__361_0. pdf), Annales Scientifiques de l'Ecole Normale Superieure, 2nd series vol. 8, pp. 361444, at pp. 361365.

Pierre-Simon Laplace
[31] J. C. Adams (1853), "On the Secular Variation of the Moon's Mean Motion" (http:/ / rstl. royalsocietypublishing. org/ content/ 143/ 397. full. pdf), in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., vol.143 (1853), pages 397406. [33] Owen, T. C. (2001) "Solar system: origin of the solar system", Encyclopaedia Britannica, Deluxe CDROM edition [34] See Israel (1987), sec. 7.2. [35] Fourier (1829) [36] Crosland (1967), p. 1 [37] Stigler, 1975 [38] Laplace, Pierre Simon, A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities, translated from the 6th French edition by Frederick Wilson Truscott and Frederick Lincoln Emory. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1902, p. 19. Dover Publications edition (New York, 1951) has same pagination. [39] Laplace, A Philosophical Essay, New York, 1902, p. 4. [41] Grattan-Guinness, in Gillispie (1997), p. 260 [42] Grattan-Guinness, in Gillispie (1997), pp. 261262 [43] Deakin (1981) [44] Crosland (2006), p. 30 [45] Grattan-Guinness (2005), p. 333 [46] Hahn (2005), p. 191 [47] Laplace, A Philosophical Essay, New York, 1902, p. 62. (Translation in this paragraph of article is from Hahn.) [48] Hahn (2005), p. 184 [49] Laplace, A Philosophical Essay, New York, 1902, p. 63. (Translation in this paragraph of article is from Hahn) [50] Hahn (2005), p. 185 [51] Laplace, A Philosophical Essay, New York, 1902, pp. 107108. (Translation in this paragraph of article is from Hahn. [52] Faye, Herv (1884), Sur l'origine du monde: thories cosmogoniques des anciens et des modernes. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, pp. 109111 [53] Pasquier, Ernest (1898). "Les hypothses cosmogoniques (suite)" (http:/ / www. persee. fr/ web/ revues/ home/ prescript/ article/ phlou_0776-5541_1898_num_5_18_1596). Revue no-scholastique, 5o anne, No 18, pp. 124125, footnote 1 [54] Arago, Franois (1827), Laplace: Eulogy before the French Academy, translated by Prof. Baden Powell, Smithsonian Report, 1874 [55] Cajori, Florian (1893), A History of Mathematics. Fifth edition (1991), reprinted by the American Mathematical Society, 1999, p. 262. ISBN 0-8218-2102-4 [56] Johnson, Daniel (June 18, 2007), "The Hypothetical Atheist" (http:/ / www. commentarymagazine. com/ 2007/ 06/ 18/ the-hypothetical-atheist), Commentary. [57] Talks of Napoleon at St. Helena with General Baron Gourgaud, translated by Elizabeth Wormely Latimer. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1903, p. 276. [58] Hahn (2005), p. 67. [59] Dumas, Jean-Baptiste (1885). Discours et loges acadmiques, Vol. II. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, p. 255. [60] Kneller, Karl Alois. Christianity and the Leaders of Modern Science: A Contribution to the History of Culture in the Nineteenth Century, translated from the second German edition by T. M. Kettle. London: B. Herder, 1911, pp. 7374 (http:/ / www. ebooksread. com/ authors-eng/ karl-alois-kneller/ christianity-and-the-leaders-of-modern-science-a-contribution-to-the-history-of-hci/ page-6-christianity-and-the-leaders-of-modern-science-a-contribution-to-the-history-of-hci. shtml) [61] Hahn (1981), p. 95. [62] uvres de Laplace. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1878, Vol. I, pp. vvi. [63] Glass, Ian S. (2006). Revolutionaries of the Cosmos: The Astrophysicists. Cambridge University Press, p. 108. ISBN 0-19-857099-6 [64] General Scholium, from the end of Book III of the Principia; first appeared in the second edition, 1713. [65] Laplace, Exposition du systme du monde (http:/ / archive. org/ details/ expositiondusys05laplgoog), 6th edition. Brussels, 1827, pp. 522523. [66] Laplace, Exposition, 1827, p. 523. [67] Leibniz to Conti, Nov. or Dec. 1715, in H. G. Alexander, ed., The LeibnizClarke Correspondence (Manchester University Press, 1956), Appendix B. 1: "Leibniz and Newton to Conti", p. 185 ISBN 0-7190-0669-4; cited in Laplace, Exposition, 1827, p. 524. [68] Leibniz to Conti, 1715, in Alexander, ed., 1956, p. 185. [69] Hahn (2005), p. 220 [70] Hahn (2005), p. 223 [71] Hahn (2005), p. 202 [72] Hahn (2005), pp. 202, 233 [73] Compare Edmund Burke's famous remark, occasioned by a parliamentary candidate's sudden death, about "what shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue". [74] Hahn (2005), p. 204 [81] Hagen, John G. [82] Stein, John (1911), "Bartolomeo Platina" (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ cathen/ 12158a. htm), The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company [83] Rigge, William F. (04/1910), "An Historical Examination of the Connection of Calixtus III with Halley's Comet" (http:/ / adsabs. harvard. edu/ full/ 1910PA. . . . . 18. . 214R), Popular Astronomy, Vol. 18, pp. 214-219

34

Pierre-Simon Laplace
[86] * [87] Laplace, A Philosophical Essay, New York, 1902, p. 177.

35

Bibliography
By Laplace
uvres compltes de Laplace (http://gallica.bnf.fr/Search?ArianeWireIndex=index&lang=EN&q=oeuvres+ completes+de+laplace&p=1&f_creator=Laplace,+Pierre+Simon+de+(1749-1827)), 14 vol. (18781912), Paris: Gauthier-Villars (copy from Gallica in French) Thorie du movement et de la figure elliptique des plantes (1784) Paris (not in uvres compltes) Prcis de l'histoire de l'astronomie (http://books.google.com/books?id=QYpOb3N7zBMC) English translations Bowditch, N. (trans.) (18291839) Mcanique cleste, 4 vols, Boston New edition by Reprint Services ISBN 0-7812-2022-X [18291839] (19661969) Celestial Mechanics, 5 vols, including the original French Pound, J. (trans.) (1809) The System of the World, 2 vols, London: Richard Phillips _ The System of the World (v.1) (http://books.google.com/books?id=yW3nd4DSgYYC) _ The System of the World (v.2) (http://books.google.com/books?id=f7Kv2iFUNJoC) [1809] (2007) The System of the World, vol.1, Kessinger, ISBN 1-4326-5367-9 Toplis, J. (trans.) (1814) A treatise upon analytical mechanics (http://books.google.com/ books?id=c2YSAAAAIAAJ) Nottingham: H. Barnett Truscott, F. W. & Emory, F. L. (trans.) (2007) [1902]. A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities. ISBN1-60206-328-1., translated from the French 6th ed. (1840) A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities (1902) (http://www.archive.org/details/philosophicaless00lapliala) at the Internet Archive

About Laplace and his work

Andoyer, H. (1922). L'uvre scientifique de Laplace. Paris: Payot. (in French) Bigourdan, G. (1931). "La jeunesse de P.-S. Laplace". La Science moderne (in French) 9: 377384. Crosland, M. (1967). The Society of Arcueil: A View of French Science at the Time of NapoleonI. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN0-435-54201-X. (2006) "A Science Empire in Napoleonic France" (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2006HisSc..44...29C), History of Science, vol. 44, pp.2948 Dale, A. I. (1982). "Bayes or Laplace? an examination of the origin and early application of Bayes' theorem". Archive for the History of the Exact Sciences 27: 2347. David, F. N. (1965) "Some notes on Laplace", in Neyman, J. & LeCam, L. M. (eds) Bernoulli, Bayes and Laplace, Berlin, pp3044 Deakin, M. A. B. (1981). "The development of the Laplace transform". Archive for the History of the Exact Sciences 25 (4): 343390. doi: 10.1007/BF01395660 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01395660). (1982). "The development of the Laplace transform". Archive for the History of the Exact Sciences 26 (4): 351381. doi: 10.1007/BF00418754 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00418754). Dhombres, J. (1989). "La thorie de la capillarit selon Laplace: mathmatisation superficielle ou tendue". Revue d'Histoire des sciences et de leurs applications (in French) 62: 4370. Duveen, D. & Hahn, R. (1957). "Laplace's succession to Bzout's post of Examinateur des lves de l'artillerie". Isis 48 (4): 416427. doi: 10.1086/348608 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/348608).

Pierre-Simon Laplace Finn, B. S. (1964). "Laplace and the speed of sound". Isis 55: 719. doi: 10.1086/349791 (http://dx.doi.org/10. 1086/349791). Fourier, J. B. J. (1829). "loge historique de M. le Marquis de Laplace". Mmoires de l'Acadmie Royale des Sciences 10: lxxxicii., delivered 15 June 1829, published in 1831. (in French) Link to article (http://www. academie-sciences.fr/activite/archive/dossiers/Fourier/Fourier_pdf/Mem1829_p81_102.pdf) Gillispie, C. C. (1972). "Probability and politics: Laplace, Condorcet, and Turgot". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 116 (1): 120. (1997) Pierre Simon Laplace 17491827: A Life in Exact Science, Princeton: Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-01185-0 Grattan-Guinness, I., 2005, "'Exposition du systme du monde' and 'Trait de mchanique cleste'" in his Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics. Elsevier: 24257. Hahn, R. (1955). "Laplace's religious views". Archives internationales d'histoire des sciences 8: 3840. (1981) "Laplace and the Vanishing Role of God in the Physical Universe", in Woolf, Henry, ed., The Analytic Spirit: Essays in the History of Science. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-1350-8 (1982). Calendar of the Correspondence of Pierre Simon Laplace (Berkeley Papers in the History of Science, vol.8 ed.). Berkeley, CA: University of California. ISBN0-918102-07-3. (1994). New Calendar of the Correspondence of Pierre Simon Laplace (Berkeley Papers in the History of Science, vol.16 ed.). Berkeley, CA: University of California. ISBN0-918102-07-3. (2005) Pierre Simon Laplace 17491827: A Determined Scientist, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-01892-3 Israel, Werner (1987). "Dark stars: the evolution of an idea". In Hawking, Stephen W.; Israel, Werner. 300 Years of Gravitation. Cambridge University Press. pp.199276 O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Pierre-Simon Laplace" (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Biographies/Laplace.html), MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews. (1999) Nikulin, M. (1992). "A remark on the converse of Laplace's theorem". Journal of Soviet Mathematics 59: 976979. Rouse Ball, W. W. [1908] (2003) " Pierre Simon Laplace (17491827) (http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/ HistMath/People/Laplace/RouseBall/RB_Laplace.html)", in A Short Account of the History of Mathematics, 4th ed., Dover, ISBN 0-486-20630-0 Stigler, S. M. (1975). "Napoleonic statistics: the work of Laplace". Biometrika (Biometrika, Vol. 62, No. 2) 62 (2): 503517. doi: 10.2307/2335393 (http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2335393). JSTOR 2335393 (http://www. jstor.org/stable/2335393). (1978). "Laplace's early work: chronology and citations". Isis 69 (2): 234254. doi: 10.1086/352006 (http:// dx.doi.org/10.1086/352006). Whitrow, G. J. (2001) "Laplace, Pierre-Simon, marquis de", Encyclopaedia Britannica, Deluxe CDROM edition Whittaker, E. T. (1949a). "Laplace". Mathematical Gazette (The Mathematical Gazette, Vol. 33, No. 303) 33 (303): 112. doi: 10.2307/3608408 (http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3608408). JSTOR 3608408 (http://www. jstor.org/stable/3608408). (1949b). "Laplace". American Mathematical Monthly 56 (6): 369372. doi: 10.2307/2306273 (http://dx.doi. org/10.2307/2306273). JSTOR 2306273 (http://www.jstor.org/stable/2306273). Wilson, C. (1985). "The Great Inequality of Jupiter and Saturn: from Kepler to Laplace". Archive for the History of the Exact Sciences. 33(13): 15290. doi: 10.1007/BF00328048 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00328048). Young, T. (1821). Elementary Illustrations of the Celestial Mechanics of Laplace: Part the First, Comprehending the First Book (http://books.google.com/?id=20AJAAAAIAAJ&dq=laplace). London: John Murray. (available from Google Books)

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Pierre-Simon Laplace

37

External links
"Laplace, Pierre (17491827)" (http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Laplace.html). Eric Weisstein's World of Scientific Biography. Wolfram Research. Retrieved 2007-08-24. " Pierre-Simon Laplace (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Laplace.html)" in the MacTutor History of Mathematics archive. "Bowditch's English translation of Laplace's preface" (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/ Extras/Laplace_mechanique_celeste.html). Mchanique Cleste. The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive. Retrieved 2007-09-04. Guide to the Pierre Simon Laplace Papers (http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt8q2nf3g7/) at The Bancroft Library Pierre-Simon Laplace (http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=108295) at the Mathematics Genealogy Project English translation (http://www.cs.xu.edu/math/Sources/Laplace/index.html) of a large part of Laplace's work in probability and statistics, provided by Richard Pulskamp (http://www.cs.xu.edu/math/Sources/index. html) Pierre-Simon Laplace - uvres compltes (http://portail.mathdoc.fr/cgi-bin/oetoc?id=OE_LAPLACE__7) (last 7 volumes only) Gallica-Math
Political offices Precededby Minister of the Interior Succeededby Nicolas Marie Quinette 12 November 1799 25 December 1799 Lucien Bonaparte

Jean le Rond d'Alembert

38

Jean le Rond d'Alembert

Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert

Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert, pastel by Maurice Quentin de La Tour Born 16 November 1717 Paris 29 October 1783 (aged65) Paris French Mathematics Mechanics Physics Philosophy Pierre-Simon Laplace D'Alembert criterion D'Alembert force D'Alembert's form of the principle of virtual work D'Alembert's formula D'Alembert equation D'Alembert operator D'Alembert's paradox D'Alembert's principle D'Alembert system D'AlembertEuler condition Tree of Diderot and d'Alembert CauchyRiemann equations Fluid mechanics Encyclopdie Three-body problem

Died

Nationality Fields

Notable students Knownfor

Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert (French:[ batist l dalb]; 16 November 1717 29 October 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. Until 1759 he was also co-editor with Denis Diderot of the Encyclopdie. D'Alembert's formula for obtaining solutions to the wave equation is named after him.[1] The wave equation is sometimes referred to as D'Alembert's equation.

Jean le Rond d'Alembert

39

Early years
Born in Paris, d'Alembert was the illegitimate child of the writer Claudine Gurin de Tencin and the chevalier Louis-Camus Destouches, an artillery officer. Destouches was abroad at the time of d'Alembert's birth, and a couple of days after birth his mother left him on the steps of the Saint-Jean-le-Rond de Paris church. According to custom, he was named after the patron saint of the church. D'Alembert was placed in an orphanage for found children, but was soon adopted by the wife of a glazier. Destouches secretly paid for the education of Jean le Rond, but did not want his paternity officially recognized.

Studies and adult life

D'Alembert first attended a private school. The chevalier Destouches left d'Alembert an annuity of 1200 livres on his death in 1726. Under the influence of the Destouches family, at the age of twelve d'Alembert entered the Jansenist Collge des Quatre-Nations (the institution was also known under the name "Collge Mazarin"). Here he studied philosophy, law, and the arts, graduating as baccalaurat en arts in 1735. In his later life, D'Alembert scorned the Cartesian principles he had been taught by the Jansenists: "physical promotion, innate ideas and the vortices". The Jansenists steered D'Alembert toward an ecclesiastical career, attempting to deter him from pursuits such as poetry and mathematics. Theology was, however, "rather unsubstantial fodder" for d'Alembert. He entered law school for two years, and was nominated avocat in 1738. He was also interested in medicine and mathematics. Jean was first registered under the name Daremberg, but later changed it to d'Alembert. The name "d'Alembert" was proposed by Johann Heinrich Lambert for a suspected (but non-existent) moon of Venus. [citation needed]

Career

Classical mechanics

History Timeline

In July 1739 he made his first contribution to the field of mathematics, pointing out the errors he had detected in L'analyse dmontre (published 1708 by Charles Ren Reynaud) in a communication addressed to the Acadmie des Sciences. At the time L'analyse dmontre was a standard work, which d'Alembert himself had used to study the foundations of mathematics. D'Alembert was also a Latin scholar of some note and worked in the latter part of his life on a superb translation of Tacitus, for which he received wide praise including that of Denis Diderot. In 1740, he submitted his second scientific work from the field of fluid mechanics Mmoire sur la rfraction des corps solides, which was recognized by Clairaut. In this work d'Alembert theoretically explained refraction. In 1741, after several failed attempts, d'Alembert was elected into the Acadmie des Sciences. He was later elected to the Berlin Academy in 1746[] and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1748[2] In 1743 he published his most famous work, Trait de dynamique, in which he developed his own laws of motion.[3] When the Encyclopdie was organized in the late 1740s, d'Alembert was engaged as co-editor (for mathematics and science) with Diderot, and served until a series of crises temporarily interrupted the publication in 1757. He authored over a thousand articles for it, including the famous Preliminary Discourse. D'Alembert "abandoned the foundation of Materialism"[4] when he "doubted whether there exists outside us anything corresponding to what we suppose we see."[4] In this way, D'Alembert agreed with the Idealist Berkeley and anticipated the Transcendental idealism of Kant.

