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Significant Figures: The Lives and Work of Great Mathematicians
A celebrated mathematician traces the history of math through the lives and work of twenty-five pioneering mathematicians
In Significant Figures, acclaimed mathematician Ian Stewart explores the work of 25 of history's most important mathematicians, showing how they developed on each other's work and built the mathematics we use today.
Through these short biographies, we get acquainted with the history of mathematics from Archimedes to William Thurston, and learn about those too often left out of the cannon, such as Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, the creator of algebra; Ada Lovelace, the world's first computer programmer; and Emmy Noether, whose research on symmetry paved the way for modern physics.
Tracing the evolution of mathematics over the course of two millennia, Significant Figures will educate and delight aspiring mathematicians and experts alike.
In Significant Figures, acclaimed mathematician Ian Stewart explores the work of 25 of history's most important mathematicians, showing how they developed on each other's work and built the mathematics we use today.
Through these short biographies, we get acquainted with the history of mathematics from Archimedes to William Thurston, and learn about those too often left out of the cannon, such as Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, the creator of algebra; Ada Lovelace, the world's first computer programmer; and Emmy Noether, whose research on symmetry paved the way for modern physics.
Tracing the evolution of mathematics over the course of two millennia, Significant Figures will educate and delight aspiring mathematicians and experts alike.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published September 12, 2017
167 people are currently reading
1461 people want to read
About the author
Ian Stewart
270 books758 followersIan Nicholas Stewart is an Emeritus Professor and Digital Media Fellow in the Mathematics Department at Warwick University, with special responsibility for public awareness of mathematics and science. He is best known for his popular science writing on mathematical themes.
--from the author's website
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See other authors with similar names.
--from the author's website
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See other authors with similar names.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews
July 21, 2017
Ian Stewart's books can be excellent, but sometimes he forgets that much maths that excites mathematicians produces from the mere mortal a response of 'So what?' When he's on form, though, he's very good - and in this book he definitely hits the spot.
Inevitably with a book like this, giving short summaries of the lives and works of leading mathematicians, it's easy to question the gaps. Where are John Wallis and assorted Bernoullis, for example? And there is one entry, frankly that seems bizarre. I can see no reason whatsoever for Ada King to be here (though I appreciate his use of her surname, rather than using her title). Whatever Stewart's thinking, there is absolutely nothing in this entry to suggest that King was in any sense a 'trailblazing mathematician' (as the subtitle puts it).
However, I really enjoyed the range of mathematicians covered, with a good mix of familiar figures (Archimedes and Newton, for example) to those I'm ashamed to say I've never heard of, or knew the name and very little else (Nikolai Lobachevsky springs to mind). As much as possible, Stewart describes their mathematical achievements in an approachable way, though sometimes his explanations get fairly dense, or he does use a term that isn't in common usage without explaining it.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the coverage of the maths is sometimes better than the historical content. While I loved the dramatic nature of the Cardano entry (it made me think I need to look out this sixteenth century mathematician's autobiography) we got, for instance, a very vanilla version of Newton's biography - sustaining the now generally doubted idea that Newton did much of his work in the 2 years that Cambridge was suspended due to plague and pointing out that Newton was only the second ever scientist to be knighted, but not that neither he nor Francis Bacon were knighted because of anything to do with science (assuming you can call Bacon a scientist).
There is no doubt that mathematicians tend to be less familiar as people than are scientists. Even if you've used Fourier analysis, say, you may well have little idea of who Fourier was and how the technique came about. Stewart has done a real service here. I think, perhaps, the ideal audience would be scientists who use these mathematicians' work without being aware of the person behind it, but as long as the reader has a degree of tolerance for mathematical terminology and exposition (if you get the pun in the title, you should be fine), it ought to prove an appealing read.
Inevitably with a book like this, giving short summaries of the lives and works of leading mathematicians, it's easy to question the gaps. Where are John Wallis and assorted Bernoullis, for example? And there is one entry, frankly that seems bizarre. I can see no reason whatsoever for Ada King to be here (though I appreciate his use of her surname, rather than using her title). Whatever Stewart's thinking, there is absolutely nothing in this entry to suggest that King was in any sense a 'trailblazing mathematician' (as the subtitle puts it).
