Mathematics

Probabilist Joseph Doob born in Cincinnati, Ohio. As the Ph.D. advisor of Paul Halmos, he figures prominently in the Paul […]

Hermann Amandus Schwarz wrote his friend Georg Cantor a letter containing the first rigorous proof of the theorem that if

Maria Kirch, first woman to discover a comet (in 1702), born near Leipzig, Germany. More information about: Maria Kirch Read

Christopher Wren died. He was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, which he had redesigned and rebuilt after the

Pope Gregory VIII promulgated his calendar reform in the papal bull Inter gravissimus (of the gravest concern). It took effect

Sylvester resigned his position at the University of Virginia (after only four months), after a dispute with a student who

Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky died in Kazan, Russia. Known best for his invention of hyperbolic geometry, Lobachevsky spent most of his

Felix Bernstein born. In 1895 or 1896, while still a Gymnasium student, he volunteered to read the proofs of a

Lobachevsky first announced his principles of non-Euclidean geometry in a talk at his home University of Kazan. More information about:

At 1:05 a.m. Gauss ceased breathing. His pocket watch, which he had carried with him most of his life, ceased