MacTutor
Mathematicians Of The Day
10th June
On this day in 1827, William Rowan Hamilton, at the age of 21, was appointed Royal Astronomer of Ireland at Dunsink observatory at Trinity College, Ireland. This was a unique event in that he was still an undergraduate.
On this day in 2015 Google released an Abul-Wafa doodle.
On this day in 2015 Google released an Abul-Wafa doodle.
Click on Ⓟ for a poster.
Born:
- 940: Abu'l-Wafa Ⓟ
- 1625: János Apáczai Ⓟ
- 1816: Johann Rosenhain Ⓟ
- 1861: Pierre Duhem Ⓟ
- 1885: Andreas Speiser Ⓟ
- 1887: Vladimir Smirnov Ⓟ
- 1904: John Semple Ⓟ
- 1924: Norrie Everitt Ⓟ
- 1932: Pierre Cartier Ⓟ
Died:
- 1836: André-Marie Ampère Ⓟ
- 1875: Victor Amédée Lebesgue
- 1903: Luigi Cremona Ⓟ
- 1948: Philippa Fawcett Ⓟ
- 1972: Sylvia Skan
- 1974: Jaroslav Hájek Ⓟ
- 1992: Morris Kline Ⓟ
- 2007: Hans-Jürgen Hoehnke Ⓟ
- 2012: George Saitoti Ⓟ
Quotation of the day
From André-Marie Ampère
Quotes by others about Ampère
Always preoccupied with his profound researches, the great Newton showed in the ordinary-affairs of life an absence of mind which has become proverbial. It is related that one day, wishing to find the number of seconds necessary for the boiling of an egg, he perceived, after waiting a minute, that he held the egg in his hand, and had placed his seconds watch (an instrument of great value on account of its mathematical precision) to boil!
This absence of mind reminds one of the mathematician Ampère, who one day, as he was going to his course of lectures, noticed a little pebble on the road; he picked it up, and examined with admiration the mottled veins. All at once the lecture which he ought to be attending to returned to his mind; he drew out his watch; perceiving that the hour approached, he hastily doubled his pace, carefully placed the pebble in his pocket, and threw his watch over the parapet of the Pont des Arts.