However, I really enjoyed the range of mathematicians covered, with a good mix of familiar figures (Archimedes and Newton, for example) to those I'm ashamed to say I've never heard of, or knew the name and very little else (Nikolai Lobachevsky springs to mind). As much as possible, Stewart describes their mathematical achievements in an approachable way, though sometimes his explanations get fairly dense, or he does use a term that isn't in common usage without explaining it.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the coverage of the maths is sometimes better than the historical content. While I loved the dramatic nature of the Cardano entry (it made me think I need to look out this sixteenth century mathematician's autobiography) we got, for instance, a very vanilla version of Newton's biography - sustaining the now generally doubted idea that Newton did much of his work in the 2 years that Cambridge was suspended due to plague and pointing out that Newton was only the second ever scientist to be knighted, but not that neither he nor Francis Bacon were knighted because of anything to do with science (assuming you can call Bacon a scientist).
There is no doubt that mathematicians tend to be less familiar as people than are scientists. Even if you've used Fourier analysis, say, you may well have little idea of who Fourier was and how the technique came about. Stewart has done a real service here. I think, perhaps, the ideal audience would be scientists who use these mathematicians' work without being aware of the person behind it, but as long as the reader has a degree of tolerance for mathematical terminology and exposition (if you get the pun in the title, you should be fine), it ought to prove an appealing read.
September 4, 2018
I remember reading Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari, who I actually enjoy. In a statement that was both shocking and disappointing, Harari said that he could not imagine why on Earth he would need to learn geometry or thermodynamics once we live in an intelligent world. This was an uncharacteristically foolish thing to say. I felt as if I had been blindsided. The only reason we understand the universe around us as much as we do, and that there is even a universe around us to begin with, is because imaginative and thoughtful people could not stop themselves thinking about geometry. Think about how Einstein changed the way we think about gravity. Newton's gravity was brilliant to begin with. Newton had to think about the geometry of a clockwork universe to arrive at his breakthrough. Einstein could only take Newton's work further when thinking about the very geometry of space. How it bends effects everything!!! Think about how understanding geometry- really thinking about it, conceptualizing it, imagining scenarios -- will shape what we come to find out about black holes. I would bet my bottom dollar we will need people who are obsessed with thinking about both geometry and thermodynamics in order to really begin to understand black holes. Every time I think about Harari's statement, I feel such a deep disappointment. It has been more than a year since I finished that book, and it still makes me as upset to think about that aspect of the book as I was when I read it. I think it's safe to say Ian Stewart would agree with me that understanding geometry will be as important to the scholars of the future as it has been to the scholars of the past.
With an excitement that was incredibly infectious, Ian Stewart revealed to me the world of symmetry breaking and pattern formation in his book Fearful Symmetry and in his lectures on symmetry, chaos, and emergence. He has been a favorite of mine ever since (even if I didn't quite care for Calculating the Cosmos). In Significant figures, Stewart's love for math drips off every page. In particular, it was exciting to read his thoughts, sprinkled throughout the book, on visual thinkers vs non-visual thinkers. Stewart values and respects both. Clearly, he is in awe of the thought processes that led to math concepts that furthered society's understanding of the larger truths math has revealed.
You won't find many actual equations in this book. Instead, Stewart has preserved a beautiful and useful history of some of the world's greatest mathematicians by telling their stories in ways any non-mathemitican can understand and appreciate. For example, when explaining Emmy Noether's theorem, Stewart provided the most simple and intuitive explanation I have read to date, and I have read many author's take on Noether because she is one of my top 3 favorite people who ever lived. I thought Stewart's recounting of each mathematician's life and their discovery would have been more complicated. In fact, i expected him to talk a lot more about chaos and symmetry. However, the people and concepts he chose to include in this book were chosen, I think, to bring to light the most significant discoveries in math in the simplest way possible, so the reader could gain a true appreciation of the timeline and how our understand of math (and all that math affects) in the simplest way possible. He tells a story, a math story, of how we built a societal collective knowledge of math (e.g. Godle's nature of mathematical truth, Hilbert's axiomatization of geometry -- and how Hilbert fought to help Emmy Noether break the glass ceiling and teach mathematics as a professor in a time when she was not even allowed to earn a degree--, ideas from Euler, Gauss with non-Euclidean geometry, Ada Lovelace, and more)
With an excitement that was incredibly infectious, Ian Stewart revealed to me the world of symmetry breaking and pattern formation in his book Fearful Symmetry and in his lectures on symmetry, chaos, and emergence. He has been a favorite of mine ever since (even if I didn't quite care for Calculating the Cosmos). In Significant figures, Stewart's love for math drips off every page. In particular, it was exciting to read his thoughts, sprinkled throughout the book, on visual thinkers vs non-visual thinkers. Stewart values and respects both. Clearly, he is in awe of the thought processes that led to math concepts that furthered society's understanding of the larger truths math has revealed.