Jean le Rond d'Alembert In 1752, he wrote about what is now called D'Alembert's paradox: that the drag on a body immersed in an inviscid, incompressible fluid is zero. In 1754, d'Alembert was elected a member of the Acadmie franaise, of which he became Permanent Secretary on 9 April 1772.[5] In 1757, an article by d'Alembert in the seventh volume of the Encyclopedia suggested that the Geneva clergymen had moved from Calvinism to pure Socinianism, basing this on information provided by Voltaire. The Pastors of Geneva were indignant, and appointed a committee to answer these charges. Under pressure from Jacob Vernes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and others, d'Alembert eventually made the excuse that he considered anyone who did not accept the Church of Rome to be a Socinianist, and that was all he meant, and he abstained from further work on the encyclopedia following his response to the critique.[6] He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1781.[]

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Music theories
D'Alembert's first exposure to music theory was in 1749 when he was called upon to review a Mmoire submitted to the Acadmie by Jean-Philippe Rameau. This article, written in conjunction with Diderot, would later form the basis of Rameau's 1750 treatise Dmonstration du principe de l'harmonie. D'Alembert wrote a glowing review praising the authors deductive character as an ideal scientific model. He saw in Rameaus music theories support for his own scientific ideas, a fully systematic method with a strongly deductive synthetic structure. Two years later in 1752, d'Alembert attempted a fully comprehensive survey of Rameau's works in his Elments de musique thorique et pratique suivant les principes de M. Rameau.[7] Emphasizing Rameau's main claim that music was a mathematical science that had a single principle from which could be deduced all the elements and rules of musical practice as well as the explicit Cartesian methodology employed, d'Alembert helped to popularize the work of the composer and advertise his own theories.[7] He claims to have "clarified, developed, and simplified" the principles of Rameau, arguing that the single idea of the corps sonore was not sufficient to derive the entirety of music.[8] D'Alembert instead claimed that three principles would be necessary to generate the major musical mode, the minor mode, and the identity of octaves. Because he was not a musician, however, d'Alembert misconstrued the finer points of Rameau's thinking, changing and removing concepts that would not fit neatly into his understanding of music. Although initially grateful, Rameau eventually turned on d'Alembert while voicing his increasing dissatisfaction with J. J. Rousseau's Encyclopdie articles on music.[9] This led to a series of bitter exchanges between the men and contributed to the end of d'Alembert and Rousseau's friendship. A long preliminary discourse d'Alembert wrote for the 1762 edition of his Elmens attempted to summarize the dispute and act as a final rebuttal. D'Alembert also discussed various aspects of the state of music in his celebrated Discours prliminaire of Diderot's Encyclopdie. D'Alembert claims that, compared to the other arts, music, "which speaks simultaneously to the imagination and the senses," has not been able to represent or imitate as much of reality because of the "lack of sufficient inventiveness and resourcefulness of those who cultivate it."[10] He wanted musical expression to deal with all physical sensations rather than merely the passions alone. D'Alembert believed that modern (Baroque) music had only achieved perfection in his age, as there existed no classical Greek models to study and imitate. He claimed that "time destroyed all models which the ancients may have left us in this genre."[11] He praises Rameau as "that manly, courageous, and fruitful genius" who picked up the slack left by Jean-Baptiste Lully in the French musical arts.[12]

Jean le Rond d'Alembert

41

Personal life
D'Alembert was a participant in several Parisian salons, particularly those of Marie Thrse Rodet Geoffrin, of the marquise du Deffand and of Julie de Lespinasse. D'Alembert became infatuated with Mlle de Lespinasse, and eventually took up residence with her.

Death
He suffered bad health for many years and his death was as the result of a urinary bladder illness. As a known unbeliever,[13][14][15] D'Alembert was buried in a common unmarked grave.

Legacy
In France, the fundamental theorem of algebra is known as the d'Alembert/Gauss theorem (an error in d'Alembert's proof was caught by Gauss). He also created his ratio test, a test to see if a series converges. The D'Alembert operator, which first arose in D'Alembert's analysis of vibrating strings, plays an important role in modern theoretical physics. While he made great strides in mathematics and physics, d'Alembert is also famously known for incorrectly arguing in Croix ou Pile that the probability of a coin landing heads increased for every time that it came up tails. In gambling, the strategy of decreasing one's bet the more one wins and increasing one's bet the more one loses is therefore called the D'Alembert system, a type of martingale. In South Australia, a small inshore island in south-western Spencer Gulf was named Ile d'Alembert by the French explorer, Nicolas Baudin during his expedition to New Holland. The island is better known by the alternative English name of Lipson Island. The island is a conservation park and seabird rookery.

Fictional portrayal
Diderot portrayed d'Alembert in "Le rve de D'Alembert" ("D'Alembert's Dream"), written after the two men had become estranged. It depicts d'Alembert ill in bed, conducting a debate on materialist philosophy in his sleep. D'Alembert's Principle, a novel by Andrew Crumey (1996), takes its title from D'Alembert's principle in physics. Its first part describes d'Alembert's life and his infatuation with Julie de Lespinasse.

Notes
[1] D'Alembert (1747) "Recherches sur la courbe que forme une corde tendu mise en vibration" (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=lJQDAAAAMAAJ& pg=PA214#v=onepage& q& f=false) (Researches on the curve that a tense cord forms [when] set into vibration), Histoire de l'acadmie royale des sciences et belles lettres de Berlin, vol. 3, pages 214-219. See also: D'Alembert (1747) "Suite des recherches sur la courbe que forme une corde tendu mise en vibration" (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=lJQDAAAAMAAJ& pg=PA220#v=onepage& q& f=false) (Further researches on the curve that a tense cord forms [when] set into vibration), Histoire de l'acadmie royale des sciences et belles lettres de Berlin, vol. 3, pages 220-249. See also: D'Alembert (1750) "Addition au mmoire sur la courbe que forme une corde tendu mise en vibration," (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=m5UDAAAAMAAJ& pg=PA355#v=onepage& q& f=false) Histoire de l'acadmie royale des sciences et belles lettres de Berlin, vol. 6, pages 355-360. [3] Pearsall, Judy; Trumble, Bill, Eds. (2001). The Oxford English Reference Dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860046-1. p.32. [4] Friedrich Albert Lange, History of Materialism and Critique of its Present Importance, "Kant and Materialism" [5] (http:/ / www. academie-francaise. fr/ immortels/ base/ academiciens/ fiche. asp?param=219) [7] Christensen, Thomas. Music Theory as Scientific Propaganda: The Case of D'Alembert's lmens De Musique. Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 50, No. 3 (Jul.Sep., 1989). p.415. [8] Bernard, Jonathan W. The Principle and the Elements: Rameau's Controversy with D'Alembert. Journal of Music Theory, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Spring 1980). 37-62. [9] The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, s.v. "Alembert, Jean le Rond d'"

Jean le Rond d'Alembert

[10] D'Alembert, Jean Le Rond. Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot. Translated by Richard N. Schwab and Walter E. Rex. Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press, 1995. p.38. [11] D'Alembert, Jean Le Rond. Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot. Translated by Richard N. Schwab and Walter E. Rex. Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press, 1995. p.69. [12] D'Alembert, Jean Le Rond. Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot. Translated by Richard N. Schwab and Walter E. Rex. Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press, 1995. p.100.

42

References
Briggs, J. Morton (1970). "Jean le Rond d'Alembert". Dictionary of Scientific Biography 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp.11017. ISBN0-684-10114-9. Bernard, Jonathan W. The Principle and the Elements: Rameau's Controversy with D'Alembert. Journal of Music Theory, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Spring 1980): 37-62. Christensen, Thomas. Music Theory as Scientific Propaganda: The Case of D'Alembert's lmens [sic] De Musique. Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 50, No. 3 (Jul.Sep., 1989): 409-427. Crpel, Pierre, 2005, "Trait de dynamique" in Grattan-Guinness, I., ed., Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics. Elsevier: 159-67. D'Alembert, Jean Le Rond. Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot. Translated by Richard N. Schwab and Walter E. Rex. Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press, 1995. Elsberry, Kristie Beverly. Elmens de musique thorique et pratique suivant les principles de M. Rameau: an Annotated New Translation and a Comparison to Rameau's Theoretical Writings. Ph.D. Dissertation, Florida State University, 1984. Grimsley, Ronald (1963) Jean d'Alembert. Oxford Univ. Press. Hankins, Thomas L. Jean d'Alembert: Science and the Enlightenment. New York: Gordon and Breach, 1990.

External links
Quotations related to Jean le Rond d'Alembert at Wikiquote D'Alembert's accusation of Euler's plagiarism (http://mathdl.maa.org/convergence/1/?pa=content& sa=viewDocument&nodeId=962&bodyId=1223) at Convergence (http://mathdl.maa.org/convergence/1/) English translation of part of the Encyclopdie of Diderot and d'Alembert (http://www.hti.umich.edu/d/did) An Account of the Destruction of the Jesuits in France (http://books.google.com/books?id=LkIQAAAAIAAJ) by Jean Le Rond d' Alembert (1766) Select Eulogies of the Members of the French Academy, With Notes (http://books.google.com/ books?id=HcRZaCTAweUC) by Jean Le Rond d' Alembert (1799) Correspondence with Frederick the Great (http://friedrich.uni-trier.de/oeuvres/24/401/) Jean D'Alembert - uvres compltes (http://portail.mathdoc.fr/cgi-bin/oetoc?id=OE_DALEMBERT__1) Gallica-Math The ARTFL Encyclopdie (http://encyclopedie.uchicago.edu/), a project at the University of Chicago (articles in French, scans of 18th century print copies provided) O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Jean le Rond d'Alembert" (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac. uk/Biographies/D'Alembert.html), MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews. The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/ did/), product of the Scholarly Publishing Office of the University of Michigan Library (an effort to translate the Encyclopdie into English)

Abraham de Moivre

43

Abraham de Moivre
Abraham de Moivre

Abraham de Moivre Born 26 May 1667 Vitry-le-Franois, Champagne, France 27 November 1754 (aged87) London, England England French Mathematician Academy of Saumur Collge de Harcourt

Died

Residence Nationality Fields Alma mater

Academic advisors Jacques Ozanam Knownfor De Moivre's formula Theorem of de MoivreLaplace Isaac Newton

Influences

Abraham de Moivre (26 May 1667 in Vitry-le-Franois, Champagne, France 27 November 1754 in London, England; French pronunciation: [abaam d mwav]) was a French mathematician famous for de Moivre's formula, which links complex numbers and trigonometry, and for his work on the normal distribution and probability theory. He was a friend of Isaac Newton, Edmund Halley, and James Stirling. Among his fellow Huguenot exiles in England, he was a colleague of the editor and translator Pierre des Maizeaux. De Moivre wrote a book on probability theory, The Doctrine of Chances, said to have been prized by gamblers. De Moivre first discovered Binet's formula, the closed-form expression for Fibonacci numbers linking the nth power of to the nth Fibonacci number.

Life
Early years
Abraham de Moivre was born in Vitry in Champagne on May 26, 1667. His father, Daniel de Moivre, was a surgeon who, though middle class, believed in the value of education. Though Abraham de Moivre's parents were Protestant, he first attended Christian Brothers' Catholic school in Vitry, which was unusually tolerant given religious tensions in France at the time. When he was eleven, his parents sent him to the Protestant Academy at Sedan, where he spent four years studying Greek under Jacques du Rondel. The Protestant Academy of Sedan had been founded in 1579 at the initiative of Franoise de Bourbon, widow of Henri-Robert de la Marck; in 1682 the Protestant Academy at

Abraham de Moivre Sedan was suppressed and de Moivre enrolled to study logic at Saumur for two years. Although mathematics was not part of his course work, de Moivre read several mathematical works on his own including Elements de mathematiques by Father Prestet and a short treatise on games of chance, De Ratiociniis in Ludo Aleae, by Christiaan Huygens. In 1684 he moved to Paris to study physics and for the first time had formal mathematics training with private lessons from Jacques Ozanam. Religious persecution in France became severe when King Louis XIV issued the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685, which revoked the Edict of Nantes, that had given substantial rights to French Protestants. It forbade Protestant worship and required that all children be baptized by Catholic priests. De Moivre was sent to the Prieure de Saint-Martin, a school the authorities sent Protestant children to for indoctrination into Catholicism. It is unclear when de Moivre left the Prieure de Saint-Martin and moved to England, as the records of the Prieure de Saint-Martin indicate that he left the school in 1688, but de Moivre and his brother presented themselves as Huguenots admitted to the Savoy Church in London on August 28, 1687.

44

Middle years
By the time he arrived in London, de Moivre was a competent mathematician with a good knowledge of many of the standard texts. To make a living, de Moivre became a private tutor of mathematics, visiting his pupils or teaching in the coffee houses of London. De Moivre continued his studies of mathematics after visiting the Earl of Devonshire and seeing Newtons recent book, Principia. Looking through the book, he realized it was far deeper than books he had studied previously, and was determined to read and understand it. However, as he was required to take extended walks around London to travel between his students, de Moivre had little time for study so he would tear pages from the book and carry them around in his pocket to read between lessons. Eventually de Moivre become so knowledgeable about the material that Newton referred questions to him, saying, Go to Mr. de Moivre; he knows these things better than I do.[1] By 1692, de Moivre became friends with Edmond Halley and soon after with Isaac Newton himself. In 1695, Halley communicated de Moivres first mathematics paper, which arose from his study of fluxions in the Principia, to the Royal Society. This paper was published in the Philosophical Transactions that same year. Shortly after publishing this paper de Moivre also generalized Newtons famous Binomial Theorem into the Multinomial theorem. The Royal Society became apprised of this method in 1697 and made de Moivre a member two months later. After de Moivre had been accepted, Halley encouraged him to turn his attention to astronomy. In 1705, de Moivre discovered, intuitively, that the centripetal force of any planet is directly related to its distance from the centre of the forces and reciprocally related to the product of the diameter of the evolute and the cube of the perpendicular on the tangent. In other words, if a planet, M, follows an elliptical orbit around a focus F and has a point P where PM is tangent to the curve and FPM is a right angle so that FP is the perpendicular to the tangent, then the centripetal force at point P is proportional to F*M/(R*(F*P)3) where R is the radius of the curvature at M. Johann Bernoulli proved this formula in 1710. Despite these successes, de Moivre was unable to obtain an appointment to a Chair of Mathematics at a university, which would have released him from his dependence on time-consuming tutoring that burdened him more than it did most other mathematicians of the time. At least a part of the reason was a bias against his French origins.[citation
needed]

In November 1697 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society[2] and in 1712 was appointed to a commission set up by the society, alongside MM. Arbuthnot, Hill, Halley, Jones, Machin, Burnet, Robarts, Bonet, Aston and Taylor to review the claims of Newton and Leibniz as to who discovered calculus. The full details of the controversy can be found in the Leibniz and Newton calculus controversy article. Throughout his life de Moivre remained poor. It is reported that he was a regular customer of Slaughter's Coffee House, St. Martin's Lane at Cranbourn Street, where he earned a little money from playing chess.

Abraham de Moivre

45

Later years
De Moivre continued studying the fields of probability and mathematics until his death in 1754 and several additional papers were published after his death. As he grew older, he became increasingly lethargic and needed longer sleeping hours. He noted that he was sleeping an extra 15 minutes each night and correctly calculated the date of his death on the day when the additional sleep time accumulated to 24 hours, November 27, 1754.[] He died in London and was buried at St Martin-in-the-Fields, although his body was later moved.

Probability
De Moivre pioneered the development of analytic geometry and the theory of probability by expanding upon the work of his predecessors, particularly Christiaan Huygens and several members of the Bernoulli family. He also produced the second textbook on probability theory, The Doctrine of Chances: a method of calculating the probabilities of events in play. (The first book about games of chance, Liber de ludo aleae ("On Casting the Die"), was written by Girolamo Cardano in the 1560s, but not published until 1663.) This book came out in four editions, 1711 in Latin, and 1718, 1738 and 1756 in English. In the later editions of his book, de Moivre gives the first statement of the formula for the normal distribution curve, the first method of finding the probability of the occurrence of an error of a given size when that error is expressed in terms of the variability of the distribution as a unit, and the first identification of the probable error calculation. Additionally, he applied these theories to gambling problems and actuarial tables. An expression commonly found in probability is n! but before the days of calculators calculating n! for a large n was time consuming. In 1733 de Moivre proposed the formula for estimating a factorial as n!=cnn+1/2en. He obtained an expression for the constant c but it was James Stirling who found that c was (2) .[3] Therefore, Stirling's approximation is as much due to de Moivre as it is to Stirling. De Moivre also published an article called Annuities upon Lives, in which he revealed the normal distribution of the mortality rate over a persons age. From this he produced a simple formula for approximating the revenue produced by annual payments based on a persons age. This is similar to the types of formulas used by insurance companies today. See also de MoivreLaplace theorem

De Moivres formula
In 1707 de Moivre derived: which he was able to prove for all positive integral values ofn.[citation needed] In 1722 he suggested it in the more well known form of de Moivre's Formula:

In 1749 Euler proved this formula for any real n using Euler's formula, which makes the proof quite straightforward. This formula is important because it relates complex numbers and trigonometry. Additionally, this formula allows the derivation of useful expressions for cos(nx) and sin(nx) in terms of cos(x) and sin(x).

Abraham de Moivre

46

Notes
[1] Isaac Todhunter, History of the Mathematical Theory of Probability from the Time of Pascal to that of Lagrange, 1865, p. 135.

