By Ashley Langham‍ American high schoolers have Robert Simson, the Scottish mathematician, to thank for their geometry curriculum. He wrote the first English adaptation of Euclid’s Elements, published in 1723, that would lead to the creation of their mathematical curriculum today.‍ Robert Simson fell in love with geometry at an…

By Ashley Langham‍ Euclid is often conflated as the father of geometry, though given we know very little about the validity of his biography, it is hard to consider him with that title. His Elements is, however, by far, the most famous publication for the creation of modern geometry. It…

By Ashley Langham Thales of Miletus was a Greek mathematician, philosopher, astronomer, and merchant. He is best known for Thale’s theorem, aptly named after him, dictating that if a triangle is inscribed in a circle with one side being the diameter of the circle, then it is a right triangle. …

By Ashley Langham‍ George Boole was an English mathematician who developed a logical theory and an algebraic approach that serves today as the basis for all electronic devices, including the computer. …

By Ashley Langham‍ James Joseph Sylvester, was a Judeo-British mathematician, who made many contributions to a broad range of mathematical disciplines: combinatorics, matrix theory, algebra, and numbers theory. However, his life was riddled with discrimination, anti-Semitism, and disputes due to him being Jewish in Christian dominated countries, i.e. Great Britain…

By Ashley Langham‍ Évariste Galois, a French mathematician, lived a very short life of twenty years; but was still able to solve a 350 year old mathematical problem. While in his teens, he determined a condition for polynomials to be solved by radicals. By twenty, he developed Galois theory, as…

By Ashley Langham‍ Niels Henrik Abel is a Norwegian mathematician that had a very short and tragic life. He only lived twenty seven years and most of his mathematical influence was recognized only after his death. In fact, for most of his life he struggled with poverty, securing a permanent…

By Ashley Langham ‍ Without Charles Babbage we wouldn’t be in the digital era, as we are today. Charles Babbage was the inventor of the original mechanical computer, called the Difference Engine, which has led subsequent inventors to create more complex electronic designs. In 1823, he even went on to…

By Ashley Langham ‍ Carl Friedrich Gauss had the rare ability to do mental calculations in his head, far beyond that of an average person. From the age of three, his gifts became evident to his family, as he was able to fix a mistake in his father’s household calculations.‍ …