You won't find many actual equations in this book. Instead, Stewart has preserved a beautiful and useful history of some of the world's greatest mathematicians by telling their stories in ways any non-mathemitican can understand and appreciate. For example, when explaining Emmy Noether's theorem, Stewart provided the most simple and intuitive explanation I have read to date, and I have read many author's take on Noether because she is one of my top 3 favorite people who ever lived. I thought Stewart's recounting of each mathematician's life and their discovery would have been more complicated. In fact, i expected him to talk a lot more about chaos and symmetry. However, the people and concepts he chose to include in this book were chosen, I think, to bring to light the most significant discoveries in math in the simplest way possible, so the reader could gain a true appreciation of the timeline and how our understand of math (and all that math affects) in the simplest way possible. He tells a story, a math story, of how we built a societal collective knowledge of math (e.g. Godle's nature of mathematical truth, Hilbert's axiomatization of geometry -- and how Hilbert fought to help Emmy Noether break the glass ceiling and teach mathematics as a professor in a time when she was not even allowed to earn a degree--, ideas from Euler, Gauss with non-Euclidean geometry, Ada Lovelace, and more)
February 9, 2022
"Significant Figures" describes the lives of most prominent 25 mathematicians throughout the world and ages, and Ian Stewart examines their contribution. As a person who read a lot of Stewart's books this one repeats itself comparing with other book: same idea, same words and same people. Though mathematicians are really prominent in math society, but their contribution is described a little bit shallowly: the tiniest idea of their work not described very well.
The organization of biography is not ordered. He firstly gives general information about mathematician, then reiterates their lives once again, and a some pages describe their work.
It would be great, if Stewart paid more attention to mathematicians who lived (or lives) in this age. Personally, I think most of us know contribution of Newton or Euler or al-Khwarizmi to mathematics, but we have a vague idea who are the great mathematicians who contribute to the world mostly and live now.
The organization of biography is not ordered. He firstly gives general information about mathematician, then reiterates their lives once again, and a some pages describe their work.
It would be great, if Stewart paid more attention to mathematicians who lived (or lives) in this age. Personally, I think most of us know contribution of Newton or Euler or al-Khwarizmi to mathematics, but we have a vague idea who are the great mathematicians who contribute to the world mostly and live now.
June 28, 2018
Generally felt like a list of Wikipedia pages WITHOUT enough mathematical organization.
As the title suggests, "Significant Figures" is an interesting book for people who enjoy biography of the great mathematicians and their major breakthroughs. I did gain much insight on the chronological history of mathematics from the book.
A core problem with this book, at least in my opinion, is that it only provided a historical order of the concepts involved rather than a mathematical one. In other words, who calculated new digits for PI isn't nearly as important to me as how the method was improved; unfortunately, Stewart primarily invested in the former.
Although Stewart did incorporate fragments of information in chapters of corresponding mathematicians, it's almost inevitable to lose track of the big picture without a logical axis wrapped around the concepts rather than the people.
As the title suggests, "Significant Figures" is an interesting book for people who enjoy biography of the great mathematicians and their major breakthroughs. I did gain much insight on the chronological history of mathematics from the book.
A core problem with this book, at least in my opinion, is that it only provided a historical order of the concepts involved rather than a mathematical one. In other words, who calculated new digits for PI isn't nearly as important to me as how the method was improved; unfortunately, Stewart primarily invested in the former.
Although Stewart did incorporate fragments of information in chapters of corresponding mathematicians, it's almost inevitable to lose track of the big picture without a logical axis wrapped around the concepts rather than the people.
