education

Edward Kasner and how Google got its Name

2. April 2017 Harald Sack

On April 2, 1878, American mathematician Edward Kasner was born. Kasner is best remembered for introducing the term “googol” for a very large number, which you might probably already know, at least if you know the story how the search engine “Google” got its name. Moreover, he is known also for the Kasner metric and the Kasner polygon. Edward Kasner – Early Life Edward Kasner was born among eight siblings in New…

economics

Bernard Mandeville and the Fable of the Bees

15. November 2014 Tabea Tietz

On November 15, 1670, Dutch philosopher, political economist and satirist Bernard Mandeville was born. He became famous for The Fable of the Bees, a satire that suggests many key principles of economic thought, including division of labor and the “invisible hand“, seventy years before these concepts were more thoroughly elucidated by Adam Smith. “They that examine into the Nature of Man, abstract from Art and Education, may observe, that what renders him…