References
See de Moivre's Miscellanea Analytica (London: 1730) p 2642. H. J. R. Murray, 1913. History of Chess. Oxford University Press: 846. Schneider, I., 2005, "The doctrine of chances" in Grattan-Guinness, I., ed., Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics. Elsevier: 10520

External links
de Moivre, Abraham (http://web.archive.org/web/20071219233914/http://euler.ciens.ucv.ve/English/ mathematics/demoivre.html) Abraham de Moivre from the 1911 Britannica (http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/DEM_DIO/ DEMOIVRE_ABRAHAM_1667_1754_.html) The Doctrine of Chance (http://www.mathpages.com/home/kmath642/kmath642.htm) at MathPages. Biography (PDF) (http://archimede.mat.ulaval.ca/pages/genest/publi/StatSci-2007.pdf), Matthew Maty's Biography of Abraham De Moivre, Translated, Annotated and Augmented. Excerpt from Trigonometric Delights (http://press.princeton.edu/books/maor/sidebar_e.pdf) de Moivre, On the Law of Normal Probability (http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/maths/histstat/demoivre.pdf)

Thomas Bayes

47

Thomas Bayes
Thomas Bayes

Portrait used of Bayes in the 1936 book History of Life Insurance; it is dubious whether it actually depicts Bayes. portrait survived. Born c. 1701 London, England 7 April 1761 (aged59) Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England English Signature

[1]

No earlier portrait or claimed

Died

Nationality

Thomas Bayes (/bez/; c. 1701 7 April 1761)[1][2][note a] was an English mathematician and Presbyterian minister, known for having formulated a specific case of the theorem that bears his name: Bayes's theorem. Bayes never published what would eventually become his most famous accomplishment; his notes were edited and published after his death by Richard Price.[3]

Biography
Thomas Bayes was the son of London Presbyterian minister Joshua Bayes[4] and was possibly born in Hertfordshire.[5] He came from a prominent non conformist family from Sheffield. In 1719, he enrolled at the University of Edinburgh to study logic and theology. On his return around 1722, he assisted his father at the latter's non-conformist chapel in London before moving to Tunbridge Wells, Kent around 1734. There he became minister of the Mount Sion chapel, until 1752.[6] He is known to have published two works in his lifetime, one theological and one mathematical: 1. Divine Benevolence, or an Attempt to Prove That the Principal End of the Divine Providence and Government is the Happiness of His Creatures (1731) 2. An Introduction to the Doctrine of Fluxions, and a Defence of the Mathematicians Against the Objections of the Author of the Analyst (published anonymously in 1736), in which he defended the logical foundation of Isaac Newton's calculus ("fluxions") against the criticism of George Berkeley, author of The Analyst It is speculated that Bayes was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1742[7] on the strength of the Introduction to the Doctrine of Fluxions, as he is not known to have published any other mathematical works during his lifetime. In his later years he took a deep interest in probability. Stephen Stigler feels that he became interested in the subject while reviewing a work written in 1755 by Thomas Simpson,[] but George Alfred Barnard thinks he learned mathematics and probability from a book by de Moivre.[8] His work and findings on probability theory were passed

Thomas Bayes in manuscript form to his friend Richard Price after his death. By 1755 he was ill and in 1761 had died in Tunbridge. He was buried in Bunhill Fields Cemetery in Moorgate, London where many Nonconformists lie.

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Bayes's theorem
Bayes's solution to a problem of "inverse probability" was presented in An Essay towards solving a Problem in the Doctrine of Chances which was read to the Royal Society in 1763 after Bayes's death. Richard Price shepherded the work through this presentation and its publication in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London the following year. This was an argument for using a uniform prior distribution for a binomial parameter and not merely a general postulate.[9] This essay contains a statement of a special case of Bayes's theorem. In the first decades of the eighteenth century, many problems concerning the probability of certain events, given specified conditions, were solved. For example, given a specified number of white and black balls in an urn, what is the probability of drawing a black ball? Attention soon turned to the converse of such a problem: given that one or more balls has been drawn, what can be said about the number of white and black balls in the urn? These are sometimes called "inverse probability" problems. The Essay of Bayes contains his solution to a similar problem, posed by Abraham de Moivre, author of The Doctrine of Chances (1718). In addition to the Essay Towards Solving a Problem, a paper on asymptotic series was published posthumously.

Bayes and Bayesianism

Bayesian probability is the name given to several related interpretations of probability, which have in common the notion of probability as something like a partial belief, rather than a frequency. This allows the application of probability to all sorts of propositions rather than just ones that come with a reference class. "Bayesian" has been used in this sense since about 1950. Since its rebirth in the 1950s, advancements in computing technology have allowed scientists from many disciplines to pair traditional Bayesian statistics with random walk techniques. The use of the Bayes theorem has been extended in science and in other fields.[10] Bayes himself might not have embraced the broad interpretation now called Bayesian. It is difficult to assess Bayes's philosophical views on probability, since his essay does not go into questions of interpretation. There Bayes defines probability as follows (Definition 5). The probability of any event is the ratio between the value at which an expectation depending on the happening of the event ought to be computed, and the value of the thing expected upon its happening In modern utility theory, expected utility can (with qualifications, because buying risk for small amounts or buying security for big amounts also happen) be taken as the probability of an event times the payoff received in case of that event. Rearranging that to solve for the probability, Bayes's definition results. As Stigler points out,[] this is a subjective definition, and does not require repeated events; however, it does require that the event in question be observable, for otherwise it could never be said to have "happened". Stigler argues that Bayes intended his results in a more limited way than modern Bayesians; given Bayes's definition of probability, his result concerning the parameter of a binomial distribution makes sense only to the extent that one can bet on its observable consequences.

Thomas Bayes

49

Notes
a. Bayes's tombstone says he died at 59 years of age on 7 April 1761, so he was born in either 1701 or 1702. Some sources erroneously write the death date as 17 April, but these sources all seem to stem from a clerical error duplicated; no evidence argues in favour of a 17 April death date. The birth date is unknown likely due to the fact he was baptized in a Dissenting church, which either did not keep or was unable to preserve its baptismal records; accord Royal Society Library and Archive catalog, Thomas Bayes (17011761) [11][1]
^

References
[1] Bayes's portrait (http:/ / www. york. ac. uk/ depts/ maths/ histstat/ bayespic. htm) [2] Belhouse, D.R. The Reverend Thomas Bayes FRS: a Biography to Celebrate the Tercentenary of his Birth (http:/ / www2. isye. gatech. edu/ ~brani/ isyebayes/ bank/ bayesbiog. pdf). [3] McGrayne, Sharon Bertsch. (2011). [5] Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, article on Bayes by A. W. F. Edwards. [9] Edwards, A. W. G. "Commentary on the Arguments of Thomas Bayes," (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ pss/ 4615697) Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, Vol. 5, No. 2 (1978), pp. 116118; retrieved 2011-08-06 [10] Paulos, John Allen. "The Mathematics of Changing Your Mind," (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ 2011/ 08/ 07/ books/ review/ the-theory-that-would-not-die-by-sharon-bertsch-mcgrayne-book-review. html?_r=1& scp=1& sq=thomas bayes& st=cse) New York Times (US). August 5, 2011; retrieved 2011-08-06 [11] http:/ / www2. royalsociety. org/ DServe/ dserve. exe?dsqIni=Dserve. ini& dsqApp=Archive& dsqCmd=Show. tcl& dsqSearch=RefNo==%27IM%2F000298%27& dsqDb=Catalog

Thomas Bayes, " An essay towards solving a Problem in the Doctrine of Chances. (http://www.stat.ucla.edu/ history/essay.pdf)" Bayes's essay in the original notation. Thomas Bayes, 1763, " An essay towards solving a Problem in the Doctrine of Chances. (http://books.google. com/books?id=j0JFAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA370#v=onepage&q&f=false)" Bayes's essay as published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 53, p. 370, on Google Books. Thomas Bayes, 1763, " A letter to John Canton, (http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/maths/histstat/letter.pdf)" Phil. Trans. Royal Society London 53: 26971. D. R. Bellhouse, " On Some Recently Discovered Manuscripts of Thomas Bayes. (http://web.archive.org/web/ 20041106225211/http://www.stats.uwo.ca/faculty/bellhouse/bayesmss.pdf)" D. R. Bellhouse, 2004, " The Reverend Thomas Bayes, FRS: A Biography to Celebrate the Tercentenary of His Birth, (http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/maths/histstat/bayesbiog.pdf)" Statistical Science 19 (1): 343. Dale, Andrew I. (2003.) "Most Honourable Remembrance: The Life and Work of Thomas Bayes". ISBN 0-387-00499-8. Springer, 2003. ____________. "An essay towards solving a problem in the doctrine of chances" in Grattan-Guinness, I., ed., Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics. Elsevier: 199207. (2005). Michael Kanellos. "18th-century theory is new force in computing" (http://news.com.com/Old-school+ theory+is+a+new+force/2009-1001_3-984695.html) CNET News, 18 Feb 2003. McGrayne, Sharon Bertsch. (2011). The Theory That Would Not Die: How Bayes's Rule Cracked The Enigma Code, Hunted Down Russian Submarines, & Emerged Triumphant from Two Centuries of Controversy. New Haven: Yale University Press. 13-ISBN 9780300169690/10-ISBN 0300169698; OCLC 670481486 (http://www. worldcat.org/title/ theory-that-would-not-die-how-bayes-rule-cracked-the-enigma-code-hunted-down-russian-submarines-emerged-triumphant-fromoclc/670481486) Stigler, Stephen M. "Thomas Bayes's Bayesian Inference," (http://links.jstor.org/ sici?sici=0035-9238(1982)145:2<250:TBBI>2.0.CO;2-W) Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A, 145:250258, 1982. ____________. "Who Discovered Bayes's Theorem?" The American Statistician, 37(4):290296, 1983.

Thomas Bayes

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External links
Biographical sketch of Thomas Bayes (http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Bayes. html) An Intuitive Explanation of Bayesian Reasoning (http://yudkowsky.net/bayes/bayes.html) (includes biography) The will of Thomas Bayes 1761 (http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index. php?title=Will_of_Thomas_Bayes_of_Tonbridge_Wells_,_Kent,_1761_PROB_11/865)

Jacob Bernoulli

51

Jacob Bernoulli
For other family members named Jacob, see Bernoulli family.

Jacob Bernoulli

Jakob Bernoulli Born 27 December 1654 Basel, Switzerland 16 August 1705 (aged50) Basel, Switzerland Switzerland Mathematician University of Basel University of Basel Nicolas Malebranche Peter Werenfels

Died

Residence Fields Institutions Alma mater Doctoral advisor

Doctoral students Johann Bernoulli Jacob Hermann Nicolaus I Bernoulli Knownfor Bernoulli differential equation Bernoulli numbers Bernoulli's formula Bernoulli polynomials Bernoulli map Bernoulli trial Bernoulli process Bernoulli scheme Bernoulli operator Hidden Bernoulli model Bernoulli sampling Bernoulli distribution Bernoulli random variable Bernoulli's Golden Theorem Bernoulli's inequality Lemniscate of Bernoulli Gottfried Leibniz

Influences

Notes Brother of Johann Bernoulli

Jacob Bernoulli Jacob Bernoulli (also known as James or Jacques) (27 December 1654/6 January 1655 16 August 1705) was one of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family. He was an early proponent of Leibnizian calculus and had sided with Leibniz during the LeibnizNewton calculus controversy. He is known for his numerous contributions to calculus, and along with his brother Johann, was one of the founders the calculus of variations. However, he is most important contribution was in the field of probability, where he derived the first version of the law of large numbers in his work Ars Conjectandi.[1]

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Biography
Jacob Bernoulli was born in Basel, Switzerland. Following his father's wish, he studied theology and entered the ministry. But contrary to the desires of his parents, he also studied mathematics and astronomy. He traveled throughout Europe from 1676 to 1682, learning about the latest discoveries in mathematics and the sciences under leading figures of the time. This included the work of Hudde, Robert Boyle, and Robert Hooke. During this time he also produced an incorrect theory of comets. Bernoulli returned to Switzerland and began teaching mechanics at the University in Basel from 1683. In 1684 he married Judith Stupanus; and they had two children. During this decade, he also began a fertile research career. His travels allowed him to establish correspondence with many leading mathematicians and scientists of his era, which he maintained throughout his life. During this time, he studied the new discoveries in mathematics, including Christian Huygens's De ratiociniis in aleae ludo, Descartes' Geometrie and Frans van Schooten's supplements of it. He also studied Isaac Barrow and John Wallis, leading to his interest in infinitesimal geometry. Apart from these, it was between 1684 and 1689 that much of the results that was to make up Ars Conjectandi was discovered. He was appointed professor of mathematics at the University of Basel in 1687, remaining in this position for the rest of his life. By that time, he had begun tutoring his brother Johann Bernoulli on mathematical topics. The two brothers began to study the calculus as presented by Leibniz in his 1684 paper on the differential calculus in Nova Methodus pro Maximis et Minimis, itemque Tangentibus... published in Acta Eruditorum. They also studied the publications of von Tschirnhaus. It must be understood that Leibniz's publications on the calculus were very obscure to mathematicians of that time and the Bernoullis were the first to try to understand and apply Leibniz's theories. Jacob collaborated with his brother on various applications of calculus. However the atmosphere of collaboration between the two brothers turned into rivalry as Johann's own mathematical genius began to mature, with both of them attacking each other in print, and posing difficult mathematical challenges to test each other's skills. By 1697 the relationship had completely broken down. Jacob Bernoulli died in 1705. Bernoulli chose a figure of a logarithmic spiral and the motto Eadem mutata resurgo ("Changed and yet the same, I rise again") for his gravestone; the spiral executed by the stonemasons was, however, an Archimedean spiral, [Jacques Bernoulli] wrote that the logarithmic spiral may be used as a symbol, either of fortitude and constancy in adversity, or of the human body, which after all its changes, even after death, will be restored to its exact and perfect self. (Livio 2002: 116). His grave is in Basel Munster or Cathedral where the gravestone shown below is located. The lunar crater Bernoulli is also named after him jointly with his brother Johann.

Jacob Bernoulli

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Important works
Jacob Bernoulli's first important contributions were a pamphlet on the parallels of logic and algebra published in 1685, work on probability in 1685 and geometry in 1687. His geometry result gave a construction to divide any triangle into four equal parts with two perpendicular lines. By 1689 he had published important work on infinite series and published his law of large numbers in probability theory. Jacob Bernoulli published five treatises on infinite series between 1682 and 1704. The first two of these contained many results, such as fundamental result that diverges, which Bernoulli believed were new but they had actually been proved by Mengoli 40 years earlier. Bernoulli could not find a closed form for , but he did show that it converged to a finite limit less than 2. Euler was the first to find the sum of this series in 1737. Bernoulli also studied the exponential series which came out of examining compound interest. In May 1690 in a paper published in Acta Eruditorum, Jacob Bernoulli showed that the problem of determining the isochrone is equivalent to solving a first-order nonlinear differential equation. The isochrone, or curve of constant descent, is the curve along which a particle will descend under gravity from any point to the bottom in exactly the same time, no matter what the starting point. It had been studied by Huygens in 1687 and Leibniz in 1689. After finding the differential equation, Bernoulli then solved it by what we now call separation of variables. Jacob Bernoulli's paper of 1690 is important for the history of calculus, since the term integral appears for the first time with its integration meaning. In 1696 Bernoulli solved the equation, now called the Bernoulli differential equation,
Jacob Bernoulli's grave.

Jacob Bernoulli also discovered a general method to determine evolutes of a curve as the envelope of its circles of curvature. He also investigated caustic curves and in particular he studied these associated curves of the parabola, the logarithmic spiral and epicycloids around 1692. The lemniscate of Bernoulli was first conceived by Jacob Bernoulli in 1694. In 1695 he investigated the drawbridge problem which seeks the curve required so that a weight sliding along the cable always keeps the drawbridge balanced. Jacob Bernoulli's most original work was Ars Conjectandi published in Basel in 1713, eight years after his death. The work was incomplete at the time of his death but it is still a work of the greatest significance in the theory of probability. In the book Bernoulli reviewed work of others on probability, in particular work by van Schooten, Leibniz, and Prestet. The Bernoulli numbers appear in the book in a discussion of the exponential series. Many examples are given on how much one would expect to win playing various game of chance. The term Bernoulli trial result from this work. There are interesting thoughts on what probability really is: ... probability as a measurable degree of certainty; necessity and chance; moral versus mathematical expectation; a priori an a posteriori probability; expectation of winning when players are divided according to dexterity; regard of all available arguments, their valuation, and their calculable evaluation; law of large numbers ... Bernoulli was one of the most significant promoters of the formal methods of higher analysis. Astuteness and elegance are seldom found in his method of presentation and expression, but there is a maximum of integrity.

Jacob Bernoulli

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Discovery of the mathematical constant e

Bernoulli discovered the constant e by studying a question about compound interest which required him to find the value of the following expression (which is in fact e):

One example is an account that starts with $1.00 and pays 100 percent interest per year. If the interest is credited once, at the end of the year, the value is $2.00; but if the interest is computed and added twice in the year, the $1 is multiplied by 1.5 twice, yielding $1.001.5=$2.25. Compounding quarterly yields $1.001.254=$2.4414..., and compounding monthly yields $1.00(1.0833...)12=$2.613035.... Bernoulli noticed that this sequence approaches a limit (the force of interest) for more and smaller compounding intervals. Compounding weekly yields $2.692597..., while compounding daily yields $2.714567..., just two cents more. Using n as the number of compounding intervals, with interest of 100%/n in each interval, the limit for large n is the number that came to be known as e; with continuous compounding, the account value will reach $2.7182818.... More generally, an account that starts at $1, and yields (1+R) dollars at simple interest, will yield eR dollars with continuous compounding.

Translation of Latin inscription on Bernouilli's tomb

"IACOBUS BERNOULLI MATHEMATICUS INCOMPARABILIS ACAD. BASIL. VLTRA XVIII ANNOS PROF. ACADEM. ITEM REGIAE PARIS. ET BEROLIN. SOCIUS EDITIS LUCUBRAT.INLUSTRIS. MORBO CHRONICO MENTE AD EXTREMUM INTEGRA ANNO SAL.MDCCV.D.XVI.AUGUSTI AETATIS L.M.VII EXTINCTUS RESURRECT.PIOR.HIC PRAESTOLATUR IUDITHA STUPANA XX ANNOR.VXOR CUM DUOBUS LIBERIS MARITO ET PARENTI EHEU DESIDERATISS. H.M.P." "James Bernoulli, the incomparable mathematician. Professor at the University of Basel For more than 18 years; member of the Royal Academies of Paris and Berlin; famous for his writings. Of a cronic illness, of sound mind to the end; succumbed in the year of grace 1705, the 16th of August, at the age of 50 years and 7 months, awaiting the resurrection. Judith Stupanus, his wife for 20 years, and his two children have erected a monument to the husband and father they miss so much."