January 15, 2020
Libro che fornisce brevi sintesi delle vite e delle opere di importanti matematici. Mancano a parer mio bestie sacre come: Laplace, Pascal, Leibniz. In particolare Leibniz lo avrei gradito per il rapporto con Newton (che non era proprio un santo, e non viene menzionato). Ho apprezzato la descrizione dei risultati in modo accessibile a tutti (o quasi). Si danno per scontate alcune cose in determinati capitoli (es. Integrali, Serie).
Trovo che svolga bene il compito di testo divulgativo invogliando ad approfondire.
Trovo che svolga bene il compito di testo divulgativo invogliando ad approfondire.
January 22, 2018
There aren't many math audiobooks, so I picked this one up when I saw it, thinking either:
A. There isn't much actual math in it or
B. It has been changed somehow to suit the audiobook format.
Unfortunately, neither. There is math in here, and I got to hear the narrator say "open bracket open curly brace two comma four comma six comma eight comma ten comma twelve comma fourteen comma sixteen comma eighteen comma twenty comma twenty-two comma twenty-four ellipsis close curly brace close bracket". etc.
A. There isn't much actual math in it or
B. It has been changed somehow to suit the audiobook format.
Unfortunately, neither. There is math in here, and I got to hear the narrator say "open bracket open curly brace two comma four comma six comma eight comma ten comma twelve comma fourteen comma sixteen comma eighteen comma twenty comma twenty-two comma twenty-four ellipsis close curly brace close bracket". etc.
February 6, 2019
Когда мне было лет десять, я обожал математику. Уверен, что тогда — даже учитывая то, что я был просто смышлёным пятиклассником —из этой книги я бы понял куда больше, чем понял сейчас. Нет, вплоть до Ньютона описания математических открытий более или менее поддаётся моему пониманию, но дальше начинается работа в измерениях, которые моему мозгу не очень подвластны. Бывают люди, которые могут упрощать и объяснять сложные концепции для дилетантов вроде меня — но Стюарт к ним, увы, не относится. В итоге получается дельная вводная книга в историю математики, оценить которую по достоинству могут только люди, уже неплохо разбирающиеся в математике. Такая вот рекурсия.
November 21, 2019
Cuando me gasté 299 pesos en un libro sobre matemáticos me cuestioné si había hecho una buena compra, ahora que termino de leerlo puedo decir que es una excelente adquisición.
El autor (Ian Stewart), avanza en su magistral presetación de libros de divulgación científica en matemáticas, énfasis en este desde luego por ser su especialidad.
El repaso viene dado desde tiempos muy remotos con el señorón Arquímides, llega al siglo XX. Hacemos un recorrido de tiempos y estaciones, entiedame estimado lector que no me refiero a las de Vivaldi, de una forma muy concreta y atinado. Se nota el trabajo de investigación profundo, mismo que se ve plasmado también en la estructuración del libro, pues incluye una introducción, notas, notas adicionales, una conlusión de refelxión, índice, índice alfabético.
Es maravilloso que se incluya una imagen de la persona al inicio de cada capitulo. El autor se dedica no sólo a mostrarte los inventos o descubrimientos de los matemáticos, sino también partes relevantes de sus vida.
Recomiendo especialmete para quienes saben o Por lo menos les interesan las matemáticas, de otro modo no lo intentes porque te vas a aburrir. Mi caso no soy muy adepto a la materia, pero mis nociones básicas y curiosidad me hicieron esforazarme por entender.
La razón de que de 4 estrellas y no las cinco es que dentro de cada capitulo al principio me perdía un poco porque avanza en la vida de la persona, pero luego hace retroceso, y entiendo es parte de un método para seguir captando la atención, pero no creo que sea para todos y a mi no me gustó.
Las mentes que más me inspiran de este libro y que no son tan comúnmente mencionados:
Turing, Boole, Noether (de las primeras grandes mujeres matemáticas reconocidas), Euler y Mandelbrot.
El autor (Ian Stewart), avanza en su magistral presetación de libros de divulgación científica en matemáticas, énfasis en este desde luego por ser su especialidad.
