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jonomancer: (Picture from ChinaCulture.org.) MedievalPOC is doing a POC Scientists and Mathematicians week this week! This is a topic I wanted to learn more about anyway, so I thought maybe I could contribute. I noticed that there hasn’t yet been an article about my favorite medieval Chinese astronomer/geologist/mathematician/inventor/poet/diplomat/all-around awesome dude 沈括 (Shen Kuo) (1031 - 1095 AD) Somebody else could probably write a better article than I can, since I’m just a beginner to this topic, but here goes anyway…! Shen Kuo lived during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), which was a very fertile intellectual period for medieval China. Inventions during the Song Dynasty included gunpowder weapons, the canal pound lock, windmills, movable-type printing, and the compass, as well as great advances in metallurgy and shipbuilding. During his lifetime, Shen Kuo had his fingers in every imaginable field of learning, making extensive studies of nature and of human inventions while traveling around China as a civil servant, diplomat, and military commander. He’s what Europe would call (four centuries later) a “renaissance man”. ;-) Most of what we know about Shen Kuo comes from an enormous book called the Dream Pool Essays (梦溪笔谈 Mengxi Bitan) that he wrote during his retirement. The whole book is on Project Gutenberg, if you happen to be able to read medieval Chinese. Here’s a few of the highlights: The compass: Most of us know that the magnetic compass is a Chinese invention, but before the Song dynasty it was mainly used for ritual and fortune-telling purposes. Shen Kuo was the first person to measure the difference between Magnetic North and True North, and by so doing helped make the compass into a reliable navigation aid for Song Dynasty ships. Geology: During his extensive travels around China, Shen Kuo observed fossilized seashells far inland in Shanxi province, as well as petrified bamboo in Yan’an province, which was too dry for bamboo to grow. He deduced that Shanxi must once have been on the sea, and that northern China must once have been much wetter, and proposed a theory of climate and geological change via erosion, mountain uplift, and soil deposition. He also published quite accurate maps, using a consistent scale, based on his geographical surveys. Astronomy: Shen Kuo made careful observations of the motions of the planets and the phases of the moon, similar to what Tycho Brahe would do centuries later. To make more accurate measurements, he improved the design of the astronomical instruments used at the time — armilarry sphere, gnomon, sighting tube, and water clock. He accurately described the retrograde motion of the planets, proposed the theory that the moon was a sphere lit by the sun, and explained the mechanism of eclipses. Thanks the accuracy of his measurements, he discovered that the position of the Pole Star and the orbits of the planets had shifted slightly since their measurement 350 years earlier by Yi Xing. (Apparently his political enemies used this to get him into a lot of trouble at court, since Yi Xing was highly respected and criticizing his work was considered unacceptable!) Archaeology: Speaking of criticizing ancient texts, Shen Kuo carefully dug up ritual artifacts of earlier dynasties and argued that physical evidence of the past should be given more weight than textual records. Math: He solved a lot of complex problems of trigonometry and circular geometry, inspired by his time in the government and military: the calculation of areas for land tax, the efficient packing of spheres, and the terrain space needed for military formations. He also used combinatorics to calculate the number of possible positions in a Go game, and wrote about the mathematical relationships in music. Medicine: Shen Kuo showed that the human throat has two openings (the trachea and the esophagus), debunking what was at the time the mainstream theory that there were three openings (for solid, liquid, and air). Besides science, he also wrote extensive poetry, political treatises, and art criticism, and wrote the earliest known description of movable-type printing, which he tells us was invented by a man named Bi Sheng. So overall, Shen Kuo had a pretty amazing life, and contributed to many different fields. Today his tomb is a tourist attraction in the city of Hangzhou. (Most of this information is from Wikipedia.)