References
[1] Jacob (Jacques) Bernoulli (http:/ / www-gap. dcs. st-and. ac. uk/ ~history/ Biographies/ Bernoulli_Jacob. html), The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive (http:/ / www-gap. dcs. st-and. ac. uk/ ~history/ ), School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, UK.

Further reading
Hoffman, J.E. (197080). "Bernoulli, Jakob (Jacques) I". Dictionary of Scientific Biography 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp.4651. ISBN0684101149. I., Schneider (2005). "Jakob Bernoulli Ars conjectandi (1713)" (http://books.google.com/ books?id=UdGBy8iLpocC&pg=PA88). In Grattan-Guinness, Ivor. Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics 16401940 (http://books.google.com/books?id=UdGBy8iLpocC). Elsevier. pp.88104. ISBN978-0-08-045744-4. Livio, Mario (2002). The golden ratio: the story of phi, the world's most astonishing number (http://books. google.com/books?id=9kvvAAAAMAAJ). Broadway Books. ISBN978-0-7679-0815-3.

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External links
Jacob Bernoulli (http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=54440) at the Mathematics Genealogy Project O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Jacob Bernoulli" (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Biographies/Bernoulli_Jacob.html), MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews. Bernoulli, Jakob. "Tractatus de Seriebus Infinitis" (http://www.kubkou.se/pdf/mh/jacobB.pdf) (PDF). Weisstein, Eric W., Bernoulli, Jakob (16541705) (http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/ BernoulliJakob.html) from ScienceWorld.

Hugo Steinhaus

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Hugo Steinhaus
Hugo Steinhaus

Hugo Steinhaus (1968) Born January 14, 1887 Jaso, Austria-Hungary (now Poland) February 25, 1972 (aged85) Wrocaw, Poland Poland Polish Mathematician and mathematics populariser Jan Kazimierz University University of Wrocaw University of Notre Dame University of Sussex Lemberg University Gttingen University David Hilbert

Died

Residence Nationality Fields Institutions

Alma mater

Doctoral advisor

Doctoral students Stefan Banach Z. W. (Bill) Birnbaum Mark Kac Wadysaw Orlicz Aleksander Rajchman Juliusz Schauder Stanisaw Trybula Knownfor BanachSteinhaus theorem, many others, see section below.

Wadysaw Hugo Dionizy Steinhaus (January 14, 1887 February 25, 1972) was a Polish mathematician and educator. Steinhaus obtained his PhD under David Hilbert at Gttingen University in 1911 and later became a professor at the Jan Kazimierz University in Lww (now Lviv, Ukraine), where he helped establish what later became known as the Lww School of Mathematics. He is credited with "discovering" mathematician Stefan Banach, with whom he gave a notable contribution to functional analysis through the BanachSteinhaus theorem. After World War II Steinhaus played an important part in the establishment of the mathematics department at Wrocaw University and in the revival of Polish mathematics from the destruction of the war. Author of around 170 scientific articles and books, Steinhaus has left its legacy and contribution on many branches of mathematics, such as functional analysis, geometry, mathematical logic, and trigonometry. Notably he is regarded as one of the early founders of the game theory and the probability theory preceding in his studies, later, more comprehensive approaches, by other scholars.

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Early life and studies

Steinhaus was born on January 14, 1887 in Jaso,[] Austria-Hungary to a family with Jewish roots. His father, Bogusaw, was a local industrialist, owner of a brick factory and a merchant. His mother was Ewelina, ne Lipschitz. Hugo's uncle, Ignacy Steinhaus, was an activist in the Koo Polskie (Polish Circle), and a deputy to the Galician Diet, the regional assembly of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria.[] Hugo finished his studies at the gymnasium in Jaso in 1905. His family wanted him to become an engineer but he was drawn to abstract mathematics and began to study the works of famous contemporary mathematicians on his own. In the same year he began studying philosophy and mathematics at the University of Lemberg.[] In 1906 he transferred to Gttingen University.[] At that University he received his Ph.D. in 1911, having written his doctoral dissertation under the supervision of David Hilbert. The title of his thesis was Neue Anwendungen des Dirichlet'schen Prinzips ("New applications to Dirichlet's principle").[] At the start of World War I Steinhaus returned to Poland and served in Jzef Pisudski's Polish Legion, after which he lived in Krakw.[]

Academic career
Interwar Poland
During the 1916-1917 period and before Poland had regained its full independence, which occurred in 1918, Steinhaus worked in Krakw for the Ministry of the Interior in the ephemeral puppet state of Kingdom of Poland.[] In 1917 he started to work at the University of Lemberg (later Jan Kazimierz University in Poland) and acquired his habilitation qualification in 1920.[] In 1921 he became a profesor nadzwyczajny (associate professor) and in 1925 profesor zwyczajny (full professor) at the same university.[] During this time he taught a course on the then cutting edge theory of Lebesgue integration, one of the first such courses offered outside of France.[] While in Lww, Steinhaus co-founded the Lww School of Mathematics[] and was active in the circle of mathematicians associated with the Scottish cafe, although, according to Stanislaw Ulam, for the circle's gatherings, Steinhaus would have generally preferred a more upscale tea shop down the street.[]

World War II
In September 1939 after Nazi Germany and Soviet Union both invaded and occupied Poland, as a fulfillment of the MolotovRibbentrop Pact they had signed earlier, Lww initially came under Soviet occupation. Steinhaus considered escaping to Hungary but ultimately decided to remain in Lww. The Soviets reorganized the university to give it a more Ukrainian character, but they did appoint Stefan Banach (Steinhaus's student) as the dean of the mathematics department and Steinhaus resumed teaching there. The faculty of the department at the school were also strengthened by several Polish refugees from German occupied Poland. According to Steinhaus, during the experience of this period, he "acquired a insurmountable physical disgust in regard to all sorts of Soviet administrators, politicians and

The Scottish Book from the Lww School of Mathematics, which Steinhaus contributed to and probably saved during World War II.

commissars"[A] During the interwar period and the time of the Soviet occupation, Steinhaus contributed ten problems to the famous Scottish Book, including the last one, recorded shortly before Lww was captured by the Nazis in 1941, during Operation Barbarossa.[]

Hugo Steinhaus Steinhaus, because of his Jewish background, spent the Nazi occupation in hiding, first among friends in Lww, then in the small towns of Osiczyna, near Zamo and Berdechw, near Krakw.[][] The Polish anti-Nazi resistance provided him with false documents of a forest ranger who had died sometime earlier, by the name of Grzegorz Krochmalny. Under this name he taught clandestine classes (higher education was forbidden for Poles under the German occupation). Worried about the possibility of imminent death if captured by Germans, Steinhaus, without access to any scholarly material, reconstructed from memory and recorded all the mathematics he knew, in addition to writing other voluminous memoirs, of which only a little part has been published.[] Also while in hiding, and cut off from reliable news on the course of the war, Steinhaus devised a statistical means of estimating for himself the German casualties at the front based on sporadic obituaries published in the local press. The method relied on the relative frequency with which the obituaries stated that the soldier who died was someone's son, someone's "second son", someone's "third son" and so on.[] According to his student and biographer, Marek Kac, Steinhaus told him that the happiest day of his life were the twenty four hours between the time that the Germans left occupied Poland and the Soviets had not yet arrived ("They had left, and they had not yet come").[]

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After World War II

In the last days of World War II Steinhaus, still in hiding, heard a rumor that University of Lww was to be transferred to the city of Breslau (Wrocaw), which Poland was to acquire as a result of the Potsdam agreement (Lww became part of Soviet Ukraine). Although initially he had doubts, he turned down offers for faculty positions in d and Lublin and made his way to the city where he began teaching at University of Wrocaw.[] While there, he revived the idea behind the Scottish Book from Lww, where prominent and aspiring mathematicians would write down problems of interest along with prizes to be awarded for their Commemorative plaque, Wrocaw, Poland solution, by starting the New Scottish Book. It was also most likely Steinhaus who preserved the original Scottish Book from Lww throughout the war and subsequently sent it to Stanisaw Ulam, who translated it into English.[] With Steinhaus' help, Wrocaw University became renowned for mathematics, much as the University of Lww had been.[] Later, in the 1960s, Steinhaus served as a visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame (196162)[] and the University of Sussex (1966).[]

Mathematical contributions
Steinhaus authored over 170 works.[] Unlike his student, Stefan Banach, who tended to specialize narrowly in the field of functional analysis, Steinhaus made contributions to a wide range of mathematical sub-disciplines, including geometry, probability theory, functional analysis, theory of trigonometric and Fourier series as well as mathematical logic.[][] He also wrote in the area of applied mathematics and enthusiastically collaborated with engineers, geologists, economists, physicians, biologists and, in Kac's words, "even lawyers".[] Probably his most notable contribution to functional analysis was the 1927 proof of the BanachSteinhaus theorem, given along with Stefan Banach, which is now one of the fundamental tools in this branch of mathematics.

Hugo Steinhaus His interest in games led him to propose an early formal definition of a strategy, anticipating John von Neumann's more complete treatment of a few years later. Consequently he is considered an early founder of modern game theory.[] As a result of his work on infinite games Steinhaus, together with another of his students, Jan Mycielski, proposed the Axiom of determinacy.[] Steinhaus was also an early contributor to, and co-founder of, probability theory, which at the time was in its infancy and not even considered an actual part of mathematics.[] He provided the first axiomatic measure-theoretic description of coin-tossing, which was to influence the full axiomatization of probability by the Russian mathematician Andrey Kolmogorov a decade later.[] Steinhaus was also the first to offer precise definitions of what it means for two events to be "independent", as well as for what it means for a random variable to be "uniformly distributed".[] While in hiding during World War II Steinhaus worked on the "cake-cutting problem": how to divide a resource in a manner which is "fair" according to precisely defined criteria, such as proportionality and envy-free.[B] Steinhaus was also the first person to conjecture the ham-sandwich theorem,[][] and one of the first to propose the method of k-means clustering.[]

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Legacy
Steinhaus is said to have "discovered" the Polish mathematician Stefan Banach in 1916, after he overheard someone utter the words "Lebesgue integral" while in a Krakw park (Steinhaus referred to Banach as his "greatest mathematical discovery").[] Together with Banach and the other participant of the park discussion, Otto Nikodym, Steinhaus started the Mathematical Society of Krakw, which later evolved into the Polish Mathematical Society.[] He was a member of PAU (the Polish Academy of Learning) and PAN (the Polish Academy of Sciences), PTM (the Polish Mathematical Society), the Wrocawskie Towarzystwo Naukowe (Wrocaw Scientific Society) as well as many international scientific societies and science academies.[] Steinhaus also published one of the first articles in Fundamenta Mathematicae, in 1921.[] He also co-founded Studia Mathematica along with Stefan Banach (1929),[] and Zastosowania matematyki (Applications of Mathematics, 1953), Colloquium Mathematicum, and Monografie Matematyczne (Mathematical Monographs).[]
Honorary doctorate bestowed on Steinhaus by Pozna University

He received honorary doctorate degrees from Warsaw University (1958), Wrocaw Medical Academy (1961), Pozna University (1963) and Wrocaw University (1965).[] Steinhaus had full command of several foreign languages and was interestingly, known, for his aphorisms, to the point that a booklet of his most famous ones in Polish, French and Latin has been published posthumously.[] In 2002, the Polish Academy of Sciences and Wrocaw University sponsored "2002, The Year of Hugo Steinhaus", to celebrate his contributions to Polish and world science.[] Notable mathematician Mark Kac, Steinhaus's student, wrote: "He was one of the architects of the school of mathematics which flowered miraculously in Poland between the two wars and it was he who, perhaps more than any other individual, helped to raise Polish mathematics from the ashes to which it had been reduced by the second World War to the position of new strength and respect which it now occupies. He was a man of great culture and in the best sense of the word a product of Western civilization."[]

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Chief works
Czym jest, a czym nie jest matematyka (What Mathematics Is, and What It Is Not, 1923).[] Sur le principe de la condensation de la singularits (with Banach, 1927)[] Theorie der Orthogonalreihen (with Stefan Kaczmarz, 1935).[][] Kalejdoskop matematyczny (Mathematical Snapshots, 1939).[][] Taksonomia wrocawska (A Wroclaw Taxonomy; with others, 1951). Sur la liaison et la division des points d'un ensemble fini (On uniting and separating the points of a finite set, with others, 1951).[] Sto zada (One Hundred Problems In Elementary Mathematics, 1964).[][] Orze czy reszka (Heads or Tails, 1961).[] Sownik racjonalny (A Rational Dictionary, 1980).[]

Notes
A. ^ Nabraem nieprzyzwycionej fizycznej wprost odrazy do wszelkich urzednikw, politykw i komisarzy sowieckich"(Duda, pg. 23) B. . C. ^ The solution to the two person version of the problem is the classic children's rule that "one person cuts, the second person chooses". For more than two people the solutions are less trivial. The full problem was solved by Steven Brams and Alan D. Taylor only in 1995. (Brams and Taylor, pg. 30, O'Connor and Robertson)[][]

References
Further reading
Kazimierz Kuratowski, A Half Century of Polish Mathematics: Remembrances and Reflections, Oxford, Pergamon Press, 1980, ISBN 978-0-08-023046-7, pp.17379 et passim. Hugo Steinhaus, Mathematical Snapshots, second edition, Oxford, 1951, blurb.

External links
Hugo Steinhaus (http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=7383) at the Mathematics Genealogy Project

Stefan Banach

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Stefan Banach
Stefan Banach
Born March 30, 1892 Krakw, Grand Duchy of Krakw, Austria-Hungary August 31, 1945 (aged53) Lviv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union Austro-Hungarian, Polish Polish Mathematics University of Lww Technical University of Lww Hugo Steinhaus Stanisaw Mazur

Died

Citizenship Nationality Fields Institutions Alma mater Doctoral advisor Doctoral students

Other notablestudents Stanislaw Ulam Knownfor BanachTarski paradox BanachSteinhaus theorem Functional analysis Memberships: Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, Polish Academy of Learning

Notable awards

Stefan Banach ([stfanbanax]( listen); March 30, 1892 August 31, 1945) was a Polish mathematician. He is generally considered to have been one of the 20th century's most important and influential mathematicians. Banach was one of the founders of modern functional analysis and one of the original members of the Lww School of Mathematics. His major work was the 1932 book, Thorie des oprations linaires (Theory of Linear Operations), the first monograph on the general theory of functional analysis. Born in Krakw, Banach enrolled in "Henryk Sienkiewicz Gymnasium" and worked on mathematics problems with his friend Witold Wikosz. After graduating in 1910, Banach and Wikosz moved to Lww. However, Banach returned to Krakw during World War I and during this time, he met and befriended Hugo Steinhaus. After Banach solved mathematical problems which Steinhaus considered difficult, he and Steinhaus published their first joint work. Along with several other mathematicians, Banach formed a society for mathematicians in 1919. In 1920, Banach was given an assistantship in Jagiellonian University after Poland regained independence. He soon became a professor at Lww Polytechnic and a member of the Polish Academy of Learning during this period. Later Banach organized the "Lww School of Mathematics". He began writing "Thorie des oprations linaires" around 1929. On the outbreak of World War II, Lww was taken over by the Soviet Union. As a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, he promised to learn Ukrainian. In 1941, when Germany took over the city, Banach, his colleagues, and his sons worked as lice feeders at the Typhus Research Institute. When the Soviets recaptured Lww, Banach reestablished the University. However, because the Soviets were removing Poles from annexed formerly Polish territories, Banach prepared to return to Krakw. He died in August 1945 after being diagnosed with lung cancer seven months earlier. Some of the notable mathematical concepts named after Banach include Banach spaces, Banach algebras, the BanachTarski paradox, the HahnBanach theorem, the BanachSteinhaus theorem, the Banach-Mazur game, the BanachAlaoglu theorem and the Banach fixed-point theorem.

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Life
Early life
Stefan Banach was born on 30 March 1892 at St. Lazarus General Hospital in Krakw, then part of Austro-Hungarian Empire. Banach's parents were Stefan Greczek and Katarzyna Banach, both natives of the Podhale region.[] Greczek was a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army stationed in Krakw. Little is known about Banach's mother.[] Unusually, Stefan's surname was that of his mother instead of his father, though he received his father's given name, Stefan. Since Stefan Greczek was a private and was prevented by military regulations from marrying, and the mother was too poor to support the child, the couple decided that he should be reared by family and friends.[][][] Stefan spent the first few years of his life with his grandmother, but when she took ill Greczek arranged for his son to be raised by Franciszka Powa and her niece Maria Puchalska in Krakw. Young Stefan would regard Franciszka as his foster mother and Maria as his older sister.[] In his early years Banach was tutored by Juliusz Mien, a French intellectual and friend of the Powa family, who had emigrated to Poland and supported himself with photography and translations of Polish literature into French. Mien taught Banach French and most likely encouraged him in his early mathematical pursuits.[] In 1902 Banach, aged 10, enrolled in Krakw's Henryk Sienkiewicz Gymnasium (also known as the Goetz Gymnasium). While the school specialized in the humanities, Banach and his best friend Witold Wikosz (also a future mathematician) spent most of their time working on mathematics problems during breaks and after school.[] Later in life Banach would credit Dr. Kamil Kraft, the mathematics and physics teacher at the gymnasium with kindling his interests in mathematics.[1] While generally Banach was a diligent student he did on occasion receive low grades (he failed Greek during his first semester at the gymnasium) and would later speak critically of the school's math teachers.[] After obtaining his matura (high school degree) at age 18 in 1910 Banach, together with Wikosz, moved to Lww with the intention of studying at the Lww Polytechnic. He initially chose engineering as his field of study since at the time he was convinced that there was nothing new to discover in mathematics.[2] At some point he also attended Jagiellonian University in Krakw on a part-time basis. As Banach had to earn money to support his studies it was not until 1914 that he finally, at age 22, passed his high school graduation exams.[] When World War I broke out, Banach was excused from military service due to his left-handedness and poor vision. When the Russian Army opened its offensive toward Lww, Banach left for Krakw, where he spent rest of the war. He made his living as a tutor at the local gymnasiums, worked in a bookstore and as a foreman of road building crew. He may have attended lectures at the Jagiellonian University at that time, including those of the famous Polish mathematician Stanisaw Zaremba (mathematician), but little is known of that period of his life.[]

Discovery by Steinhaus
In 1916, in Krakw's Planty gardens, Banach encountered Professor Hugo Steinhaus, one of the renowned mathematicians of the time. According to Steinhaus, while he was strolling through the gardens he was surprised to over hear the term "Lebesgue measure" (Lebesgue integration was at the time still a fairly new idea in mathematics) and walked over to investigate. As a result he met Banach, as well as Otto Nikodym and Wilkosz.[3] Steinhaus became fascinated with the self-taught young mathematician. The encounter resulted in a long-lasting collaboration and friendship. In fact, soon after the encounter Steinhaus invited Banach to solve some problems he had been working on but which had proven difficult. Banach solved them within a week and the two soon published their first joint work (On the Mean Convergence of Fourier Series). Steinhaus, Banach and Nikodym, along with several other Krakw mathematicians (Wadysaw lebodziski, Leon Chwistek, Jan Kro, and Wodzimierz Stoek) also established a mathematical society, which eventually became the Polish Mathematical Society.[] The society was officially founded on April 2, 1919. It was also through Steinhaus that Banach met his future wife, ucja Braus.

