Alan Turing
Born Alan Mathison Turing
23 June 1912
Maida Vale, London, England
Died 7 June 1954 (aged 41)
Wilmslow, Cheshire, England
Born in London, Turing was raised in southern England. He graduated
from King's College, Cambridge, and in 1938, earned a doctorate degree
from Princeton University. During World War II, Turing worked for
the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park,
Britain's codebreaking centre that produced Ultra intelligence.
Turing Machine:
Turing formalized the concept of computation with the "Turing machine," a
theoretical model of a general-purpose computer, which laid the groundwork
for modern computing.
Breaking the Enigma Code:
During World War II, Turing played a crucial role in breaking the German
Enigma code, a complex cipher used for military communication, which
significantly aided the Allied forces.
Turing Test:
Turing proposed the Turing Test in his 1950 paper "Computing Machinery and
Intelligence," which aims to determine if a machine can exhibit intelligent
behavior indistinguishable from that of a human.
John Horton Conway
Born 26 December 1937
Liverpool, England
Died 11 April 2020 (aged 82)
New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S.
John Horton Conway FRS (26 December 1937 – 11 April 2020) was an English
mathematician. He was active in the theory of finite groups, knot theory, number
theory, combinatorial game theory and coding theory. He also made contributions
to many branches of recreational mathematics, most notably the invention of
the cellular automaton called the Game of Life.
The Game of Life:
This cellular automaton, a simple yet complex game, uses a grid of cells that
evolve based on the state of their neighbors, leading to surprisingly complex
patterns.
Group Theory:
Conway worked on the classification of finite simple groups and discovered
the "Conway groups," which are important in the study of finite groups.
Surreal Numbers:
He defined surreal numbers, a number system that encompasses all real
numbers, as well as infinitely small and infinitely large numbers, and
considered this his greatest achievement.
Georg Cantor
Born Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp
Cantor
3 March 1845
Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died 6 January 1918 (aged 72)
Halle, Province of Saxony, German
Empire
Originally, Cantor's theory of transfinite numbers was regarded as counter-
intuitive – even shocking. This caused it to encounter resistance from
mathematical contemporaries such as Leopold Kronecker and Henri
Poincaré and later from Hermann Weyl and L. E. J. Brouwer, while Ludwig
Wittgenstein raised philosophical objections; see Controversy over Cantor's
theory. Cantor, a devout Lutheran Christian, believed the theory had been
communicated to him by God.
Georg Cantor, a German mathematician, is best known as the founder of set
theory and for his groundbreaking work on the nature of infinity, including the
concept of transfinite numbers and the continuum hypothesis.
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Born Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss
30 April 1777
Brunswick, Principality of Brunswick-
Wolfenbüttel, Holy Roman Empire
Died 23 February 1855 (aged 77)
Göttingen, Kingdom of
Hanover, German Confederation
While studying at the University of Göttingen, he propounded several
mathematical theorems. He completed his masterpieces Disquisitiones
Arithmeticae and Theoria motus corporum coelestium as a private scholar.
Gauss gave the second and third complete proofs of the fundamental theorem
of algebra. In number theory, he made numerous contributions, such as
formulating his composition law, proving the law of quadratic reciprocity and
proving the triangular case of the Fermat polygonal number theorem, and
developed the theories of binary and ternary quadratic forms.
Number Theory:
Disquisitiones Arithmeticae: His seminal work, "Disquisitiones
Arithmeticae," laid the foundation for modern number theory, introducing
modular arithmetic and the law of quadratic reciprocity.
Law of Quadratic Reciprocity: This theorem, a cornerstone of number
theory, simplifies the determination of whether a quadratic equation is
solvable in modular arithmetic.
Modular Arithmetic: Gauss formalized the concept of congruences,
making number theory more accessible and powerful.
Gerolamo Cardano
Born 24 September 1501
Pavia, Duchy of Milan
Died 21 September 1576 (aged 74)
Rome, Papal States
Cardano partially invented and described several mechanical devices
including the combination lock, the gimbal consisting of three concentric rings
allowing a supported compass or gyroscope to rotate freely, and the Cardan
shaft with universal joints, which allows the transmission of rotary motion at
various angles and is used in vehicles to this day. He made significant
contributions to hypocycloids - published in De proportionibus, in 1570. The
generating circles of these hypocycloids, later named "Cardano circles" or
"cardanic circles", were used for the construction of the first high-
speed printing presses.
Solving Cubic and Quartic Equations:
Cardano is best known for publishing the solutions to cubic and quartic (4th-
degree) equations in his book Ars Magna (The Great Art) in 1545. While he
didn't invent the methods, he made them widely known and systematized
them.
Imaginary Numbers:
Cardano's work in Ars Magna also included the exploration of imaginary
numbers (square roots of negative numbers).
Negative Numbers:
He made the first systematic use of negative numbers in Europe, recognizing
their usefulness in solving equations.
