Important Mathematicians in History - leading to Computer Science
Extended Information and Links

For introduction and overview please refer to 'Historic Overview' (link on top)

This page contains links to selected documents on the internet. For every document the text is partly copied onto this page to give an idea of what the text is about. See it as an introduction. The first few words of the text contain a hyperlink to the document. Sometimes I have added information from other sources than internet and sometimes some references to literature on paper (i.e. you can read it without a computer monitor...).
-- HK

Sketch of The Analytical Engine Invented by Charles Babbage, by L.F. Menebrea of Turin, with notes upon the Memoir by the Translator Ada Augusta, Countess of Lovelace (1842, Bibliothèque Universelle de Genève).
Those labours which belong to the various branches of the mathematical sciences, although on first consideration they seem to be the exclusive province of intellect, may, nevertheless, be divided into two distinct sections; one of which may be called the mechanical, because it is subjected to precise and invariable laws, that are capable of being expressed by means of the operations of matter; while the other, demanding the intervention of reasoning, belongs more specially to the domain of the understanding. This admitted, we may propose to execute, by means of machinery, the mechanical branch of these labours, reserving for pure intellect that which depends on the reasoning faculties. Thus the rigid exactness of those laws which regulate numerical calculations must frequently have suggested the employment of material instruments, either for executing the whole of such calculations or for abridging them; and thence have arisen several inventions having this object in view, but which have in general but partially attained it. For instance, the much-admired machine of Pascal is now simply an object of curiosity, which, whilst it displays the powerful intellect of its inventor, is yet of little utility in itself. Its powers extended no further than the execution of the first four operations of arithmetic, and indeed were in reality confined to that of the first two, since multiplication and division were the result of a series of additions and subtractions. The chief drawback hitherto on most of such machines is, that they require the continual intervention of a human agent to regulate their movements, and thence arises a source of errors; so that, if their use has not become general for large numerical calculations, it is because they have not in fact resolved the double problem which the question presents, that of correctness in the results, united with economy of time. [etc.] (>200kB)

Note: The document above probably is the most famous description of Babbage's Analytical Engine of its own time. Especially the footnotes by Ada Lovelace (and her description of the methods) made her famous - she is now said to be the worlds first programmer, but other sources claim that her role in the history of computer science is not of great importance. The programming language ADA was called after her and an association for female computer scientists adopted her name as icon. --HK

Charles Babbage - "It is unworthy of excellent men to lose hours like slaves in the labor of calculation which could be relegated to anyone else if machines were used." Gottfried von Leibniz.
Charles Babbage (1792-1871), the eleventh Lucasian Professor, was a polymath. According to the Dictionary of Scientific Biography , Babbage explored the areas of cryptanalysis, probability, geophysics, astronomy, altimetry, opthalmoscopy, statistical linguistics, meteorology, actuarial science, lighthouse technology and the use of tree rings as historic climatic records. He published in the fields of magnetism, biology, geology, religion, submarines, politics, economics and machinery. These accomplishments were in addition to his main work in mathematics and his calculating engines. He was awarded the first Gold Medal presented by the Astronomical Society. [etc.] (16kB)

Charles Babbage und seine "Analytical Engine" (German)
Um astronomische Daten berechnen zu können, konstruierte Charles Babbage 1823 die komplett mechanisch arbeitende Difference Engine Nr. 1 und baute sie 1833. Die Maschine besass drei Variablensäulen (genannt A, B, C). Jede Variablensäule war aus einer Anzahl Ziffernscheiben aufgebaut, deren unterste die Einerstelle, die zweitunterste die Zehnerstelle usw. repräsentierte. Bei jeder Umdrehung der Kurbel addierte sich jede Saule auf die nachststehende linker Säule, also { A += B; B += C }. Für grössere Modelle waren mehr Säulen mit mehr Scheiben vorgesehen. [etc.] (11kB)

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Mathematical Problems, Lecture delivered before the International Congress of Mathematicians at Paris in 1900 by Professor David Hilbert (107kB)