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Interbellum
Steinhaus introduced Banach to academic circles and substantially accelerated his career. After Poland regained independence, in 1920 Banach was given an assistantship at Krakw's Jagiellonian University. Steinhaus' backing also allowed him to receive a doctorate without actually graduating from a university. The doctoral thesis, accepted by King John II Casimir University of Lww in 1920 [] and published in 1922,[] included the basic ideas of functional analysis, which was soon to become an entirely new branch of mathematics. The thesis was widely discussed in academic circles and allowed him in 1922 to become a professor at Scottish Caf, meeting place of many famous Lww the Lww Polytechnic. Initially an assistant to Professor Antoni mathematicians omnicki, in 1927 Banach received his own chair. In 1924 he was also accepted as a member of the Polish Academy of Learning. At the same time, from 1922, Banach also headed the second Chair of Mathematics at University of Lww. Young and talented, Banach gathered around him a large group of mathematicians. The group, meeting in the Scottish Caf, soon gave birth to the "Lww School of Mathematics". In 1929 the group began publishing its own journal, Studia Mathematica, devoted primarily to Banach's field of study functional analysis. Around that time, Banach also began working on his best-known work, the first monograph on the general theory of linear-metric space. First published in Polish in 1931,[4] the following year it was also translated into French and gained wider recognition in European academic circles.[5] The book was also the first in a long series of mathematics monographs edited by Banach and his circle.

World War II
Following the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Lww came under the control of the Soviet Union for almost two years. Banach, from 1939 a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and on good terms with Soviet mathematicians,[] had to promise to learn Ukrainian to be allowed to keep his chair and continue his academic activities.[] Following the German takeover of Lww in 1941 during Operation Barbarossa, all universities were closed and Banach, along with many colleagues and his son, was employed as lice feeder at Professor Rudolf Weigl's Typhus Research Institute. Employment in Weigl's Institute provided many unemployed university professors and their associates protection from random arrest and deportation to Nazi concentration camps.

Banach's grave, Lychakiv Cemetery, Lviv (formerly Lww)

After the Red Army recaptured Lviv in the LvovSandomierz Offensive of 1944, Banach returned to the University and helped re-establish it after the war years. However, because the Soviets were removing Poles from annexed formerly Polish territories, Banach began preparing to leave the city and settle in Krakw, Poland, where he had been promised a chair at the Jagiellonian University.[] He was also considered a candidate for Minister of Education of Poland.[] In January 1945, however, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and was allowed to stay in Lww. He died on August 31, 1945, aged 53. His funeral at the Lychakiv Cemetery was attended by hundreds of people.[]

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Contributions

Decomposition of a ball into two identical balls - the Banach-Tarski paradox.

Banach's dissertation, completed in 1920 and published in 1922, formally axiomatized the concept of a complete normed vector space and laid the foundations for the area of functional analysis. In this work Banach called such spaces "class E-spaces", but in his 1932 book, Thorie des oprations linaires, he changed terminology and referred to them as "spaces of type B", which most likely contributed to the subsequent eponymous naming of these spaces after him.[] The theory of what came to be known as Banach spaces had antecedents in the work of the Hungarian mathematician Frigyes Riesz (published in 1916) and contemporaneous contributions from Hans Hahn and Norbert Wiener.[] For a brief period in fact, complete normed linear spaces where referred to as "Banach-Wiener" spaces in mathematical literature, based on terminology introduced by Wiener himself. However, because Wiener's work on the topic was limited, the established name became just Banach spaces.[] Likewise, Banach's fixed point theorem, based on earlier methods developed by Charles mile Picard, was included in his dissertation, and was later extended by his students (for example in the BanachSchauder theorem) and other mathematicians (in particular Brouwer and Poincar and Birkhoff). The theorem did not require linearity of the space, and applied to any Cauchy space (complete metric space).[] The HahnBanach theorem, is one of fundamental theorems of functional analysis.[] BanachTarski paradox BanachSteinhaus theorem BanachAlaoglu theorem BanachStone theorem

Quotes
Stanislaw Ulam, another mathematician of the Lww School of Mathematics, in his autobiography, quotes Banach as saying: "Good mathematicians see analogies. Great mathematicians see analogies between analogies." Hugo Steinhaus said of Banach: "An exceptional intellect, exceptional discoveries... he gave Polish science... more than anybody else." "Banach was my greatest scientific discovery."

Notes
[1] [2] [3] [4] , p. 4 , p.5 , p. 6 Stefan Banach: Teoria operacji liniowych. Banach monument, Krakw

[5] Stefan Banach: Thorie des oprations linaires (in French; Theory of Linear Operations).

Stefan Banach

65

References
Jahnke, Hans Niels (2003). A History of Analysis. American Mathematical Society. ISBN0821826239. Jakimowicz, E.; Miranowicz, A., eds. (2007). Stefan Banach - Remarkable life, Brilliant mathematics (http:// kielich.amu.edu.pl/Stefan_Banach/e-jakimowicz_miranowicz.html). Gdask University Press and Adam Mickiewicz University Press. ISBN978-83-7326-451-9. James, Ioan (2003). Remarkable Mathematicians: From Euler to von Neumann. Cambridge University Press. ISBN0521520940. Kaua, Roman (1996). Through a Reporter's Eyes: The Life of Stefan Banach (http://books.google.com/ ?id=i3ZrfMinChkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Stefan+Banach#PPP1,M1). Translated by Wojbor Andrzej Woyczyski and Ann Kostant. Birkhuser. ISBN0-8176-3772-9. Kosiedowski, Stanisaw. "Stefan Banach" (http://www.lwow.com.pl/m.htm). Mj Lww. Retrieved 2008-05-20. O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F. (2000). "Stefan Banach" (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Biographies/Banach.html). MacTutor History of Mathematics archive. University of St. Andrews. Retrieved August 19, 2012. Siegmund-Schultze, Reinhard (2003). Jahnke, Hans Niels, ed. A History of Analysis (http://books.google.com/ books?id=CVRZEXFVsZkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=A+History+of+Analysis&source=bl& ots=iczA6zzuXi&sig=R7ow1euyozHBPXr7S5uqEx3s7sU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jlwxUJSEE6SiywG1ioDICg& ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=A History of Analysis&f=false). American Mathematical Society. ISBN0-8218-2623-9. MacCluer, Barbara (2008). Elementary Functional Analysis. Springer. ISBN0387855289. Urbaniak, Mariusz (April 2002). "Geniusz: gen i ju" (http://www.lwow.com.pl/g8.htm). Polityka 8 (2348). Waksmundzka-Hajnos, Monika (2006). "Wspomnienie o Stefanie Greczku" (http://kielich.amu.edu.pl/ Stefan_Banach/greczek.html). Focus (Gdask University) (11).

External links
Page devoted to Stefan Banach (http://kielich.amu.edu.pl/Stefan_Banach/e-index.html) Stefan Banach (http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=12681) at the Mathematics Genealogy Project Works by or about Stefan Banach (http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n86-118445) in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Simon Denis Poisson

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Simon Denis Poisson

Simon Poisson

Simon Denis Poisson (1781-1840) Born 21 June 1781 Pithiviers, Orlanais, Kingdom of France (present-day Loiret, France) 25 April 1840 (aged58) Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, Kingdom of France France Mathematics cole Polytechnique Bureau des Longitudes Facult des Sciences cole de Saint-Cyr cole Polytechnique Joseph-Louis Lagrange Pierre-Simon Laplace Michel Chasles Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet Joseph Liouville

Died

Nationality Fields Institutions

Alma mater Doctoral advisor

Doctoral students

Other notablestudents Nicolas Lonard Sadi Carnot Knownfor Poisson process Poisson equation Poisson kernel Poisson distribution Poisson bracket Poisson algebra Poisson regression Poisson summation formula Poisson's spot Poisson's ratio Poisson zeros ConwayMaxwellPoisson distribution EulerPoissonDarboux equation

Classical mechanics

Simon Denis Poisson

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History Timeline

Simon Denis Poisson (French:[si.me. d.ni pwa.s]; 21 June 1781 25 April 1840), was a French mathematician, geometer, and physicist. He obtained many important results, but within the elite Acadmie des Sciences he also was the final leading opponent of the wave theory of light and was proven wrong on that matter by Augustin-Jean Fresnel.

Biography
Poisson was born in Pithiviers, Loiret, the son of soldier Simon Poisson. In 1798, he entered the cole Polytechnique in Paris as first in his year, and immediately began to attract the notice of the professors of the school, who left him free to make his own decisions as to what he would study. In 1800, less than two years after his entry, he published two memoirs, one on tienne Bzout's method of elimination, the other on the number of integrals of a finite difference equation. The latter was examined by Sylvestre-Franois Lacroix and Adrien-Marie Legendre, who recommended that it should be published in the Recueil des savants trangers, an unprecedented honour for a youth of eighteen. This success at once procured entry for Poisson into scientific circles. Joseph Louis Lagrange, whose lectures on the theory of functions he attended at the cole Polytechnique, recognized his talent early on, and became his friend (the Mathematics Genealogy Project lists Lagrange as his advisor, but this may be an approximation); while Pierre-Simon Laplace, in whose footsteps Poisson followed, regarded him almost as his son. The rest of his career, till his death in Sceaux near Paris, was nearly occupied by the composition and publication of his many works and in fulfilling the duties of the numerous educational positions to which he was successively appointed. Immediately after finishing his studies at the cole Polytechnique, he was appointed rptiteur (teaching assistant) there, a position which he had occupied as an amateur while still a pupil in the school; for his schoolmates had made a custom of visiting him in his room after an unusually difficult lecture to hear him repeat and explain it. He was made deputy professor (professeur supplant) in 1802, and, in 1806 full professor succeeding Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier, whom Napoleon had sent to Grenoble. In 1808 he became astronomer to the Bureau des Longitudes; and when the Facult des Sciences was instituted in 1809 he was appointed professor of rational mechanics (professeur de mcanique rationelle). He went on to become a member of the Institute in 1812, examiner at the military school (cole Militaire) at Saint-Cyr in 1815, graduation examiner at the cole Polytechnique in 1816, councillor of the university in 1820, and geometer to the Bureau des Longitudes succeeding Pierre-Simon Laplace in 1827. In 1817, he married Nancy de Bardi and with her he had four children. His father, whose early experiences had led him to hate aristocrats, bred him in the stern creed of the First Republic. Throughout the Revolution, the Empire, and the following restoration, Poisson was not interested in politics, concentrating on mathematics. He was appointed to the dignity of baron in 1821; but he neither took out the diploma or used the title. In March 1818, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society[1] and in 1823 a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The revolution of July 1830 threatened him with the loss of all his honours; but this disgrace to the government of Louis-Philippe was adroitly averted by Franois Jean Dominique Arago, who, while his "revocation" was being plotted by the council of ministers, procured him an invitation to dine at the Palais Royal, where he was openly and effusively received by the citizen king, who "remembered" him. After this, of course, his degradation was impossible, and seven years later he was made a peer of France, not for political reasons, but as a representative of French science. As a teacher of mathematics Poisson is said to have been extraordinarily successful, as might have been expected from his early promise as a rptiteur at the cole Polytechnique. As a scientific worker, his productivity has rarely if ever been equalled. Notwithstanding his many official duties, he found time to publish more than three hundred works, several of them extensive treatises, and many of them memoirs dealing with the most abstruse branches of

Simon Denis Poisson pure mathematics, applied mathematics, mathematical physics, and rational mechanics. (Arago attributed to him the quote, "Life is good for only two things: doing mathematics and teaching it."[2]) A list of Poisson's works, drawn up by himself, is given at the end of Arago's biography. All that is possible is a brief mention of the more important ones. It was in the application of mathematics to physics that his greatest services to science were performed. Perhaps the most original, and certainly the most permanent in their influence, were his memoirs on the theory of electricity and magnetism, which virtually created a new branch of mathematical physics. Next (or in the opinion of some, first) in importance stand the memoirs on celestial mechanics, in which he proved himself a worthy successor to Pierre-Simon Laplace. The most important of these are his memoirs Sur les ingalits sculaires des moyens mouvements des plantes, Sur la variation des constantes arbitraires dans les questions de mcanique, both published in the Journal of the cole Polytechnique (1809); Sur la libration de la lune, in Connaissances des temps (1821), etc.; and Sur le mouvement de la terre autour de son centre de gravit, in Mmoires de l'Acadmie (1827), etc. In the first of these memoirs, Poisson discusses the famous question of the stability of the planetary orbits, which had already been settled by Lagrange to the first degree of approximation for the disturbing forces. Poisson showed that the result could be extended to a second approximation, and thus made an important advance in planetary theory. The memoir is remarkable inasmuch as it roused Lagrange, after an interval of inactivity, to compose in his old age one of the greatest of his memoirs, entitled Sur la thorie des variations des lments des plantes, et en particulier des variations des grands axes de leurs orbites. So highly did he think of Poisson's memoir that he made a copy of it with his own hand, which was found among his papers after his death. Poisson made important contributions to the theory of attraction. His name is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.

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Contributions
Poisson's well-known correction of Laplace's second order partial differential equation for potential:

today named after him Poisson's equation or the potential theory equation, was first published in the Bulletin de la socit philomatique (1813). If a function of a given point = 0, we get Laplace's equation:

In 1812 Poisson discovered that Laplace's equation is valid only outside of a solid. A rigorous proof for masses with variable density was first given by Carl Friedrich Gauss in 1839. Both equations have their equivalents in vector algebra. Poisson's equation for the divergence of the gradient of a scalar field, in 3-dimensional space is:

Consider for instance Poisson's equation for surface electrical potential, as a function of the density of electric charge, e at a particular point:

The distribution of a charge in a fluid is unknown and we have to use the Poisson-Boltzmann equation:

which in most cases cannot be solved analytically. In polar coordinates the Poisson-Boltzmann equation is:

which also cannot be solved analytically. If a field, is not scalar, the Poisson equation is valid, as can be for example in 4-dimensional Minkowski space:

Simon Denis Poisson

69

If (x, y, z) is a continuous function and if for r (or if a point 'moves' to infinity) a function goes to 0 fast enough, a solution of Poisson's equation is the Newtonian potential of a function (x, y, z):

where r is a distance between a volume element dv and a point M. The integration runs over the whole space. Another "Poisson's integral" is the solution for the Green function for Laplace's equation with Dirichlet condition over a circular disk:

where

is a boundary condition holding on the disk's boundary. In the same manner, we define the Green function for the Laplace equation with Dirichlet condition, = 0 over a sphere of radius R. This time the Green function is:

where is the distance of a point (, , ) from the center of a sphere, r is the distance between points (x, y, z) and (, , ), and r1 is the distance between the point (x, y, z) and the point (R/, R/, R/), symmetrical to the point (, , ). Poisson's integral now has a form:

Poisson's two most important memoirs on the subject are Sur l'attraction des sphroides (Connaiss. ft. temps, 1829), and Sur l'attraction d'un ellipsoide homogne (Mim. ft. l'acad., 1835). In concluding our selection from his physical memoirs, we may mention his memoir on the theory of waves (Mm. ft. l'acad., 1825). In pure mathematics, his most important works were his series of memoirs on definite integrals and his discussion of Fourier series, the latter paving the way for the classic researches of Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet and Bernhard Riemann on the same subject; these are to be found in the Journal of the cole Polytechnique from 1813 to 1823, and in the Memoirs de l'Acadmie for 1823. He also studied Fourier integrals. We may also mention his essay on the calculus of variations (Mem. de l'acad., 1833), and his memoirs on the probability of the mean results of observations (Connaiss. d. temps, 1827, &c). The Poisson distribution in probability theory is named after him. In his Trait de mcanique (2 vols. 8vo, 1811 arid 1833), which was written in the style of Laplace and Lagrange and was long a standard work, he showed many novelties such as an explicit usage of momenta:

which influenced the work of Hamilton and Jacobi. Besides his many memoirs, Poisson published a number of treatises, most of which were intended to form part of a great work on mathematical physics, which he did not live to complete. Among these may be mentioned Nouvelle thorie de l'action capillaire (4to, 1831);

Simon Denis Poisson Thorie mathmatique de la chaleur (4to, 1835); Supplement to the same (4to, 1837); Recherches sur la probabilit des jugements en matires criminelles et matire civile (4to, 1837), all published at Paris. A translation of Poisson's Treatise on Mechanics [3] was published in London in 1842. In 1815 Poisson studied integrations along paths in the complex plane. In 1831 he derived the Navier-Stokes equations independently of Claude-Louis Navier.

