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Blaise Pascal
Pascal's argument of the wager:- If I wager for and God is -- infinite gain;
If I wager for and God is not -- no loss.
If I wager against and God is -- infinite loss;
If I wager against and God is not -- neither loss nor gain.
Pascal is also credited an early version of the roulette wheel and the creation of the hydraulic press. He developed the syringe. He also made early contributions to probability theory and actuarial science, and made the first mechanical calculator. -
Sir Issac Newton
Newton developed early physics, a scientific method, the theory of universal gravitation, and calculus. He advanced the technology of the telescope, and developed Newtonian Mechanics. His early studies into mathematics at Cambridge were greatly influenced by the works of Euclid of Alexandria, prover of maths. -
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Leibriz was always in the shadow of Issac Newton and was a metaphysician as well aa a logician. He is remembered for his independent invention of the differential and integral calculus. He was an avid inventor of mechanical calculators and added multiplication and division functions to Pascal's calculator. -
Daniel Bernoulli
Bernuolli is remembered for his contributions to fluid mechanics, his work in statistics and probability, and for building the foundations of aerodynamics. -
Thomas Bayes
Bayes, 1702 -1761, was the first mathematician to use probability inductively, and his works led to the probability theory: Bayes Theorem. Bayes work also formed the basis of a statistical technique, now called Bayesian estimation. -
Leonhard Euler
Euler was the first to introduce the concept of the function and the first to ascribe the letter 'e' to mean the base of the natural logarithm, the first to use 'i' for the imaginary unit, and he assigned sigma for summation. Euler is considered to be one of the founders of pure mathematics. -
Joseph Lagrange
Considered to be the greatest mathematician of the eighteenth century. Lagrange wrote Mécanique Analytique (Analytical Mechanics) in 1788 which was consieder to be a mathematical masterpiece. It contained clear, symmetrical notation and covered almost every area of pure mathematics. -
Pierre-Simon Laplace
Laplace was considered to be pivotal in the development of mathematical astronomy and statistics. Laplace was one of the first people to propose the existence of black holes and to study the speed of sound. -
William Playfair
Inventor of statistical graphics -
Joseph Fourier
Fourier contributed to thermodynamics, dimensional analysis, and developed a partial differential equation describing the diffusion of heat that is today taught in elementary physic lectures. Fourier was one fo the first to recognise the greeenhouse effect as we know it today. -
Carl Freidrich Gauss
Gauss invented the bell-curved normal distribution which is now a central element of modern-day statistics and is sometimes referred to as the Gaussian distribution. Gauss also worked in the field of differential equations, which are pervasive in modern engineering. He was also central in developing the theorem which established important properties of curvature. He would later co-design the first electromagnetic telegraph in 1833. -
William Playfair invents the line and bar graph
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Charles Babbage
The father of the computer, Babbage conceived his Analytical Engine in 1834. In his life however, Babbage failed to build a complete computing machine. The most widely accepted reason for this failure is that Victorian mechanical engineering were not sufficiently developed to produce parts with sufficient precision. -
William Playfair invents the pie chart and circle graph
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Ada Lovelace
Lovelace is credited with being the first female computer programmer, she was also an Analyst and Metaphysician. Lovelace had a lifelong friendship with Charles Babbage, Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge whom she met at the age of 17. Their cooperative works led to Babbage referring to Lovelace as the "Enchantress of Numbers." -
James Maxwell
Scottish mathematician and scientist best known for his formulation of electromagnetic theory. He is ranked with Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein for the fundamental nature of his contributions to Physics. -
David Hilbert
Considered the patron saint of maths teachers. One of his most important accomplishments was creating, in 1900, a legendary collection of 23 unsolved problems. The problems would go on to set the syllabus for the entire proof field for the 20th century. -
Theodore von Kármán
As the mathematical mind behind the helicopter and supersonic flight, Von Kármán conducted research into turbulence, airfoil and supersonic aerodynamics. -
John von Neumann
Von Neumann was credited as one of the greatest mathematicians of his time and was tthe one to propose the concept of Assured Destruction to the United States during the Cold War. Besides that, he also proposed the concept of a self-replicating automata. He is a key figure in the development of the digital computer. and the steps required to complete a thermonuclear reaction. -
Stanislaw Ulam
Ulam contributed to the design of a thermonuclear weapon. Ulam also developed the Monte Carlo method of simulation - . estimating the probability of an event. This strategy is in consistent and pervasive use in modelling today. -
Alan Mathison Turing
Considered to be the father of computer science...Turing was a British mathematician and logician, who made major contributions to mathematics, cryptanalysis, logic, philosophy, and biology and to the new areas later named computer science, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, and artificial life.