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Leonardo da Vinci (Berkeley)
It may seem unusual to include Leonardo da Vinci in a list of paleontologists and evolutionary biologists. Leonardo was and is best known as an artist, the creator of such masterpieces as the Mona Lisa, Madonna of the Rocks, and The Last Supper. Yet Leonardo was far more than a great artist: he had one of the best scientific minds of his time. He made painstaking observations and carried out research in fields ranging from architecture and civil engineering to astronomy to anatomy and zoology to geography, geology and paleontology. [etc.] (8kB)

Advanced Science - drawings of Da Vinci
Da Vinci, throughout his life, made incredible headway in the area of science. He sketched out many amazing designs for working machines and technology. What is so astounding though is the time in which these designs were created. Da Vinci's life spanned the mid-15th century and into the early 16th century. It would be some 300-400 years later before Da Vinci's ideas would be improved upon or even fathomed. It is a true wonder that a man born of poverty could, 4 centuries earlier, conceive ideas that were to be a basis for our modern world today. [etc.] (4kB)

Leonardo da Vinci had many talents in addition to his painting. He worked in mechanics but geometry was his main love. Leonardo was educated in his father's house receiving the usual elementary education of reading, writing and arithmetic. In 1467 he became an apprentice learning painting, sculpture and acquiring technical and mechanical skills. He was accepted into the painters' guild in Florence in 1472 but he continued to work as an apprentice until 1477. From that time he worked for himself in Florence as a painter. Already during this time he sketched pumps, military weapons and other machines. [etc.] (9kB)

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Catalog of the Scientific Community - Galilei, Galileo
Compiled by: Richard S. Westfall, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Indiana University (10kB)

Galileo and the Rise of Mechanism (Prof. F.L. Wilson, Rochester Institute of Technology)
If science has a beginning date, it must be 1632 when the Italian astronomer and physicist, Galileo Galilei, published his book, Dialogue on the Two Systems of the World. All the previous work, all the observations, theory, and fighting against dogmatic concepts were brought together by Galileo. [etc.] (71kB)

Galileo Galilei (Michael F. Martens)
Often referred to as the first "modern physicist" Galileo is perhaps better remembered more for his then controversial views of natural law than for his contributions to science. These views, suggesting as they did that the earth is not at the center of the universe but the sun is, were at odds with the then accepted "Roman Catholic Church" view of the universe as earth-centered. Though there appears to be some disagreement amongst historians as to the degree to which church scholars were in actual disagreement with Galileo's views, his works were included on the "Vatican Index" of disapproved works until recently. [etc.] (4kB)

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Leonhard Euler (Katerina Kechris)
Euler was one the leading mathematicians of the 18th century. Although the majority of his work was in pure mathematics, he contributed to other disciplines, such as astronomy and physics, as well. In his lifetime he published more than 500 books and papers, and another 400 were published posthumously. [etc.] (3kB)

A Short Account of the History of Mathematics (W. W. Rouse Ball)
Leonhard Euler was born in Bãle on April 15, 1707, and died in St. Petersburg on September 7, 1783. he was the son of a Lutheran minister who had settled at Bãle, and was educated in his native town under the direction of John Bernoulli, with whose sons Daniel and Nicholas he formed a lifelong friendship. When, in 1725, the younger Bernoullis went to Russia, on the invitation of the empress, they procured a place there for Euler, which in 1733 he exchanged for the chair of mathematics, then vacated by Daniel Bernoulli. The severity of the climate affected his eyesight, and in 1735 he lost the use of one eye completely. In 1741 he moved to Berlin at the request, or rather command, of Frederick the Great; here he stayed till 1766, when he returned to Russia, and was succeeded at Berlin by Lagrange. Within two or three years of his going back to St. Petersburg he became blind; but in spite of this, and although his house, together with many of his papers, were burnt in 1771, he recast and improved most of his earlier works. He died of apoplexy in 1783. He was married twice. [etc.] (18kB)

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George Boole was the first Professor of Mathematics at University College Cork (then called Queen's College). He was the inventor of mathematical logic. His books The Mathematical Analysis of Logic (1847) and An Investigation of the Laws of Thought (1854) form the basis of present-day computer science and cybernetics. And, of course, Boolean algebra owes its origin to him. Boole is regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians of the nineteenth century. The books George Boole--His Life and Work by P.D. MacHale (Boole Press 1985) and George Boole--A Miscellany by P.D. Barry (Cork University Press 1969) may be consulted for further details. (10kB)