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Flawed views on the wave theory of light

Poisson, despite his brilliance, had surprising hubris on the wave theory of light. He was a member of the academic "old guard" at the Acadmie franaise, who were staunch believers in the particle theory of light who were alarmed at the wave theory of light's increasing acceptance. In 1818, the Acadmie franaise set their prize as diffraction, being certain that a particle theorist would win it. Poisson, relying on intuition rather than mathematics or scientific experiment, ridiculed participant and civil engineer Augustin-Jean Fresnel when he submitted a thesis explaining diffraction derived from analysis of both the HuygensFresnel principle and Young's double slit experiment. [] Poisson studied Fresnel's theory in detail and of course looked for a way to prove it wrong, as he was a dogmatic supporter of the particle-theory of light. Poisson thought that he had found a flaw when he argued that a consequence of Fresnels theory was that there would exist an on-axis bright spot in the shadow of a circular obstacle blocking a point source of light, where there should be complete darkness according to the particle-theory of light. Fresnel's theory could not be true, Poisson declared, surely this result was absurd. (The Poisson spot is not easily observed in every-day situations, because most everyday sources of light are not good point sources.) However, the head of the committee, Dominique-Franois-Jean Arago, and who incidentally later became Prime Minister of France, did not have the hubris of Poisson and decided it was necessary to perform the experiment in more detail. He molded a 2-mm metallic disk to a glass plate with wax. [] To everyone's surprise he succeeded in observing the predicted spot, which convinced most scientists of the wave-nature of light. In the end Fresnel won the competition, much to Poisson's chagrin. After that, the corpuscular theory of light was vanquished, not to be heard of again, in a very different form, till the 20th century developed wave-particle duality. Arago later noted that the diffraction bright spot (which later became known as both the Arago spot and the Poisson spot) had already been observed by Joseph-Nicolas Delisle [] and Giacomo F. Maraldi [] a century earlier.

References
[2] Franois Arago (1786 - 1853) attributed to Poisson the quote: "La vie n'est bonne qu' deux choses: faire des mathmatiques et les professer." (Life is good for only two things: to do mathematics and to teach it.) See: J.-A. Barral, ed., Oeuvres compltes de Franois Arago ..., vol. II (Paris, France: Gide et J. Baudry, 1854), page 662 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=MRIPAAAAQAAJ& pg=PA662#v=onepage& q& f=false). [3] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=lksn7QwUZsQC& dq=Poisson+ mechanics& as_brr=1& hl=en

O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Simon Denis Poisson" (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac. uk/Biographies/Poisson.html), MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews. Simon Denis Poisson (http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=17865) at the Mathematics Genealogy Project This articleincorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Ladislaus Bortkiewicz

71

Ladislaus Bortkiewicz
Ladislaus Bortkiewicz
Born August 7, 1868 Saint Petersburg, Imperial Russia July 15, 1931 (aged62) Berlin, Germany Economist, Statistician University of Berlin 190131 Professor Alexandrowskii Lyceum 189900 Russian Railways 189701 University of Strasbourg, 18951897 Privatdozent University of Strasbourg, Habilitation 1895 University of Gttingen, Ph.D. 1893 University of Saint Petersburg 1890 Georg Friedrich Knapp (Habil.) Wilhelm Lexis (Ph.D.)

Died

Fields Institutions

Alma mater

Doctoral advisor

Doctoral students Wassily Leontief Knownfor Poisson distribution Transformation problem Karl Marx, Vladimir Karpovich Dmitriev Paul Sweezy

Influences Influenced

Ladislaus Josephovich Bortkiewicz (August 7, 1868 July 15, 1931) was an economist and statistician of Polish ancestry, who lived most of his professional life in Germany, where he taught at Strassburg University (Privatdozent, 18951897) and Berlin University (19011931).

Life and work

Bortkiewicz was born in Saint Petersburg, Imperial Russia, where he graduated from the Law Faculty in 1890. In 1898 he published a book about the Poisson distribution, titled The Law of Small Numbers.[1] In this book he first noted that events with low frequency in a large population follow a Poisson distribution even when the probabilities of the events varied. It was that book that made the Prussian horse-kick data famous. The data give the number of soldiers killed by being kicked by a horse each year in each of 14 cavalry corps over a 20-year period. Bortkiewicz showed that those numbers follow a Poisson distribution. The book also examined data on child-suicides. Some[2] have suggested that the Poisson distribution should have been named the "Bortkiewicz distribution." In political economy, Bortkiewicz is important for his analysis of Karl Marx's reproduction schema in the last two volumes of Capital. Bortkiewicz identified a transformation problem in Marx's work. Making use of Dmitriev's analysis of Ricardo, Bortkiewicz proved that the data used by Marx was sufficient to calculate the general profit rate and relative prices. Though Marx's transformation procedure was not correctbecause it did not calculate prices and profit rate simultaneously, but sequentiallyBortkiewicz has shown that it's possible to get the correct results using the marxian framework, i.e. using the marxian variables constant capital and variable capital it is possible to obtain the profit rate and the relative prices in a 3 sector model. This "correction of the Marxian system" has been the great contribution of Bortkiewicz to classical and Marxian economics but it was completely unnoticed until Paul Sweezy's 1942 book "Theory of Capitalist Development". Piero Sraffa (1960) has provided the complete generalization of the simultaneous method for classical and Marxian analysis.

Ladislaus Bortkiewicz Bortkiewicz died in Berlin, Germany. His papers, including a voluminous correspondence file (some 1,000 letters 18761931), are deposited at Uppsala University in Sweden,[3] except for his correspondence with Lon Walras which went into the collection of the Walras scholar William Jaffe in the USA.

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Major publications
Die mittlere Lebensdauer. Die Methoden ihrer Bestimmung und ihr Verhltnis zur Sterblichkeitsmessung. Gustav Fischer, Jena 1893 (Gttinger Digitalisierungszentrum [4]) "Review of Lon Walras, lments d'conomie politique pure, 2e dit.", 1890, Revue d'conomie politique Das Gesetz der kleinen Zahlen, 1898 "Wertrechnung und Preisrechnung im Marxschen System", 1907, Archiv fur Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik. "On the Correction of Marx's Fundamental Theoretical Construction in the Third Volume of Capital." Die Iterationen, spanish version 1917 [5] Value and Price in the Marxian System, 1952, IEP [6]. "Die Rodbertus'sche Grundrententheorie und die Marx'sche Lehre von der absoluten Grunderenten, from Die Archiv fur die Geschichte des Sozialismus und der Arbeiterbewegung, 1910-11"

Notes
[1] Ladislaus von Bortkiewicz, Das Gesetz der kleinen Zahlen [The law of small numbers] (Leipzig, Germany: B.G. Teubner, 1898). On page 1 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=o_k3AAAAMAAJ& pg=PA1#v=onepage& q& f=false), Bortkiewicz presents the Poisson distribution. On pages 23-25 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=o_k3AAAAMAAJ& pg=PA23#v=onepage& q& f=false), Bortkiewicz presents his famous analysis of "4. Beispiel: Die durch Schlag eines Pferdes im preussischen Heere Getteten." (4. Example: Those killed in the Prussian army by a horse's kick.). On pages 17-20 Bortkiewicz presents his analysis of "1. Beispiel: Die Selbstmorde von Kindern in Preussen." (1. Example: Suicides of children in Prussia.). Bortkiewicz's book is reviewed in: L. v. Bortkewitsch (1898) "Das Gesetz der kleinen Zahlen," Monatshefte fr Mathematik, vol. 9, pages 39-41 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=3sUKAAAAIAAJ& pg=RA1-PA39#v=onepage& q& f=false). [2] p.e. I J Good, Some statistical applications of Poisson's work, Statist. Sci. 1 (2) (1986), 157180. JSTOR link (http:/ / links. jstor. org/ sici?sici=0883-4237(198605)1:2<157:SSAOPW>2. 0. CO;2-I) [3] L.v.Bortkiewicz Archiv, Manuskript & Musik Abteilung, Universittsbibliothek Uppsala, [4] http:/ / resolver. sub. uni-goettingen. de/ purl?PPN527403490 [5] http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / ar. geocities. com/ alfonsoflorido/ bortkiewicz_sobrelatransformacion. pdf& date=2009-10-25+ 00:34:12 [6] http:/ / jphdupre. chez-alice. fr/ livre/ pdf/ bortkiewicz. pdf

References
Joseph Schumpeter: Ladislaus von Bortkiewicz, Economic Journal, Vol. 42 (1932), pp.338340, reprinted in: Ten great economists from Marx to Keynes (New York, 1960), pp.302305 Emil Julius Gumbel: Ladislaus von Bortkiewicz, International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences 2 (New York, 1968), pp.128131. Freely available online at StatProb (http://statprob.com/encyclopedia/ LadislausVonBORTKIEWICZ.html) Paul A. Samuelson. Resolving a Historical Confusion in Population Analysis. Human Biology, 48, 1976: S. 559580.

Ladislaus Bortkiewicz

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External links
Biographical sketch (http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Bortkiewicz.html) on the web site of the University of St. Andrews (in Scotland) Ladislaus von Bortkiewicz (http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2830900542.html) from encyclopedia.com New School: Ladislaus von Bortkiewicz (http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/bortk.htm)

Carl Friedrich Gauss

74

Carl Friedrich Gauss

Carl Friedrich Gauss

Carl Friedrich Gauss (17771855), painted by Christian Albrecht Jensen Born 30 April 1777 Brunswick, Duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbttel, Holy Roman Empire 23 February 1855 (aged77) Gttingen, Kingdom of Hanover Kingdom of Hanover German Mathematics and physics University of Gttingen University of Helmstedt Johann Friedrich Pfaff

Died

Residence Nationality Fields Institutions Alma mater Doctoral advisor

Other academicadvisors Johann Christian Martin Bartels Doctoral students Christoph Gudermann Christian Ludwig Gerling Richard Dedekind Johann Listing Bernhard Riemann Christian Peters Moritz Cantor Johann Encke Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet Gotthold Eisenstein Carl Wolfgang Benjamin Goldschmidt Gustav Kirchhoff Ernst Kummer August Ferdinand Mbius L. C. Schnrlein Julius Weisbach See full list

Other notablestudents

Knownfor

Carl Friedrich Gauss

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Influenced Sophie Germain Ferdinand Minding Copley Medal (1838) Signature

Notable awards

Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (/as/; German: Gau, pronounced [as]( listen); Latin: Carolus Fridericus Gauss) (30 April 1777 23 February 1855) was a German mathematician and physical scientist who contributed significantly to many fields, including number theory, algebra, statistics, analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, geophysics, electrostatics, astronomy and optics. Sometimes referred to as the Princeps mathematicorum[1] (Latin, "the Prince of Mathematicians" or "the foremost of mathematicians") and "greatest mathematician since antiquity", Gauss had a remarkable influence in many fields of mathematics and science and is ranked as one of history's most influential mathematicians.[2]

Early years (17771798)

Carl Friedrich Gauss was born on 30 April 1777 in Brunswick (Braunschweig), in the Duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbttel (now part of Lower Saxony, Germany), as the son of poor working-class parents.[3] Indeed, his mother was illiterate and never recorded the date of his birth, remembering only that he had been born on a Wednesday, eight days before the Feast of the Ascension, which itself occurs 40 days after Easter. Gauss would later solve this puzzle about his birthdate in the context of finding the date of Easter, deriving methods to compute the date in both past and future years.[4] He was christened and confirmed in a church near the school he attended as a child.[5]

Statue of Gauss at his birthplace, Brunswick

Gauss was a child prodigy. There are many anecdotes about his precocity while a toddler, and he made his first ground-breaking mathematical discoveries while still a teenager. He completed Disquisitiones Arithmeticae, his magnum opus, in 1798 at the age of 21, though it was not published until 1801. This work was fundamental in consolidating number theory as a discipline and has shaped the field to the present day. Gauss's intellectual abilities attracted the attention of the Duke of Brunswick,[2] who sent him to the Collegium Carolinum (now Braunschweig University of Technology), which he attended from 1792 to 1795, and to the University of Gttingen from 1795 to 1798. While at university, Gauss independently rediscovered several important theorems;[6] his breakthrough occurred in 1796 when he showed that any regular polygon with a number of sides which is a Fermat prime (and, consequently, those polygons with any number of sides which is the product of distinct Fermat primes and a power of 2) can be constructed by compass and straightedge. This was a major discovery in an important field of mathematics; construction problems had occupied mathematicians since the days of the Ancient Greeks, and the discovery ultimately led Gauss to choose mathematics instead of philology as a career. Gauss was so pleased by this result that he requested that a regular heptadecagon be inscribed on his tombstone. The stonemason declined, stating that the difficult construction would essentially look like a circle.[7] The year 1796 was most productive for both Gauss and number theory. He discovered a construction of the heptadecagon on 30 March.[8] He further advanced modular arithmetic, greatly simplifying manipulations in number theory.[citation needed] On 8 April he became the first to prove the quadratic reciprocity law. This remarkably general

Carl Friedrich Gauss law allows mathematicians to determine the solvability of any quadratic equation in modular arithmetic. The prime number theorem, conjectured on 31May, gives a good understanding of how the prime numbers are distributed among the integers. Gauss also discovered that every positive integer is representable as a sum of at most three triangular numbers on 10 July and then jotted down in his diary the famous note: "-! num=++". On October1 he published a result on the number of solutions of polynomials with coefficients in finite fields, which 150 years later led to the Weil conjectures.

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Middle years (17991830)

In his 1799 doctorate in absentia, A new proof of the theorem that every integral rational algebraic function of one variable can be resolved into real factors of the first or second degree, Gauss proved the fundamental theorem of algebra which states that every non-constant single-variable polynomial with complex coefficients has at least one complex root. Mathematicians including Jean le Rond d'Alembert had produced false proofs before him, and Gauss's dissertation contains a critique of d'Alembert's work. Ironically, by today's standard, Gauss's own attempt is not acceptable, owing to implicit use of the Jordan curve theorem. However, he subsequently produced three other proofs, the last one in 1849 being generally rigorous. His attempts clarified the concept of complex numbers considerably along the way. Gauss also made important contributions to number theory with his 1801 book Disquisitiones Arithmeticae (Latin, Arithmetical Investigations), which, among things, introduced the symbol for congruence and used it in a clean presentation of modular arithmetic, contained the first two proofs of the law of quadratic reciprocity, developed the theories of binary and ternary quadratic forms, stated the class number problem for them, and showed that a regular heptadecagon (17-sided polygon) can be constructed with straightedge and compass. In that same year, Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi discovered the dwarf planet Ceres. Piazzi could only track Ceres for somewhat more than a month, following it for three degrees across the night sky. Then it disappeared temporarily behind the glare of the Sun. Several months later, when Ceres should have reappeared, Piazzi could not locate it: the mathematical tools of the time were not able to extrapolate a position from such a scant amount of datathree degrees represent less than 1% of the total orbit. Gauss, who was 23 at the time, heard about the problem and tackled it. After three months of intense work, he predicted a position for Ceres in December 1801just about a year after its first sightingand this turned out to be accurate within a half-degree when it was rediscovered by Franz Xaver von Zach on 31 December at Gotha, and one day later by Heinrich Olbers in Bremen. Gauss's method involved determining a conic section in space, given one focus (the Sun) and the conic's intersection with three given lines (lines of sight from the Earth, which is itself moving on an ellipse, to the planet) and given the time it takes the planet to traverse the arcs Title page of Gauss's Disquisitiones Arithmeticae determined by these lines (from which the lengths of the arcs can be calculated by Kepler's Second Law). This problem leads to an equation of the eighth degree, of which one solution, the Earth's orbit, is known. The solution sought is then separated from the remaining six based on physical conditions. In this work Gauss used comprehensive approximation methods which he created for that purpose.[9]

Carl Friedrich Gauss One such method was the fast Fourier transform. While this method is traditionally attributed to a 1965 paper by J. W. Cooley and J. W. Tukey, Gauss developed it as a trigonometric interpolation method. His paper, Theoria Interpolationis Methodo Nova Tractata [10], was only published posthumously in Volume 3 of his collected works. This paper predates the first presentation by Joseph Fourier on the subject in 1807.[11] Zach noted that "without the intelligent work and calculations of Doctor Gauss we might not have found Ceres again". Though Gauss had up to that point been financially supported by his stipend from the Duke, he doubted the security of this arrangement, and also did not believe pure mathematics to be important enough to deserve support. Thus he sought a position in astronomy, and in 1807 was appointed Professor of Astronomy and Director of the astronomical observatory in Gttingen, a post he held for the remainder of his life. The discovery of Ceres led Gauss to his work on a theory of the motion of planetoids disturbed by large planets, eventually published in 1809 as Theoria motus corporum coelestium in sectionibus conicis solem ambientum (Theory of motion of the celestial bodies moving in conic sections around the Sun). In the process, he so streamlined the cumbersome mathematics of 18th century orbital prediction that his work remains a cornerstone of astronomical computation.[citation needed] It introduced the Gaussian gravitational constant, and contained an influential treatment of the method of least squares, a procedure used in all sciences to this day to minimize the impact of measurement error. Gauss proved the method under the assumption of normally distributed errors (see GaussMarkov theorem; see also Gaussian). The method had been described earlier by Adrien-Marie Legendre in 1805, but Gauss claimed that he had been using it since 1795.[citation needed] In 1818 Gauss, putting his calculation skills to practical use, carried out a geodesic survey of the Kingdom of Hanover, linking up with previous Danish surveys. To aid the survey, Gauss invented the heliotrope, an instrument that uses a mirror to reflect sunlight over great distances, to measure positions. Gauss also claimed to have discovered the possibility of non-Euclidean geometries but never published it. This discovery was a major paradigm shift in mathematics, as it freed mathematicians from the mistaken belief that Euclid's axioms were the only way to make geometry consistent and non-contradictory. Research on these geometries led to, among other things, Einstein's theory of general relativity, which describes the universe as non-Euclidean. His friend Farkas Wolfgang Bolyai with whom Gauss had sworn "brotherhood Gauss' portrait published in Astronomische and the banner of truth" as a student, had tried in vain for many years Nachrichten 1828 to prove the parallel postulate from Euclid's other axioms of geometry. Bolyai's son, Jnos Bolyai, discovered non-Euclidean geometry in 1829; his work was published in 1832. After seeing it, Gauss wrote to Farkas Bolyai: "To praise it would amount to praising myself. For the entire content of the work... coincides almost exactly with my own meditations which have occupied my mind for the past thirty or thirty-five years."