jonomancer: Brahmagupta, Indian mathematician (598 - 670), known as the “inventor of zero”. Picture from findinsideindia.com. Brahmagupta was head of the astronomical observatory at Ujjain, a holy city in the Malwa region of central India. (Ujjain has been a center of learning since ancient times, and is known in Hindu tradition as the place where Krishna went to receive his education. The observatory of Ujjain was considered the prime meridian, as Greenwich England is today, making it the baseline for all astronomical observations.) From his observations he deduced that the moon is closer to the earth than the sun is, and that the earth and heavenly bodies are all spheres. His calculation of the length of the solar year is accurate to within about half an hour! But Brahmagupta is best known for his mathematical writings, and especially for developing the concept of zero as a number. In his great work Brahmasphutasiddhanta (“The Opening of the Universe”), Brahmagupta wrote: When zero is added to a number or subtracted from a number, the number remains unchanged; and a number multiplied by zero becomes zero. Previous schoars had used various symbols as placeholders to show the lack of a number or digit. Brahmagupta was the first to treat zero as a number in its own right, something that could be used in calculations along with other numbers. In doing so, he extended the rules of arithmetic from the natural numbers to what we now call the integers, including zero and negative numbers. Here’s more rules from the Brahmasphutasiddhanta: A debt minus zero is a debt. A fortune minus zero is a fortune. Zero minus zero is a zero. A debt subtracted from zero is a fortune. A fortune subtracted from zero is a debt. The product of zero multiplied by a debt or fortune is zero. The product of zero multipliedby zero is zero. The product or quotient of two fortunes is one fortune. The product or quotient of two debts is one fortune. The product or quotient of a debt and a fortune is a debt. The product or quotient of a fortune and a debt is a debt. (“Fortune” and “Debt” were Brahmagupta’s quite descriptive terms for what we’d now call positive and negative numbers.) This is one of those ideas that’s so simple that, from our vantage point centuries later, it’s hard to imagine anyone not understanding it, but people had been struggling along without zero for centuries. It must have taken a stroke of genius to realize that “nothing” is something! But he didn’t stop with negative numbers! The Brahmasphutasiddhanta also contains methods for: - Finding square roots, using an algorithm that Newton would rediscover centuries later! - Solving quadratic equations! - Trigonometry, including tables of sines and cosines! - Summing series of squares and cubes - Finding the area of cyclic quadrilaterals His work holds up extremely well today. His approximation of Pi was correct to within a few hundredths. About the only place where modern mathematicians would disagree with Brahmagupta is his statement that 0 divided by 0 is 0, where today we leave division by zero undefined. Sources: www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Brahmagu... www.famous-mathematicians.com/brahmagupta/ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmagupta Math and Science Week!
This is actually before I enhanced the bases, and I still have to enhance thirty more bases and paint more musicians and champions, but since I only fielded them once in 9th edition and am moving on to Nurglings for Warhammer 40,000 tenth edition, I'm in no rush to work on these wholesale but I may paint one or two of my unpainted ones.
Lance sent me a sample carbon-fiber dice carrier to make sure the Mathematician's Dice would fit. They do! Pick up his carrier on Kickstarter or at Carbon Fiber Cache
Gelatin-silver photograph on Ultrafine Silver Eagle VC FB photographic paper, image size 16.3cm X 21.5cm, from a Kodak Tmax 400 120 format negative exposed in a Mamiya RB67 single lens reflex camera fitted with a 127mm f3.8 lens.
Titled and signed recto, stamped verso.
The technical does not exclude the beautiful.
acrylic on canvas paper.
It was Vlad himself who composed the picture and ask'd me to paint it later. I transferred the image using a grid.... and being that Vlad was a mathematician, I thought it apt to let the grid lines show...
Source: livinghistories.newcastle.edu.au/nodes/view/46651
Pictured in this photo are: Bob Berghout (far left), Professor Jim Owings (second left), Paul K. Smrz (centre), Professor Graham Higman, Professor Warren Brisley. [Professor Graham Higman (9th January 1917 - 8th April 2008) - one of England’s best-known mathematicians]
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This image was scanned from a photograph in the University's historical photographic collection held by Cultural Collections at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia.
If you have any information about this photograph, or would like a higher resolution copy, please contact us or leave a comment in the box below.