The Calculus of Logic - George Boole (Cambridge and Dublin Mathematical Journal Vol. III (1848), pp. 183-98)
In a work lately published I have exhibited the application of a new and peculiar form of Mathematics to the expression of the operations of the mind in reasoning. In the present essay I design to offer such an account of a portion of this treatise as may furnish a correct view of the nature of the system developed. I shall endeavour to state distinctly those positions in which its characteristic distinctions consist, and shall offer a more particular illustration of some features which are less prominently displayed in the original work. The part of the system to which I shall confine my observations is that which treats of categorical propositions, and the positions which, under this limitation, I design to illustrate, are the following: [etc.] (37kB)

George Boole first attended a school in Lincoln, then a commercial school. His early instruction in mathematics, however, was from his father who also gave George a liking for constructing optical instruments. George's interests turned to languages and he received instruction in Latin from a local bookseller. By the age of 12 George had become so skilled in Latin that it provoked an argument. He translated an ode by the Latin poet Horace which his father was so proud of that he had it published. However the talent was such that a local schoolmaster disputed that any 12 year old could have written with such depth. [etc.] (9kB)

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John Louis von Neumann (J. A. N. Lee)
Brilliant mathematician, synthesizer, and promoter of the stored program concept, whose logical design of the IAS became the prototype of most of its successors - the von Neumann Architecture. Von Neumann was a child prodigy, born into a banking family is Budapest, Hungary. When only six years old he could divide eight-digit numbers in his head. He received his early education in Budapest, under the tutelage of M. Fekete, with whom he published his first paper at the age of 18. Entering the University of Budapest in 1921, he studied Chemistry, moving his base of studies to both Berlin and Zurich before receiving his diploma in 1925 in Chemical Engineering. He returned to his first love of mathematics in completing his doctoral degree in 1928. he quickly gained a reputation in set theory, algebra, and quantum mechanics. At a time of political unrest in central Europe, he was invited to visit Princeton University in 1930, and when the Institute for Advanced Studies was founded there in 1933, he was appointed to be one of the original six Professors of Mathematics, a position which he retained for the remainder of his life. At the instigation and sponsorship of Oskar Morganstern, von Neumann and Kurt Gödel became US citizens in time for their clearance for wartime work. [etc.] (16kB)

John von Neumann played a key role in the development of the U.S. ballistic missile program. In 1953 he became chairman of the Air Force Strategic Missiles Evaluation Committee. This panel advised and made recommendations to the Secretary of the Air Force on all missile projects under that branch's jurisdiction. In 1954 he chaired the Atlas (later ICBM) Scientific Advisory Committee which monitored Atlas progress and sought to speed up development of the missile. As chairman of both committees, Dr. von Neumann proposed the practicality of using ballistic missiles to deliver nuclear weapons. He believed the Soviets had an edge in the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile and predicted a significant missile gap between the United States and the Soviet Union by the late 1950s. Without greater funding, research and development of an operational Atlas ICBM was scheduled for earliest completion in 1963.1 Based on recommendations by the von Neumann committees and persuasion by Trevor Gardner (the Air Force Assistant Secretary for Research and Development), the United States pressed forward with its missile program at a faster rate and successfully launched an Atlas missile in December 1958. [etc.] (14kB)

John von Neumann Universal Constructor - (Implementation of the John von Neumann Universal Constructor, R. Nobili, U. Pesavento)
The universal constructor of John von Neumann is an extension of the logical concept of universal computing machine. In the cellular environment proposed by von Neumann both computing and constructive universality can be achieved. Von Neumann proved that in his cellular lattice both a Turing machine and a machine capable of producing any other cell assembly, when fed with a suitable program, can be embedded. He called the latter machine a "universal constructor" and showed that, when provided with a program containing its own description, this is capable of self-reproducing. [link to Downloadable software (UNIX/DOS)]

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update 22-Dec-1998

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