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Carl Friedrich Gauss

78 This unproved statement put a strain on his relationship with Jnos Bolyai (who thought that Gauss was "stealing" his idea), but it is now generally taken at face value.[] Letters from Gauss years before 1829 reveal him obscurely discussing the problem of parallel lines. Waldo Dunnington, a biographer of Gauss, argues in Gauss, Titan of Science that Gauss was in fact in full possession of non-Euclidean geometry long before it was published by Jnos Bolyai, but that he refused to publish any of it because of his fear of controversy.

The geodetic survey of Hanover, which required Gauss to spend summers traveling on horseback for a decade,[12] fueled Gauss's interest in differential geometry, a field of mathematics dealing with curves and surfaces. Among other things he came up with the notion of Gaussian curvature. This led in 1828 to an important theorem, the Theorema Egregium (remarkable theorem), establishing an important property of the notion of curvature. Informally, the theorem says that the curvature of a surface can be determined entirely by measuring angles and distances on the surface. That is, curvature does not depend on how the surface might be embedded in 3-dimensional space or 2-dimensional space.
Four Gaussian distributions in statistics

In 1821, he was made a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Later years and death (18311855)

In 1831 Gauss developed a fruitful collaboration with the physics professor Wilhelm Weber, leading to new knowledge in magnetism (including finding a representation for the unit of magnetism in terms of mass, length and time) and the discovery of Kirchhoff's circuit laws in electricity. It was during this time that he formulated his namesake law. They constructed the first electromechanical telegraph in 1833, which connected the observatory with the institute for physics in Gttingen. Gauss ordered a magnetic observatory to be built in the garden of the observatory, and with Weber founded the "Magnetischer Verein" (magnetic club in German), which supported measurements of Earth's magnetic field in many regions of the world. He developed a method of measuring the horizontal intensity of the magnetic field which was in use well into the second half of the 20th century, and worked out the mathematical theory for separating the inner and outer (magnetospheric) sources of Earth's magnetic field. In 1840, Gauss published his influential Dioptrische Untersuchungen,[] in which he gave the first systematic analysis on the formation of images under a paraxial approximation (Gaussian optics).[] Among his results, Gauss showed that under a paraxial approximation an optical system can be characterized by its cardinal points[] and he derived the Gaussian lens formula.[]

Daguerreotype of Gauss on his deathbed, 1855.

Grave of Gauss at Albanifriedhof in Gttingen, Germany.

In 1854, Gauss notably selected the topic for Bernhard Riemann's now famous Habilitationvortrag, ber die Hypothesen, welche der Geometrie zu Grunde liegen.[] On the way home from Riemann's lecture, Weber reported that Gauss was full of praise and excitement.[] Gauss died in Gttingen, in the Kingdom of Hanover (now part of Lower Saxony, Germany) in 1855 and is interred in the Albanifriedhof cemetery there. Two individuals gave eulogies at his funeral: Gauss's son-in-law Heinrich

Carl Friedrich Gauss Ewald and Wolfgang Sartorius von Waltershausen, who was Gauss's close friend and biographer. His brain was preserved and was studied by Rudolf Wagner who found its mass to be 1,492grams (slightly above average) and the cerebral area equal to 219,588 square millimeters[13] (340.362 square inches). Highly developed convolutions were also found, which in the early 20th century was suggested as the explanation of his genius.[]

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Religion
Bhler writes that, according to correspondence with Rudolf Wagner, Gauss did not appear to believe in a personal God.[] He was said to be a deist.[][] He further asserts that although Gauss firmly believed in the immortality of the soul and in some sort of life after death, it was not in a fashion that could be interpreted as Christian since Gauss explained to Wagner that he didn't believe in the Bible.[14][][15][16][17] According to Dunnington, Gauss's religion was based upon the search for truth. He believed in "the immortality of the spiritual individuality, in a personal permanence after death, in a last order of things, in an eternal, righteous, omniscient and omnipotent God". Gauss also upheld religious tolerance, believing it wrong to disturb others who were at peace with their own beliefs.[2]

Family
Gauss's personal life was overshadowed by the early death of his first wife, Johanna Osthoff, in 1809, soon followed by the death of one child, Louis. Gauss plunged into a depression from which he never fully recovered. He married again, to Johanna's best friend named Friederica Wilhelmine Waldeck but commonly known as Minna. When his second wife died in 1831 after a long illness,[18] one of his daughters, Therese, took over the household and cared for Gauss until the end of his life. His mother lived in his house from 1817 until her death in 1839.[2] Gauss had six children. With Johanna (17801809), his children were Joseph (18061873), Wilhelmina (18081846) and Louis (18091810). Of all of Gauss's children, Wilhelmina was said to have come closest to his talent, but she died young. With Minna Waldeck he also had three children: Eugene (18111896), Wilhelm (18131879) and Therese (18161864). Eugene shared a good measure of Gauss' talent in languages and computation.[] Therese kept house for Gauss until his death, after which she married.

Gauss' daughter Therese (18161864)

Gauss eventually had conflicts with his sons. He did not want any of his sons to enter mathematics or science for "fear of lowering the family name".[] Gauss wanted Eugene to become a lawyer, but Eugene wanted to study languages. They had an argument over a party Eugene held, which Gauss refused to pay for. The son left in anger and, in about 1832, emigrated to the United States, where he was quite successful. Wilhelm also settled in Missouri, starting as a farmer and later becoming wealthy in the shoe business in St. Louis. It took many years for Eugene's success to counteract his reputation among Gauss's friends and colleagues. See also the letter from Robert Gauss to Felix Klein on 3 September 1912.

Carl Friedrich Gauss

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Personality
Gauss was an ardent perfectionist and a hard worker. He was never a prolific writer, refusing to publish work which he did not consider complete and above criticism. This was in keeping with his personal motto pauca sed matura ("few, but ripe"). His personal diaries indicate that he had made several important mathematical discoveries years or decades before his contemporaries published them. Mathematical historian Eric Temple Bell estimated that, had Gauss published all of his discoveries in a timely manner, he would have advanced mathematics by fifty years.[19] Though he did take in a few students, Gauss was known to dislike teaching. It is said that he attended only a single scientific conference, which was in Berlin in 1828. However, several of his students became influential mathematicians, among them Richard Dedekind, Bernhard Riemann, and Friedrich Bessel. Before she died, Sophie Germain was recommended by Gauss to receive her honorary degree. Gauss usually declined to present the intuition behind his often very elegant proofshe preferred them to appear "out of thin air" and erased all traces of how he discovered them.[citation needed] This is justified, if unsatisfactorily, by Gauss in his "Disquisitiones Arithmeticae", where he states that all analysis (i.e., the paths one travelled to reach the solution of a problem) must be suppressed for sake of brevity. Gauss supported the monarchy and opposed Napoleon, whom he saw as an outgrowth of revolution.

Anecdotes
There are several stories of his early genius. According to one, his gifts became very apparent at the age of three when he corrected, mentally and without fault in his calculations, an error his father had made on paper while calculating finances. Another famous story has it that in primary school after the young Gauss misbehaved, his teacher, J.G. Bttner, gave him a task : add a list of integers in arithmetic progression; as the story is most often told, these were the numbers from 1 to 100. The young Gauss reputedly produced the correct answer within seconds, to the astonishment of his teacher and his assistant Martin Bartels. Gauss's presumed method was to realize that pairwise addition of terms from opposite ends of the list yielded identical intermediate sums: 1+100=101, 2+99=101, 3+98=101, and so on, for a total sum of 50101=5050. However, the details of the story are at best uncertain (see[20] for discussion of the original Wolfgang Sartorius von Waltershausen source and the changes in other versions); some authors, such as Joseph Rotman in his book A first course in Abstract Algebra, question whether it ever happened. According to Isaac Asimov, Gauss was once interrupted in the middle of a problem and told that his wife was dying. He is purported to have said, "Tell her to wait a moment till I'm done."[21] This anecdote is briefly discussed in G. Waldo Dunnington's Gauss, Titan of Science where it is suggested that it is an apocryphal story. He referred to mathematics as "the queen of sciences"[22] and supposedly once espoused a belief in the necessity of immediately understanding Euler's identity as a benchmark pursuant to becoming a first-class mathematician.[]

Carl Friedrich Gauss

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Commemorations
From 1989 through 2001, Gauss's portrait, a normal distribution curve and some prominent Gttingen buildings were featured on the German ten-mark banknote. The reverse featured the approach for Hanover. Germany has also issued three postage stamps honoring Gauss. One (no. 725) appeared in 1955 on the hundredth anniversary of his death; two others, nos. 1246 and 1811, in 1977, the 200th anniversary of his birth. Daniel Kehlmann's 2005 novel Die Vermessung der Welt, translated into English as Measuring the World (2006), explores Gauss's life and work through a lens of historical fiction, contrasting them with those of the German explorer Alexander von Humboldt. A film version directed by Detlev Buck was released in 2012.[23] In 2007 a bust of Gauss was placed in the Walhalla temple.[24] Things named in honor of Gauss include: The Gauss Prize, one of the highest honors in mathematics Degaussing, the process of eliminating a magnetic field The CGS unit for magnetic field was named gauss in his honour The crater Gauss on the Moon[25] Asteroid 1001 Gaussia The ship Gauss, used in the Gauss expedition to the Antarctic Gaussberg, an extinct volcano discovered by the above mentioned expedition Gauss Tower, an observation tower in Dransfeld, Germany In Canadian junior high schools, an annual national mathematics competition (Gauss Mathematics Competition) administered by the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing is named in honour of Gauss In University of California, Santa Cruz, in Crown College, a dormitory building is named after him The Gauss Haus, an NMR center at the University of Utah The Carl-Friedrich-Gau School for Mathematics, Computer Science, Business Administration, Economics, and Social Sciences of Braunschweig University of Technology The Gauss Building at the University of Idaho (College of Engineering) In 1929 the Polish mathematician Marian Rejewski, who would solve the German Enigma cipher machine in December 1932, began studying actuarial statistics at Gttingen. At the request of his Pozna University professor, Zdzisaw Krygowski, on arriving at Gttingen Rejewski laid flowers on Gauss's grave.[26]
Gauss (aged about 26) on East German stamp produced in 1977. Next to him: heptadecagon, compass and straightedge.

German 10-Deutsche Mark Banknote (1993; discontinued) featuring Gauss

Writings
1799: Doctoral dissertation on the Fundamental theorem of algebra, with the title: Demonstratio nova theorematis omnem functionem algebraicam rationalem integram unius variabilis in factores reales primi vel secundi gradus resolvi posse ("New proof of the theorem that every integral algebraic function of one variable can be resolved into real factors (i.e., polynomials) of the first or second degree") 1801: Disquisitiones Arithmeticae (Latin). A German translation [27] by H. Maser Untersuchungen ber hhere Arithmetik (Disquisitiones Arithmeticae & other papers on number theory) (Second edition). New York: Chelsea. 1965. ISBN0-8284-0191-8, pp.1453. English translation by Arthur A. Clarke Disquisitiones Arithemeticae (Second, corrected edition). New York: Springer. 1986. ISBN0-387-96254-9.

Carl Friedrich Gauss 1808: Theorematis arithmetici demonstratio nova. Gttingen: Comment. Soc. regiae sci, Gttingen XVI. German translation by H. Maser Untersuchungen ber hhere Arithmetik (Disquisitiones Arithmeticae & other papers on number theory) (Second edition). New York: Chelsea. 1965. ISBN0-8284-0191-8, pp.457462 [Introduces Gauss's lemma, uses it in the third proof of quadratic reciprocity] 1809: Theoria Motus Corporum Coelestium in sectionibus conicis solem ambientium [28] (Theorie der Bewegung der Himmelskrper, die die Sonne in Kegelschnitten umkreisen), English translation by C. H. Davis, reprinted 1963, Dover, New York. 1811: Summatio serierun quarundam singularium. Gttingen: Comment. Soc. regiae sci, Gttingen. German translation by H. Maser Untersuchungen ber hhere Arithmetik (Disquisitiones Arithmeticae & other papers on number theory) (Second edition). New York: Chelsea. 1965. ISBN0-8284-0191-8, pp.463495 [Determination of the sign of the quadratic Gauss sum, uses this to give the fourth proof of quadratic reciprocity] 1812: Disquisitiones Generales Circa Seriem Infinitam 1818: Theorematis fundamentallis in doctrina de residuis quadraticis demonstrationes et amplicationes novae. Gttingen: Comment. Soc. regiae sci, Gttingen. German translation by H. Maser Untersuchungen ber hhere Arithmetik (Disquisitiones Arithmeticae & other papers on number theory) (Second edition). New York: Chelsea. 1965. ISBN0-8284-0191-8, pp.496510 [Fifth and sixth proofs of quadratic reciprocity] 1821, 1823 and 1826: Theoria combinationis observationum erroribus minimis obnoxiae. Drei Abhandlungen betreffend die Wahrscheinlichkeitsrechnung als Grundlage des Gau'schen Fehlerfortpflanzungsgesetzes. (Three essays concerning the calculation of probabilities as the basis of the Gaussian law of error propagation) English translation by G. W. Stewart, 1987, Society for Industrial Mathematics. 1827: Disquisitiones generales circa superficies curvas [29], Commentationes Societatis Regiae Scientiarum Gottingesis Recentiores. Volume VI, pp.99146. "General Investigations of Curved Surfaces [30]" (published 1965) Raven Press, New York, translated by A.M.Hiltebeitel and J.C.Morehead. 1828: Theoria residuorum biquadraticorum, Commentatio prima. Gttingen: Comment. Soc. regiae sci, Gttingen 6. German translation by H. Maser Untersuchungen ber hhere Arithmetik (Disquisitiones Arithmeticae & other papers on number theory) (Second edition). New York: Chelsea. 1965. ISBN0-8284-0191-8, pp.511533 [Elementary facts about biquadratic residues, proves one of the supplements of the law of biquadratic reciprocity (the biquadratic character of 2)] 1832: Theoria residuorum biquadraticorum, Commentatio secunda. Gttingen: Comment. Soc. regiae sci, Gttingen 7. German translation by H. Maser Untersuchungen ber hhere Arithmetik (Disquisitiones Arithmeticae & other papers on number theory) (Second edition). New York: Chelsea. 1965. ISBN0-8284-0191-8, pp.534586 [Introduces the Gaussian integers, states (without proof) the law of biquadratic reciprocity, proves the supplementary law for 1 + i] 1843/44: Untersuchungen ber Gegenstnde der Hheren Geodsie. Erste Abhandlung [31], Abhandlungen der Kniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften in Gttingen. Zweiter Band [32], pp.346 1846/47: Untersuchungen ber Gegenstnde der Hheren Geodsie. Zweite Abhandlung [33], Abhandlungen der Kniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften in Gttingen. Dritter Band [34], pp.344 Mathematisches Tagebuch 17961814, Ostwaldts Klassiker, Harri Deutsch Verlag 2005, mit Anmerkungen von Neumamn, ISBN 978-3-8171-3402-1 (English translation with annotations by Jeremy Gray: Expositiones Math. 1984) Gauss' collective works are online here [35] This includes German translations of Latin texts and commentaries by various authorities

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Notes
[2] Dunnington, G. Waldo. (May 1927). " The Sesquicentennial of the Birth of Gauss (http:/ / www. mathsong. com/ cfgauss/ Dunnington/ 1927/ )". Scientific Monthly XXIV: 402414. Retrieved on 29 June 2005. Comprehensive biographical article. [7] Pappas, Theoni: Mathematical Snippets, Page 42. Pgw 2008 [8] Carl Friedrich Gauss 365366 in Disquisitiones Arithmeticae. Leipzig, Germany, 1801. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1965. [10] http:/ / lseet. univ-tln. fr/ ~iaroslav/ Gauss_Theoria_interpolationis_methodo_nova_tractata. php [12] The Prince of Mathematics (http:/ / www. keplersdiscovery. com/ Gauss. html). The Door to Science by keplersdiscovery.com. [13] This reference from 1891 () says: "Gauss, 1492 grm. 957 grm. 219588. sq. mm."; i.e. the unit is square mm. In the later reference: Dunnington (1927), the unit is erroneously reported as square cm, which gives an unreasonably large area; the 1891 reference is more reliable. [22] Quoted in Waltershausen, Wolfgang Sartorius von (1856, repr. 1965). Gauss zum Gedchtniss. Sndig Reprint Verlag H. R. Wohlwend. ISBN 3-253-01702-8. ISSN B0000BN5SQ ASIN: B0000BN5SQ. [23] Measuring the World IMDb (http:/ / www. imdb. com/ title/ tt1571401/ ) [25] Andersson, L. E.; Whitaker, E. A., (1982). NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature. NASA RP-1097. [26] Wadysaw Kozaczuk, Enigma: How the German Machine Cipher Was Broken, and How It Was Read by the Allies in World War Two, Frederick, Maryland, University Publications of America, 1984, p. 7, note 6. [27] http:/ / resolver. sub. uni-goettingen. de/ purl?PPN235993352 [28] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=ORUOAAAAQAAJ& dq=Theoria+ Motus+ Corporum+ Coelestium+ in+ sectionibus+ conicis+ solem+ ambientium& cad=0 [29] http:/ / www-gdz. sub. uni-goettingen. de/ cgi-bin/ digbib. cgi?PPN35283028X_0006_2NS [30] http:/ / quod. lib. umich. edu/ cgi/ t/ text/ text-idx?c=umhistmath;idno=ABR1255 [31] http:/ / dz-srv1. sub. uni-goettingen. de/ contentserver/ contentserver?command=docconvert& docid=D39018 [32] [33] [34] [35] http:/ / www-gdz. sub. uni-goettingen. de/ cgi-bin/ digbib. cgi?PPN250442582_0002 http:/ / dz-srv1. sub. uni-goettingen. de/ contentserver/ contentserver?command=docconvert& docid=D39036 http:/ / www-gdz. sub. uni-goettingen. de/ cgi-bin/ digbib. cgi?PPN250442582_0003 http:/ / dz-srv1. sub. uni-goettingen. de/ cache/ toc/ D38910. html

Further reading
Bhler, Walter Kaufmann (1987). Gauss: A Biographical Study. Springer-Verlag. ISBN0-387-10662-6. Dunnington, G. Waldo. (2003). Carl Friedrich Gauss: Titan of Science. The Mathematical Association of America. ISBN0-88385-547-X. OCLC 53933110 (http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/53933110). Gauss, Carl Friedrich (1965). Disquisitiones Arithmeticae. tr. Arthur A. Clarke. Yale University Press. ISBN0-300-09473-6. Hall, Tord (1970). Carl Friedrich Gauss: A Biography. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN0-262-08040-0. OCLC 185662235 (http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/185662235). Kehlmann, Daniel (2005). Die Vermessung der Welt. Rowohlt. ISBN3-498-03528-2. OCLC 144590801 (http:// www.worldcat.org/oclc/144590801). Sartorius von Waltershausen, Wolfgang (1966). Gauss: A Memorial (http://www.archive.org/details/ gauss00waltgoog). Simmons, J. (1996). The Giant Book of Scientists: The 100 Greatest Minds of All Time. Sydney: The Book Company. Tent, Margaret (2006). The Prince of Mathematics: Carl Friedrich Gauss. A K Peters. ISBN1-56881-455-0.