El repaso viene dado desde tiempos muy remotos con el señorón Arquímides, llega al siglo XX. Hacemos un recorrido de tiempos y estaciones, entiedame estimado lector que no me refiero a las de Vivaldi, de una forma muy concreta y atinado. Se nota el trabajo de investigación profundo, mismo que se ve plasmado también en la estructuración del libro, pues incluye una introducción, notas, notas adicionales, una conlusión de refelxión, índice, índice alfabético.
Es maravilloso que se incluya una imagen de la persona al inicio de cada capitulo. El autor se dedica no sólo a mostrarte los inventos o descubrimientos de los matemáticos, sino también partes relevantes de sus vida.
Recomiendo especialmete para quienes saben o Por lo menos les interesan las matemáticas, de otro modo no lo intentes porque te vas a aburrir. Mi caso no soy muy adepto a la materia, pero mis nociones básicas y curiosidad me hicieron esforazarme por entender.
La razón de que de 4 estrellas y no las cinco es que dentro de cada capitulo al principio me perdía un poco porque avanza en la vida de la persona, pero luego hace retroceso, y entiendo es parte de un método para seguir captando la atención, pero no creo que sea para todos y a mi no me gustó.
Las mentes que más me inspiran de este libro y que no son tan comúnmente mencionados:
Turing, Boole, Noether (de las primeras grandes mujeres matemáticas reconocidas), Euler y Mandelbrot.
November 28, 2022
3.5 stars
If you don’t have much of a mathematical background, this is emphatically not a book for you. The subtitle of promises that it will cover through the ‘Lives and Works of Trailblazing Mathematicians’ - and I think my main feeling at the end is that I wish we’d got more of the lives, and less of the works?
I found the first half of this much more engaging than the rest, I think mainly because I’m at least passingly familiar with most of the people and discoveries and people mentioned. This meant that a) I was more interested in learning more about them, and b) I could actually follow the mathematical explanations. As the maths got more advanced, I started skimming more and more liberally. It’s really difficult to explain complex maths in prose: I admire Ian Stewart’s effort, but I’m not sure he was entirely successful, which somewhat overpowered the interesting biographical bits and made the whole thing a bit of a slog.
I do really like his general philosophy though. The idea that maths, once proved, is eternal, as compared to science, which is always evolving and is heavily based in disproving past theories, was a particularly interesting discussion. I also really appreciate how careful he is about drawing connections between all the figures’ work, and how clear the book is that great discoveries rarely spring from thin air or the minds of great geniuses, but are the result of centuries of work by many people, and also many different types of thought that come from different cultures.
If you don’t have much of a mathematical background, this is emphatically not a book for you. The subtitle of promises that it will cover through the ‘Lives and Works of Trailblazing Mathematicians’ - and I think my main feeling at the end is that I wish we’d got more of the lives, and less of the works?
I found the first half of this much more engaging than the rest, I think mainly because I’m at least passingly familiar with most of the people and discoveries and people mentioned. This meant that a) I was more interested in learning more about them, and b) I could actually follow the mathematical explanations. As the maths got more advanced, I started skimming more and more liberally. It’s really difficult to explain complex maths in prose: I admire Ian Stewart’s effort, but I’m not sure he was entirely successful, which somewhat overpowered the interesting biographical bits and made the whole thing a bit of a slog.
I do really like his general philosophy though. The idea that maths, once proved, is eternal, as compared to science, which is always evolving and is heavily based in disproving past theories, was a particularly interesting discussion. I also really appreciate how careful he is about drawing connections between all the figures’ work, and how clear the book is that great discoveries rarely spring from thin air or the minds of great geniuses, but are the result of centuries of work by many people, and also many different types of thought that come from different cultures.
May 6, 2019
I was looking for an entertaining digression on the lives of famous mathematicians. I got that, but I also got a history of their findings, with some basic attempts to explain these findings. While I followed along with understanding for a while, I lost it around the time the author got to 1900. I’d say this explanation was responsible for about a fifth of the book, so I spent more time than comfortable awash at sea. Part of my issue is that I am a visual learner, and having tackled this as an audiobook was probably not the best bet. The narrator gamely described non-Euclidean geometry problems, infinite series, and the like, but this part of the book was more miss than hit for me. I did enjoy what I came for, though, the lives of the mathematicians. As can be imagined, the ancients aren’t as knowable as the moderns (although their math is clearer). But overall, I found this a good book. I learned a little bit, and was entertained a little bit, and I appreciated the “mid level” review of concepts these men and women were working on.