Cast photo – The Crystal Palace: Mary Anning, Paleontologist; Edward John Routh, Mathematician; Robert Maitland Brereton, Railway Engineer; Frederick Scott Archer, Photographer; James C. Maxwell, Physicist; Sir Henry Cole, Inventor; Sam Colt, Inventor; Elizabeth Burden, Pre-Raphaelite Colleague
Lonnie Cross Born May 22, 1927 ,Bessemer, Alabama. He became a member of the Nation of Islam in 1961 and changed his name to Abdulalim A. Shabazz.
Education
B.A. (1949) in Math. and Chemistry from Lincoln University (PA); M.S. (1951) in Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ph.D. (1955) in Mathematics from Cornell University thesis: On the Distribution of Eigenvalues of the Equation: Integral of A(S-T) PHI (T) with Respect to T Between Lower Limit -A and Upper Limit A=Rho (Integral of B(S-T)); advisor: Mar Katz.
From 1952-53, Cross was an Assistant Mathematician with Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory (Buffalo). He was a Research Mathematician with the Metals Research Laboratory of the Electro Metallurgical Co. (Niagara Falls) in 1955. Dr.Cross was appointed as Assistant Professor of Mathematics by Tuskegee Institute in 1956. From 1957 to 1963, Dr. Abdulalim A. Shabazz served as Chairman and Associate Professor of Mathematics at Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta). Shabazz shocked the mathematics community when he announced, in 1961, that he was a member of the Nation of Islam. He was appointed Director of Education for University of Islam #4 in Washington, DC in 1963, a position he served in until 1975. From 1975 until 1986, Dr Shabazz taught in Chicago, Detroit, and in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. In 1986, Shabazz returned to Clark Atlanta University where he served as Chair from 1990 to 1995. Contrary to numerous awards, below, controversy has apparently marked the recent career of Dr. Shabazz as he was removed, in 1995, from the department chairmanship of Clark Atlanta despite outstanding successes in educating numerous graduate and undergrate students in mathematics at Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA.
From 1998 until 2000 Dr. Shabazz was Chairman of the Mathermatics Department at Lincoln University (PA). He was removed from the Chair position at the Historically Black College for advocating more Blacks be hired as faculty (text of an interview is below). He is remains a Professor of Mathematics at Lincoln University.
SIGNIFICANT AWARDS
1. American Association for the Advancement of Science. AAAS presented him with the 1992 "Mentor Award" for his leadership in efforts to increase the participation of women, minorities, and individuals with physical disabilities in science and engineering.
2. He received the National Association of Mathematicians Distinguished Service Award for his years of mentoring and teaching excellence.
3. He also is a 1995 recipient of the QEM/MSE Giants in Science Award.
4. President Clinton awarded Dr. Shabazz with a National Mentor award in September 2000.
5. In 2001, the Association of African American Educators awarded Shabazz with its Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding work with African Americans in mathematics.
RESEARCH
Area of Research Interests: Analysis:
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Generalizations of two well-known results on Hermitian forms, Proceedings of Dynamic Systems and Applications, Vol. 1 (Atlanta, GA, 1993), 301--305, Dynamic, Atlanta, GA, 1994.
Black Math Guru Removed as Chairman
The Black World Today interview with Abdulalim Shabazz
11-10-00 By James C. McIntosh, M.D.
Dr. Abdulalim Shabazz the legendary mathematics professor recently cited by President Clinton for his mentoring in the fields of science and mathematics has just been removed from his position as Chairman of the department of mathematics and Computer Science at the historically Black College, Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. Dr. Shabazz
An interim chairman, mathematician, Dr. Goro Nogase, a Japanese immigrant, has been selected to replace the imminent teacher. With Dr. Shabazz's removal, Lincoln University has lost its last African-American chairman of a science department at the university. What's the story? Simply read the charges below submitted by Lincoln University Dean Of The School Of Natural Sciences, J. O. Chikwem. The seven charges levied against Dr. Shabazz read more like compliments than criticisms. Accusations such as forbidding the use of screening exams, making faculty discuss racial injustice at mathematics departmental meetings and attempting to circumvent university hiring procedures (to hire Black instructors) help paint a picture of the man who has apparently labored and fought hard to achieve the spectacular results he has in the area of mathematics education.