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External links
Media related to Johann Carl Friedrich Gau at Wikimedia Commons Works related to Carl Friedrich Gauss at Wikisource Quotations related to Carl Friedrich Gauss at Wikiquote Carl Friedrich Gauss (http://planetmath.org/?op=getobj&amp;from=objects&amp;id=5594), PlanetMath.org. Complete works (http://www-gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/cgi-bin/digbib.cgi?PPN235957348) Gauss and his children (http://www.gausschildren.org) Gauss biography (http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/Biographies/GaussBio.htm) Carl Friedrich Gauss (http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=18231) at the Mathematics Genealogy Project Carl Friedrich Gauss (http://fermatslasttheorem.blogspot.com/2005/06/carl-friedrich-gauss.html) Biography at Fermat's Last Theorem Blog Gauss: mathematician of the millennium (http://www.idsia.ch/~juergen/gauss.html), by Jrgen Schmidhuber English translation of Waltershausen's 1862 biography (http://books.google.com/books?id=yh0PAAAAIAAJ) Gauss (http://www.gauss.info) general website on Gauss MNRAS 16 (1856) 80 (http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/MNRAS/0016//0000080.000.html) Obituary

Carl Friedrich Gauss on the 10 Deutsche Mark banknote (http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jbourj/money1. htm) O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Carl Friedrich Gauss" (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Biographies/Gauss.html), MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews. "Carl Friedrich Gauss" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ss0lf) in the series A Brief History of Mathematics on BBC 4 Grimes, James. "5050 And a Gauss Trick" (http://www.numberphile.com/videos/one_to_million.html). Numberphile. Brady Haran.

mile Borel

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mile Borel
mile Borel

mile Borel (1932) Born 7 January 1871 Saint-Affrique, France 3 February 1956 (aged85) Paris, France French Mathematics, politics University of Paris cole Normale Suprieure Paris Gaston Darboux

Died

Nationality Fields Institutions Alma mater Doctoral advisor

Doctoral students Paul Dienes Henri Lebesgue Paul Montel Georges Valiron

Flix douard Justin mile Borel (French:[bl]) (7 January 1871 3 February 1956)[1] was a French mathematician[2] and politician. Borel was born in Saint-Affrique, Aveyron. Along with Ren-Louis Baire and Henri Lebesgue, he was among the pioneers of measure theory and its application to probability theory. The concept of a Borel set is named in his honor. One of his books on probability introduced the amusing thought experiment that entered popular culture under the name infinite monkey theorem or the like. He also published a series of papers (192127) that first defined games of strategy.[3] In 1913 and 1914 he bridged the gap between hyperbolic geometry and special relativity with expository work. In the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s he was active in politics. In 1922 he founded ISUP, the oldest French school for Statistics. From 1924 to 1936, he was a member of the French National Assembly. In 1925, he was Minister of Marine in the cabinet of fellow mathematician Paul Painlev. During the Second World War he was a member of the French Resistance. Borel died in Paris in 1956. Besides the Centre mile Borel at the Institut Henri Poincar in Paris and a crater on the Moon, the following mathematical notions are named after him: Borel algebra, Borel's lemma, Borel's law of large numbers,

mile Borel Borel measure, BorelKolmogorov paradox, BorelCantelli lemma, BorelCarathodory theorem, HeineBorel theorem, Borel summation, Borel distribution.

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Borel also described a poker model which he coins La Relance in his 1938 book Applications de la thorie des probabilits aux Jeux de Hasard.[4]

Articles
(French) "La science est-elle responsable de la crise mondiale?" [5], Scientia : rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 51, 1932, pp.99106. (French) "La science dans une socit socialiste" [6], Scientia : rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 31, 1922, pp.223228. (French) "Le continu mathmatique et le continu physique" [7], Rivista di scienza, 6, 1909, pp.2135.

References
[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] mile Borel's biography (http:/ / www. univ-lille1. fr/ asa_2/ mathematiques/ mathematiques-2. htm) - Universit Lille Nord de France "mile Borel," Encyclopdia Britannica (http:/ / www. britannica. com/ EBchecked/ topic/ 74060/ Emile-Borel) mile Borel and Jean Ville. Applications de la thorie des probabilits aux jeux de hasard. Gauthier-Vilars, 1938 http:/ / amshistorica. unibo. it/ diglib. php?inv=7& int_ptnum=51& term_ptnum=107& format=jpg http:/ / amshistorica. unibo. it/ diglib. php?inv=7& int_ptnum=31& term_ptnum=231& format=jpg http:/ / amshistorica. unibo. it/ diglib. php?inv=6& int_ptnum=6& term_ptnum=29& format=jpg

External links
O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "mile Borel" (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Biographies/Borel.html), MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews. mile Borel (http://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/html/id.phtml?id=39071) in the Mathematics Genealogy Project

Francesco Paolo Cantelli

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Francesco Paolo Cantelli

Francesco Paolo Cantelli (20 December 1875, Palermo 21 July 1966, Rome) was an Italian mathematician. He received his doctorate in mathematics in 1899 from the University of Palermo with a thesis on celestial mechanics and continued his interest in astronomy by working until 1903 at Palermo's osservatorio astronomico cittadino (National Astronomical Observatory), which was under the direction of Annibale Ricc.[1] Cantelli's early papers were on problems in astronomy and celestial mechanics. From 1903 to 1923 Cantelli worked at the Istituto di Previdenza della Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (Institute for Security Deposits and Loans). During these years he did research on the mathematics of finance theory and actuarial science as well as the probability theory for which he became Francesco Cantelli famous. Cantelli's later work was all on probability and it is in this field where his name graces the BorelCantelli lemma and the GlivenkoCantelli theorem. In 1916-1917 he contributed to the theory of stochastic convergence. In 1923 he resigned his actuarial position when he was appointed professor of actuarial mathematics at the University of Catania. From there, he went to the University of Naples as a professor and then in 1931 to the Sapienza University of Rome where he remained until his retirement in 1951. He was the founder of the Istituto Italiano degli Attuari for the applications of mathematics and probability to economics. Cantelli was the editor of the Giornale dell'Istituto Italiano degli Attuari (GIIA) from 1930 to 1958.[2] A fair evaluation of the importance of Cantelli's role is clouded by the cultural differences that separated him from Kolmogorov, who represented a younger generation, and even from his contemporaries.

Works
Sull'adattamento delle curve ad una serie di misure o id osservazioni, Palermo, 1905 Genesi e costruzione delle tavole di mutualit, 1914 Sulla legge dei grandi numeri, 1916 La tendenza a un limite nel senso del calcolo delle probabilit, 1916 Sulla probabilit come limite della frequenza in "Rendiconti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei", 1917 Una teoria astratta del calcolo delle probabilit, GIIA, vol. 3, pp.257265, Roma, 1932 Considerazioni sulla legge uniforme dei grandi numeri e sulla generalizzazione di un fondamentale teorema del Sig. Paul Levy, 1933 Sulla determinazione empirica delle leggi di probabilit, 1933 Su una teoria astratta del calcolo delle probabilit e sulla sua applicazione al teorema detto "delle probabilit zero e uno", 1939

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References
[1] "On the history of the Palermo National Observatory" by Giorgia Foder Serio (http:/ / www. astropa. unipa. it/ HISTORY/ history. htm)

External links
O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Francesco Paolo Cantelli" (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac. uk/Biographies/Cantelli.html), MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews.

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Connolley, Wine Guy, Wompa99, Wonglkd, Woohookitty, Wstomv, XIconox, XJaM, XTayax, Xeno, Yamamoto Ichiro, Yamla, Yanksox, Yelyos, Yintan, Zickzack, Zundark, Zylinder, :.Brownie.:, , , , 1412 anonymous edits mile Borel Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=569739590 Contributors: 2514, 3mta3, AVM, Alai, Aldousdj, Aleph4, Amalas, Angela, Attilios, Aubrey, Bdmy, Bender235, Carl Logan, Cenna, CommonsDelinker, Cowgummi, Crunchy Frog, Dungodung, EivindJ, Frdric Kuhlmann, Gene Nygaard, Giftlite, Icey, Japanese Searobin, Jeff5102, Jheald, Jmc200, Joest, Lefschetz, Lekoren, Lenthe, LilHelpa, Listeur lillois, Marc Venot, Matthew Fennell, Michael Hardy, Mnemo, Monegasque, Myasuda, Neddyseagoon, Nicolae Coman, Nimetapoeg, Omnipaedista, Parwig, Phl3djo, Phoebe, Plindenbaum, Portalian, Pruneau, Solomon7968, Swunggyro, The wub, Thomasmeeks, Tobovs, Tomi, Turgidson, Vegaswikian, 13 anonymous edits Francesco Paolo Cantelli Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=540560843 Contributors: Aastrup, Anguilano.f, Bilgin adem, Brad7777, Giftlite, Jmath666, Katharineamy, Materialscientist, Melchoir, Michael Hardy, Nihonjoe, Omnipaedista, Shreevatsa, Suslindisambiguator, Waacstats, 4 anonymous edits

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File:Henri_Poincar-2.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Henri_Poincar-2.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Badzil, Connormah, Tamba52 File:Henri Poincar Signature.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Henri_Poincar_Signature.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Henri Poincar Image:Young Poincare.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Young_Poincare.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Badzil, Christian1985, Clindberg, Hohum, Homonihilis, Materialscientist, Soerfm File:Poincar gravestone.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Poincar_gravestone.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: EmilJ Image:Curie and Poincare 1911 Solvay.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Curie_and_Poincare_1911_Solvay.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Donarreiskoffer, Fastfission, JdH, Mu, 1 anonymous edits Image:Mug and Torus morph.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Mug_and_Torus_morph.gif License: Public Domain Contributors: Abnormaal, Durova, Howcheng, Kri, LucasVB, Manco Capac, Maximaximax, Rovnet, SharkD, Takabeg, 16 anonymous edits File:N-body problem (3).gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:N-body_problem_(3).gif License: Public Domain Contributors: Jahobr, Joris Gillis, Kri, Pieter Kuiper, Rhinux, Slick, 2 anonymous edits File: Phase Portrait Sadle.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Phase_Portrait_Sadle.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Podshumok File: Phase Portrait Stable Focus.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Phase_Portrait_Stable_Focus.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Podshumok File: Phase portrait center.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Phase_portrait_center.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Podshumok File: Phase Portrait Stable Node.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Phase_Portrait_Stable_Node.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Podshumok File:Henri Poincar by H Manuel.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Henri_Poincar_by_H_Manuel.jpg License: unknown Contributors: Henri Manuel (1874-1947) File:Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace (1745-1827) - Gurin.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Pierre-Simon,_marquis_de_Laplace_(1745-1827)_-_Gurin.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Boo-Boo Baroo, Bukk, Darwinius, Ecummenic, Jimmy44, Krschner, Mattes, 1 anonymous edits File:Pierre-Simon Laplace signature.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Pierre-Simon_Laplace_signature.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Pierre-Simon Laplace Created in vector format by Scewing File:Rotating spherical harmonics.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Rotating_spherical_harmonics.gif License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: User:Cyp File:Laplace house Arcueil.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Laplace_house_Arcueil.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: User:cutler File:Pierre-Simon-Laplace (1749-1827).jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Pierre-Simon-Laplace_(1749-1827).jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Gabor, Luestling, Olivier, Umherirrender File:Alembert.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Alembert.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Archaeodontosaurus file:Wikiquote-logo-en.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Wikiquote-logo-en.svg License: logo Contributors: Neolux File:Abraham_de_moivre.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Abraham_de_moivre.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Bjh21, Bonzo, Elcobbola, Kilom691, Saippuakauppias, (Searobin) File:Thomas Bayes.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Thomas_Bayes.gif License: Public Domain Contributors: Limojoe, Magog the Ogre File:Bayes_sig.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bayes_sig.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Bayes_sig.jpg: Thomas Bayes convert to SVG: Bennett Kanuka derivative work: Mikhail Ryazanov (talk) File:Jakob_Bernoulli.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Jakob_Bernoulli.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Funck77, Kilom691, Malo, Materialscientist, Xgoni Image:Basler Muenster Bernoulli.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Basler_Muenster_Bernoulli.jpg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Wladyslaw Sojka, Uploaded to Commons by Modulo File:Hugo Steinhaus.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Hugo_Steinhaus.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: AFBorchert, Bonio, Jorva, Materialscientist, Mdd, 2 anonymous edits File:KsiegaSzkocka1.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:KsiegaSzkocka1.JPG License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Meteor2017 File:Steinhaus-tablica.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Steinhaus-tablica.JPG License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Bonio File:Hugo Steinhaus honoris causa UAM.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Hugo_Steinhaus_honoris_causa_UAM.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Klapi File:Speaker Icon.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Speaker_Icon.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Blast, G.Hagedorn, Mobius, Tehdog, 2 anonymous edits File:Lwow - Kawiarnia Szkocka.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Lwow_-_Kawiarnia_Szkocka.jpg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Stanisaw Kosiedowski, Original uploader was Stako at pl.wikipedia File:Cmentarz-Lyczakowski-Grob Banacha.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Cmentarz-Lyczakowski-Grob_Banacha.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: M3thinx File:Banach-Tarski Paradox.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Banach-Tarski_Paradox.svg License: unknown Contributors: User:Bdesham File:Stefan banach monumento krakow 2007.jpeg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Stefan_banach_monumento_krakow_2007.jpeg License: Public Domain Contributors: Garsd File:Simeon_Poisson.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Simeon_Poisson.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Hsarrazin, Mu, Nk, Zil File:PD-icon.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:PD-icon.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Alex.muller, Anomie, Anonymous Dissident, CBM, MBisanz, PBS, Quadell, Rocket000, Strangerer, Timotheus Canens, 1 anonymous edits File:Carl Friedrich Gauss.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Carl_Friedrich_Gauss.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Gottlieb BiermannA. Wittmann (photo) File:Carl Friedrich Gau signature.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Carl_Friedrich_Gau_signature.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: derivative work: Pbroks13 (talk) Carl_Friedrich_Gau,_Namenszug_von_1794.jpg: Carl Friedrich Gau (1777-1855) File:Statue-of-Gauss-in-Braunschweig.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Statue-of-Gauss-in-Braunschweig.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5 Contributors: Mascdman File:Disqvisitiones-800.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Disqvisitiones-800.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Achird, Aristeas, Gveret Tered, Juiced lemon, Maksim, Toobaz, Ufudu, Wst File:Bendixen - Carl Friedrich Gau, 1828.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bendixen_-_Carl_Friedrich_Gau,_1828.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Siegfried Detlev Bendixen File:Normal distribution pdf.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Normal_distribution_pdf.png License: GNU General Public License Contributors: Ardonik, Gerbrant, Grendelkhan, Inductiveload, Juiced lemon, MarkSweep, Wikiwide, 10 anonymous edits File:Carl Friedrich Gauss on his Deathbed, 1855.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Carl_Friedrich_Gauss_on_his_Deathbed,_1855.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Connormah, Ephraim33, Nicolas Perrault III, Tamba52 File:Gttingen-Grave.of.Gau.06.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gttingen-Grave.of.Gau.06.jpg License: Creative Commons Sharealike 1.0 Contributors: Jonathan Gro, Kresspahl, Longbow4u, Martin H. 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File:Stamps of Germany (DDR) 1977, MiNr 2215.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Stamps_of_Germany_(DDR)_1977,_MiNr_2215.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Hochgeladen von --Nightflyer (talk) 18:24, 21 November 2009 (UTC) file:Commons-logo.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Commons-logo.svg License: logo Contributors: Anomie file:Wikisource-logo.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Wikisource-logo.svg License: logo Contributors: Guillom, INeverCry, Jarekt, MichaelMaggs, NielsF, Rei-artur, Rocket000 File:Emile Borel-1932.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Emile_Borel-1932.jpg License: unknown Contributors: Ji-Elle, Kilom691, Materialscientist, Pmx, TwoWings Image:Francesco Paolo Cantelli.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Francesco_Paolo_Cantelli.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: unknown

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