Mathematicians Of The Day

24th December



On this day in 1819, Bernard Bolzano was dismissed from his theological chair at the University of Prague and put under police supervision for his unorthodox religious views. In mathematics he helped remove the scandal of infinitesimals from the calculus.

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Quotation of the day

From Charles Hermite
Analysis takes back with one hand what it gives with the other. I recoil in fear and loathing from that deplorable evil: continuous functions with no derivatives.
Quoted in D MacHale, Comic Sections (Dublin 1993)