Shabazz has personally been credited with training directly and indirectly nearly half the Blacks who earned doctorate degrees in mathematics in the United States. Ultimately Dr. Shabazz's accusations will stand as a greater testament of his service to African people than any other awards he has received, including his recent presidential citation. What follows is the word for word interview with Dr. Shabazz by The Cemotap Drum, the monthly newspaper of The Committee To Eliminate Media Offensive To African People, based in Queens, N.Y.
Drum: Dr. Shabazz, can you tell us in your own words what are the allegations that have been leveled against you, that have resulted in your removal as the Chairman of The Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Lincoln University?
Dr. Shabazz: Recently Dean of The School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, J.O. Chikwem submitted to the Vice President of Academic Affairs, a memorandum containing a number of allegations of problems of which he says he learned in a meeting he held with faculty of my Department while I was away in Washington receiving The Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.
Allegation 1. reads as follows, "Faculty of the department complained about the cessation of placement tests by Dr. Shabazz and his refusal to entertain any discussions on the issue. They observed that weaker students are therefore not given the opportunity to improve their mathematical skills. They report that Dr. Shabazz views the placement tests as not reflective of the students ability and that remedial mathematics is degrading to minority students."
This accusation of course is not coming from the majority of the faculty and is of course inaccurate. The accusations came in the main from one white adjunct professor by the name of Laurellen Landau Treisner who submitted a list of grievances, which include most of these later submitted by Dean Chikwem. Chikwem and others wanted me to apologize to Dr. Treisner for her grievances, all of which either were untrue or not wrong. I of course refused. The issue of screening tests and my opposition to them are nothing to apologize for. I have carefully reviewed the literature and experienced, firsthand, the impact of using standard placement tests to determine if students can perform College level mathematics. The techniques I have developed to make this determination without the testing I utilize to greater success than the testers. The majority of the faculty in my department agrees with me. The supporters of this roadblock method of teaching are taking advantage of a mathematical fallacy called Pascal's paradox that is quite easily disproved.
Drum: What is Pascal's Paradox type teaching?
Dr. Shabazz: In this type of teaching a person is told that it can be proven that he cannot walk across the room. The so-called proof is that before you can walk across the whole room, you must walk across half the room and before you can walk across half of the room you must walk across half of that and so on and so on. The simplest proof you can offer is to walk across the room. Dr. Treisner and those who think like she does, do not need placement tests to teach the students mathematics. They need a placement test to avoid teaching the students mathematics. I can create a longer list of students who would have been screened out by these tests that I ultimately sent to earn their PhD degrees than Treisner can create of those who even earned bachelor's degrees in mathematics and went through the placement test, remediation roadblock she and her supporters propose. I was brought to the University to produce students with excellent skills in mathematics. I must use and teach my faculty to use techniques with a record of success, not follow the advice of those who predict failure, see failure, have failed everywhere they have seen dark skin. These naysayers desire to obstruct not only the students, but those who know how to teach the students. As for the allegation that I find remedial mathematics as degrading to minority students, this is Dr. Chikwem's understanding of another nameless person's understanding of what I have said.
In other words, it is hearsay, as is most of the material in his memorandum. What I have said is that enrolling a student in a whole course of nothing but arithmetic is degrading, demoralizing and unnecessary. In 1986 when I came to a department at Clark Atlanta University in which nearly all of the students were placed in such classes, I was told the same thing. My reply at that time was "give me your very worst ones and I will show you that they can achieve excellence in the mathematical sciences." By 1990 even the naysayers learned enough from my results to make me the chairman of the Mathematical Sciences Department. By 1995 the worst of the naysayers could offer no arguments only opposition. The Mathematical Association of America, however, cited that department as one of the top 10 for students in America. Drum: That brings us right to Dr. Chikwem's second allegation, "Faculty complained of Dr. Shabazz putting pressure on them to give students higher grades than they earned in order to encourage them to study mathematics. This results in grade inflation; students get good grades and still cannot solve basic mathematical problems. Many faculty believe that this practice hurts the students instead of helping them. They also believe that Dr. Shabazz evaluates faculty based on the grades given to students."
