You are here: Home › Search Results for: "geometry"

Search Results for: geometry

physics
Roy Kerr and Mysterious Rotating Black Holes

Roy Kerr and Mysterious Rotating Black Holes

Tabea Tietz
On May 16, 1934, New Zealand mathematician Roy Kerr was born. Kerr is best known for discovering the Kerr geometry, an exact solution to the Einstein field equation of general relativity. His solution models the gravitational field outside an uncharged rotating massive object, including a rotating black hole. Roy Kerr – Early Years Roy Kerr was educated at the private school St Andrew’s College. His talent for mathematics was first recognized during…
Read more
mathematics
Gerbert of Aurillac and the Popularization of Science

Gerbert of Aurillac and the Popularization of Science

Harald Sack
On May 12, 1003, Gerbert of Aurillac aka Pope Sylvester II passed away. A prolific scholar and teacher, he endorsed and promoted study of Arab and Greco-Roman arithmetic, mathematics, and astronomy, reintroducing to Europe the abacus and armillary sphere, which had been lost to Latin Europe since the end of the Greco-Roman era. He is said to be the first to introduce in Europe the decimal numeral system using Arabic numerals. Gerbert…
Read more
medical science
Avicenna – The Most Significant Polymath of the Islamic Golden Age

Avicenna – The Most Significant Polymath of the Islamic Golden Age

Harald Sack
At about 980, Persian polymath bū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Sīnā, also known as Avicenna, was born. Avicenna is regarded as one of the most significant thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age. His most famous works are The Book of Healing – a philosophical and scientific encyclopedia, and The Canon of Medicine – a medical encyclopedia, which became a standard medical text at many medieval…
Read more
geology
Alexander Ross Clarke and the true Shape of the Earth

Alexander Ross Clarke and the true Shape of the Earth

Tabea Tietz
On December 16, 1828, British geodesist Alexander Ross Clarke was born. He is best known for his calculation of the Principal Triangulation of Britain (1858), the calculation of the Figure of the Earth (1858, 1860, 1866, 1880) and one of the most important text books of Geodesy (1880). The figures from his second determination became a standard reference for U.S. geodesy for most of the twentieth century until satellites could improve accuracy.…
Read more
mathematics
Omar Khayyam – Mathematics and Poetry

Omar Khayyam – Mathematics and Poetry

Harald Sack
On December 4, 1131, Persian mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet, Omar Khayyam; born Ghiyāth ad-Dīn Abu’l-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm al-Khayyām Nīshāpūrī, passed away. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential scientists of the middle ages. He wrote numerous treatises on mechanics, geography, mineralogy and astronomy. “Whoever thinks algebra is a trick in obtaining unknowns has thought it in vain. No attention should be paid to the fact that…
Read more
physics
Edmond Halley besides the Eponymous Comet

Edmond Halley besides the Eponymous Comet

Harald Sack
On November 8, 1656, English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist Sir Edmond Halley was born. Of course everybody has heard of Halley’s comet. We too already had an article on that topic [1]. But, Edmond Halley did much more than calculating the orbit of the eponymous comet. He compiled a catalogue of the stars of the Southern hemisphere, he also improved the sextant, and made observations about the ocean and the…
Read more
mathematics
Cavalieri’s Principle

Cavalieri’s Principle

Harald Sack
On November 30, 1648, Italian mathematician Bonaventura Cavalieri passed away. He is known for his work on the problems of optics and motion, work on the precursors of infinitesimal calculus, and the introduction of logarithms to Italy. Cavalieri’s principle in geometry partially anticipated integral calculus. “Rigor is the concern of philosophy not of geometry.” (Bonaventura Cavalieri) Bonaventura Cavalieri – The Youth of a Mathematician Born at Milan, Cavalieri was given the name Francesco…
Read more
Relation Browser
Timeline
0 Recommended Articles:
0 Recommended Articles: