Remarkable Mathematician: From Euler To Von Neumann

by James

Ioan James introduces and profiles sixty mathematicians from the era when mathematics was freed from its classical origins to develop into its modern form. The subjects, all born between 1700 and 1910, come from a wide range of countries, and all made important contributions to mathematics, through their ideas, their teaching, and their influence. James emphasizes their varied life stories, not the details of their mathematical achievements. The book is organized chronologically into ten chapters, each of which contains biographical sketches of six mathematicians. The men and women James has chosen to portray are representative of the history of mathematics, such that their stories, when read in sequence, convey in human terms something of the way in which mathematics developed. Ioan James is a professor at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford. He is the author of Topological Topics (Cambridge, 1983), Fibrewise Topology (Cambridge, 1989), Introduction to Uniform Spaces (Cambridge, 1990), Topological and Uniform Spaces (Springer-Verlag New York, 1999), and co-author with Michael C. Crabb of Fibrewise Homotopy Theory (Springer-Verlag New York, 1998). James is the former editor of the London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series and volume editor of numerous books. He is the organizer of the Oxford Series of Topology symposia and other conferences, and co-chairman of the Task Force for Mathematical Sciences of Campaign for Oxford.

Genres: Biography, Mathematics, Science, History, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published March 1, 1903

Reviews

[Serkan Yilmaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bazısı sıradışı 60 büyük matematikçinin hayat öyküsü…

[Sean Reeves · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting review of the lives of sixty mathematicians. Oddly, there is not a single mathematical expression in the entire book. I understand the author's focus on biography rather than mathematical content but the inclusion of some content would have added "colour" to the book.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

4-8 pages on each mathematician, grouped in buckets from similar time periods. Interesting to read how the centers of excellence developed (or were destroyed). Would be great if there was a companion book that talked about the types of math problems and the related specialists/developers.

[Silvio Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mini-biographies of lots of mathematicians in order of birth from 1705 to 1905. I think I learned more from this than from God Created the Integers. The biographies are well organized and clearly written. They name the mathematicians' most important research achievements and say what makes them important, but don't try to explain them. They also pay attention to the mathematicians' activity in teaching and administration. The book covers enough mathematicians from a small enough time period to show up lots of connections between their lives and hold together as one story.

[Yatin Jaiswal · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Remarkable Exposition to the Greatest Minds of all Time!!!