Dr. Shabazz: The unquantified, unspecified word, faculty, is Dr. Chikwem's devise for obscuring the fact that this complaint is a groundless distortion and comes in fact from Dr. Treisner's earlier "gripe list." No faculty could ever say that I asked them to give a grade that a student did not deserve. I will not, however, allow to go unchallenged a faculty member whose eye is on a career as a gatekeeper and roadblocker and getting paid for teaching easy courses to students they feel deserve no better. I evaluate faculty on how well they teach the students, not grade the students. The purpose of the grade should be to reward hard work and achievement based on the students' abilities and progress. That does encourage students but not just to feel good but also to continue to work hard and to continue to achieve more. That is not grade inflation it is the technique of encouraging excellence. Teaching at a Historically Black University is not a career for pessimists, bean counters or the myopic. I am pointing at the moon while Drs. Chikwem and Treisner are talking about a speck of dirt they imagine to be under my fingernail.
Drum: What about Allegation 3. "Decisions on curriculum changes and text book selection are often carried out by Dr. Shabazz without the consultation of other faculty. This has resulted in some course syllabi being changed in the middle of the semester."
Dr. Shabazz: Again this allegation comes right from Treisner's false gripe list. I believe in discussing everything of importance including textbooks at departmental meetings. We have more meetings than most departments and at these meetings I have made clear that one of my requirements is that textbooks must teach college level mathematics and not be white supremacist in nature. If they begin with history of mathematics as most of them do, they cannot present a false strictly European origin of mathematics. They must also not exclude dark faces, if they contain faces of people in the illustrations. My approach to the teaching of mathematics is wholistic. Everything is done to address both the skills and the esteem of the students we serve. I am willing to discuss the textbooks and the curriculum until the cows come home. If after the discussion, however, a faculty member contrary to the departmental decision wants to still use a textbook outside of the restrictions we as a department have set or if they want to dummy down the curriculum, I have no choice but to issue that faculty member a directive. No faculty member other than Dr. Treisner has taken such a position or had to be issued such a directive. Even in the case of Dr. Treisner the change occurred mid year and not midsemester.
Drum: The next accusation almost needs no defense but for the record how do you respond to the accusation that you used to talk about White Supremacy at departmental meetings instead of mathematics. Dr. Chikwem writes, "Departmental meetings do not often address issues relevant to mathematics and computer science. Many meetings become forums for motivational speeches as well as lectures by Dr. Shabazz on racial injustices against African Americans. Sometimes, relevant literature on these issues are (sic) distributed to faculty. Many faculty (members) view this as insensitive and a major cause of tension in the department. Dr. Treisner's allegation of harassment and hostile work environment partly emanates from this practice."
Dr. Shabazz: I am very disturbed that a faculty member insensitive to the circumstances affecting her student's performance and preparation would object to attempts to educate her. In our Department we are not just about the work of mathematics. We are about mathematics education and mental liberation. The major portion of our meeting is devoted to mathematics the rest about issues relevant to mathematics education. It is Dr. Treisner's inability to see the relevance, which is responsible for her poor performance as a teacher. Dr. Chikwem's priority seems to be the comfort of this one lady. For her it appears he would sacrifice a hundred students. What differentiates them from her? How does he set his priorities? I am not trying to create a department of comfort for people simply looking for an easy job-sitting roadblock. I am on the mission I have been on all of my academic life. That mission is to promote academic excellence and liberate the minds of those who come to us to be educated. Faculty unwilling to educate or be educated will continue to be uncomfortable. Excellence not comfort was the priority in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science while I was chairman. There were those who were uncomfortable when Jackie Robinson entered baseball. However, his entry brought excellence to the game. His entry could never have occurred if those who brought him in only discussed baseball in meetings. They had to discuss the same thing we have to discuss to bring in the disenfranchised masses of students that can perform excellently if they are only not blocked out. We must continue to discuss what is blocking them out and that is the ideology of white supremacy. Dr. Treisner should look long and deeply into the mirror to discover what is making her uncomfortable. I will help her look in the mirror if she only talks to me. She must not personalize comments or literature about white supremacy unless she believes that she is personally culpable. If she is and wants to learn I will help her in the way I will help any student trying to learn. She cannot expect me with 70 plus years of experience in living and over 47 years of teaching to automatically subordinate my views because she disagrees. It is my job with the assistance and advice from faculty as a whole to make decisions. Dr. Treisner must again look into the mirror to determine what makes her feel that we should automatically yield to her views. Dr. Chikwem should also ask himself what is it about Dr. Treisner that would have him adopt her views over mine and over the opinion of so many others?
