|
|
Stories
About Famous Mathematicians
by Dr. Margaret Taplin
Institute of Sathya Sai Education, Hong Kong
|
| When you are teaching the appropriate topic, take
a minute to tell your pupils an anecdote about one of the famous mathematicians who
contributed to this particular field of mathematics. It is important for pupils to be
aware of the 'human' side of these famous people. "Using biographies of
mathematicians can successfully bring the human story into the
mathematics class. What
struggles have these people undergone to be able to study mathematics?..." (Voolich,
1993, p.16) |
|
Mary Somerville
Born 1780 in Burntisland, Scotland
Examples of Contribution to Mathematics: algebra, differential and
integral calculus |
| Mary was one of the world's first famous female
mathematicians. She became interested in mathematics, and desperately wanted to study it,
at a time when it was not considered acceptable for a woman to do so. She bought books on
algebra and geometry and read them at night. Despite disapproval from the people around
her, she persisted with her struggle to learn. Later in her life she began to solve
problems in a magazine, and won a prize for her solution to an algebra problem. She went
on to write several books about mathematics and science. Later in her life, she reflected
on "the long course of years in which I had persevered almost without hope. It taught
me never to despair" ( p.6). "Mary Somerville used an approach
to her work that is useful today. If she couldn't find the key to unlock a difficult
problem she stopped work and turned to the piano, her needlework, or a walk outdoors.
Afterward, she returned to the problem with her mind refreshed and could find the
solution. If she could not understand a passage in her reading, she would read on for
several pages. Then, going back, she could often understand what was meant in the part
which had been confusing" (p.12).
Perl (1993) |
|
|
Maria Agnesi
(1718-1799) Italy
Examples of Contribution to Mathematics: calculus |
| "Maria was a child prodigy, but was also shy. She
stayed at home, teaching the younger children and following her own studies. When her
mother died after giving birth to twenty-one children, Maria took over the running of the
household. At the age of twenty she started a ten year project, a book bringing together
the work on calculus of Leibnitz and Newton titled Analytic Institutions. Sometimes she
would have trouble with a problem. But her mind went on working even in her sleep; she
would sleep-walk to her study and back to bed. In the morning, she would find the answer
to the problem waiting on her desk. Her book made her famous; she was living proof of what
she had argued at nine years old [that women had a right to study science]. But Maria had
other interests in her life apart from mathematics. She had always worked with the poor
people in her area, and she had asked her father for separate rooms and turned them into a
private hospital. She worked at the hospital (and another) until she died at the age of
eighty-one. Maria Agnesi wrote an important book on mathematics, as well as another
unpublished book. She ran a household of over twenty people, and she worked for people who
had not had her luck and opportunities. Each one of these things was remarkable, but she
did them all." (Lovitt and Clarke, 1992, p.560) |
|
|
Mary Everett Boole
Born 1832 in England and lived in Poissy, France as a child
Examples of Contribution to Mathematics:
geometry of angles and space; string geometry (curve
stitching), mathematical psychology (understanding how people learn mathematics) |
As a young girl, Mary was very
compassionate towards animals. Perl reported that she frequently rescued insects that had
been hurt by frost or rain, and nursed them back to health. As an adult, she worked as a
librarian in a women's college, and showed the same compassion in becoming a friend and
mentor to the students. She invited students to discussion sessions about mathematics and
science, and one of these students later wrote; "I found you have given us a power.
We can think for ourselves, and find out what we want to know" (p.50). Even as an old
lady, during World War I, Mary opened her house to people who needed to "find a quiet
place for an hour, away from the turmoil of a country at war and the terrible news in the
newspapers" (p.55).
Perl (1993) |
|
|
| SIR ISAAC NEWTON |
"We all have something within
us which helps us, guides us, gives us the conscience to know what is right and wrong.
This "something" also gives us knowledge and wisdom. Whenever we cannot think of
a solution to a problem we sit still and calm our mind. Very often the answer will come in
a moment of intuition. Sir Isaac Newton, after thinking for some time on the effect of
gravity, could not solve the problem. So Newton went for a walk to relax and when sitting
quietly under an apple tree, saw an apple fall down; in a flash of understanding Newton
understood the law of gravity which governs the movement of minute particles as well as
the stars and planets. Many great scientific discoveries have been made not during serious
thinking or when doing a lot of calculations but while the mind is relaxed. This is when
intuition starts." |
|
|
|
|