Drum: What about the accusation that you indulged in unfair hiring practices. Allegation 5. reads "Faculty complained of a hiring practice which violates established Lincoln University policy. In some instances, there were no search committees and in others, the recommendations of the interviewing committee were not followed. This has further resulted in more hostility and suspicion in the department. At least in one instance there was a legal contest."
Dr. Shabazz: Our Department has never violated University hiring policy. Even Dr. Treisner had never held a full time faculty position on a tenured track until I became chairman. Do I try to recruit African American instructors? Of course, but I do so within the procedures and policies of the University.
Drum: Dr. Shabazz, are you the tyrant they say? Allegation 6. reads "Some faculty complained that Dr. Shabazz does not delegate any authority to his faculty. Every decision must be taken by him personally. Therefore, when he is away on his frequent travels, no one makes a decision on any issue no matter how urgent until Dr Shabazz returns."
Dr. Shabazz: The nameless faculty member is again Dr. Treisner who complained in her gripe list that in 1999 I accused her of usurping my authority not for a minor urgent decision but for changing the curriculum and announcing it at a Departmental meeting without my approval. If Drs. Treisner and Chikwem were not so obsessed with screening out students she feels cannot learn and he apparently feels are "weak" potential embarrassments to the reputation of the University, my attention to detail and involvement in all aspects of the Department that can promote academic excellence would be seen as no crime. There are many instances in which I delegate authority. A translation of Treisner's complaint is that not enough authority is delegated to her and sympathizers of the roadblock method of miseducation to subvert the mission of creating mathematics excellence among all the students. Treisner's agenda is to change the curriculum to accommodate mathematics at a level low enough for her to pretend to teach as she stands as a roadblock to the teaching of mathematics to those she considers too low to learn.
Drum: The final Allegation reads, "Some faculty complained that more courses and teachers were needed in Computer Science. Although there are currently eleven faculty in the Department, Computer Science is a fast growing area which needs experienced teachers to cover a lot of the newer areas in the field.
Dr. Shabazz: We do need more teachers and more courses in Computer Science. If I am ever permitted to lead without addressing and spending so much time and writing to naysayers, we will get them. I have trained more chairmen of Departments of Mathematics and Computer Science than we have faculty. Recently even the President of the United States acknowledged my abilities and accomplishments by signing a certificate celebrating and acknowledging my skills as a science, mathematics, and engineering mentor. Apparently mentoring is not what the roadblockers want. That is why I will never apologize to the roadblockers and oppressors of my people-not for a chairmanship not for a thousand chairmanships.
© 2000 The Black World Today. All Rights Reserved.
Roger Joseph Boscovich SJ (Croatian: Ruđer Josip Bošković; Italian: Ruggiero Giuseppe Boscovich; Latin: Rogerius (Iosephus) Boscovicius; 18 May 1711 – 13 February 1787) was a physicist, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, diplomat, poet, theologian, Jesuit priest, and a polymath from the Republic of Ragusa. He studied and lived in Italy and France where he also published many of his works.
Boscovich produced a precursor of atomic theory and made many contributions to astronomy, including the first geometric procedure for determining the equator of a rotating planet from three observations of a surface feature and for computing the orbit of a planet from three observations of its position. In 1753 he also discovered the absence of an atmosphere on the Moon.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Joseph_Boscovich
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10615 M YU 940 Series: Personalities of Yugoslavia (1960) Ruđer Bošković (Dubrovnik, Croatia 18. V.1711. – Milano, Italy 13. II. 1787.) Mathematician, Astronomer, Poet, Scientist, Writer. Roger Joseph Boscovich Italian: Ruggiero Giuseppe Boscovich, Latin: Rogerius (Iosephus) Boscovicius
Katherine Johnson, a mathematician responsible for putting men on the moon. A math genius, Johnson entered West Virginia State University, a Historically Black College, at age 15. While there, professors at the campus competed to have the brilliant young woman in their classes. Dr. William W....
Romanesco broccoli is an edible flower of the species Brassica oleracea, and a variant form of cauliflower. Hoogezand, The Netherlands.
Mathematician Ramanujan's house. A dream come true. Coolkarni was visibly impressed and thrilled. This is in Sarangapani sannithi street, Kumbakonam. Ramanujan sat in this platfarm and worked on many of his theorems. This is the only house that is unchanged for the past 100 years or so. Otherwise this legendary street is full of multi storeyed ugly buildings. Its hard to believe that such a derogation can happen to aesthetical senses in the span of just 100 years.
John Philip Holland was an Irish mathematician who came to America in 1873. During the 1870s, he developed basic designs for submarine boats. The Holland I, a test vessel, was operated in the Passaic River above the Great Falls . The vessel is on display at the Paterson Museum, also in New Jersey. This was the last of Holland's designs, built in 1898 and sold to the U.S. Navy in 1900.
William Oughtred (5 March 1574 – 30 June 1660) was an English mathematician.
After John Napier invented logarithms, and Edmund Gunter created the logarithmic scales (lines, or rules) upon which slide rules are based, it was Oughtred who first used two such scales sliding by one another to perform direct multiplication and division; and he is credited as the inventor of the slide rule in 1622. Oughtred also introduced the "×" symbol for multiplication as well as the abbreviations "sin" and "cos" for the sine and cosine functions.
Oughtred was born at Eton in Buckinghamshire (now part of Berkshire), and educated there and at King's College, Cambridge, of which he became fellow.[2] Being admitted to holy orders, he left the University of Cambridge about 1603, for a living at Shalford; he was presented in 1610 to the rectory of Albury, near Guildford in Surrey, where he settled. About 1628 he was appointed by the Earl of Arundel to instruct his son in mathematics.
He corresponded with some of the most eminent scholars of his time, including William Alabaster, Sir Charles Cavendish, and William Gascoigne.[3][4] He kept up regular contacts with Gresham College, where he knew Henry Briggs and Gunter.[5]
He offered free mathematical tuition to pupils, who included Richard Delamain, and Jonas Moore, making him an influential teacher of a generation of mathematicians. Seth Ward resided with Oughtred for six months to learn contemporary mathematics, and the physician Charles Scarburgh also stayed at Albury; John Wallis, and Christopher Wren corresponded with him.[6] Another Albury pupil was Robert Wood, who helped him get the Clavis through the press.[7]
The invention of the slide rule involved Oughtred in a priority dispute with Delamain. They also disagreed on pedagogy in mathematics, with Oughtred arguing that theory should precede practice.[8][9]
He remained rector until his death in 1660, a month after the restoration of Charles II.
Oughtred had an interest in alchemy and astrology.[11] The testimony for his occult activities is quite slender, but there has been an accretion to his reputation based on his contemporaries.
According to John Aubrey, he was not entirely sceptical about astrology. William Lilly, an eminent astrologer, claimed in his autobiography to have intervened on behalf of Oughtred to prevent his ejection by Parliament in 1646.[12][13] In fact Oughtred was protected at this time by Bulstrode Whitelocke.[14]
Elias Ashmole was (according to Aubrey) a neighbour in Surrey, though Ashmole's estates acquired by marriage were over the county line in Berkshire; and Oughtred's name has been mentioned in purported histories of early freemasonry, a suggestion that Oughtred was present at Ashmole's 1646 initiation going back to Thomas De Quincey.[15][16] It was used by George Wharton in publishing The Cabal of the Twelve Houses astrological by Morinus (Jean-Baptiste Morin) in 1659.
He expressed millenarian views to John Evelyn, as recorded in Evelyn's diary entry for 28 August, 1655.