August 27, 2020
This book was lively and easy to read, and I enjoyed the wide variety of mathematicians that was covered. Since there are 25 in this book, the chapter on each mathematician is quite brief, so it acts as a good introduction for further research for the ones you're interested in. It was great to learn about their colourful lives beyond their work, but also about their work in areas of maths that they are less well known for. Overall, a fun book, and I come out of it with a lot more knowledge and understanding of the people whose work I come across and use so frequently.
December 16, 2023
Muy recomendable para conocer de primera mano las historias humanas de Fermat, Gauss, Mandelbrot, Ramanujan… (porque lo que es del lado de las matemáticas no me he enterado de mucho). Lo he disfrutado mucho!
February 19, 2021
El libro hace una gran recopilación de las vidas de distintos matemáticos y a su vez una pequeña muestra de el porque revolucionaron las matemáticas. Es el este último punto donde este libro tiene su falla, ya que se debe de conocer con anterioridad el trabajo del matemático o con ciertos conceptos para poder entender la explicación, aunque ocurre con todas las biografías que coloca.
Una buena recomendación para un estudiante o para un ávido de las matemáticas.
Una buena recomendación para un estudiante o para un ávido de las matemáticas.
February 12, 2020
Two stars feels a bit harsh because this book wasn't unpleasant to read. My main complaint is that it fell into a really awkward zone technically. When describing mathematical concepts, there is not enough explanation to actually learn something, but there is too much detail to make it easily readable. I don't know if it would be possible to write this book in such a way that it was simultaneously satisfying, entertaining, and understandable to non-specialists, so I don't blame the author for how it turned out.
December 27, 2019
The idea is to sum up the lives and mathematical contributions of 25 of the greatest mathematicians in history, but in a book 280 pages long this only gives ~10 pages to each person.
This never gives sufficiently explains any of the mathematics nor gives the reader a good idea for who the mathematicians are.
So this book is not for someone looking for an in-depth biography or wanting to get a firm understanding of the maths, but it does work to whet the appetite for further reading.
This never gives sufficiently explains any of the mathematics nor gives the reader a good idea for who the mathematicians are.
So this book is not for someone looking for an in-depth biography or wanting to get a firm understanding of the maths, but it does work to whet the appetite for further reading.
January 27, 2025
Because I was listening to the audiobook, I struggled to follow the mathematical formulas, and this book had swathes of those in every single chapter since it dealt with a lot of higher mathematics (algorithms, functions, set theory, etc., and yards of nested formulas with multiple layers of brackets and braces). Ergo, I would have gotten more out of the actual mathematics in the book had I been reading it rather than listening to it. But the history was fascinating, and the interplay of the mathematics and discoveries throughout the book was well done.
I was already familiar with many of these mathematicians from previous books on the history of math — including a few picture book biographies! However, Significant Figures gave an overview of the mathematicians' lives from birth to death, whereas other books (if my memory serves) usually focused on the mathematicians' discoveries and had less about the whole arc of their lives. Also, the audiobook gave me the pronunciation of the mathematicians' names, so hopefully now I can reference Gödel and Fourier and Galois and Noether without making a fool of myself. Alas, the fate of those who only read words and never hear them pronounced!
Readalikes:
The Joy of X: A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity
Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics
The Unimaginable Mathematics of Borges' Library of Babel
The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science
Infinite Ascent: A Short History of Mathematics (An overview like Significant Figures, but not nearly as engaging.)
Math-focused picture book biographies worth checking out, including many mathematicians not included in this book:
The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos
Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain
Numbers in Motion: Sophie Kowalevski, Queen of Mathematics
Hedy Lamarr's Double Life: Hollywood Legend and Brilliant Inventor
Code Breaker, Spy Hunter: How Elizebeth Friedman Changed the Course of Two World Wars
Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13
Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code
Queen of Physics: How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom
The Man Who Made Time Travel
I was already familiar with many of these mathematicians from previous books on the history of math — including a few picture book biographies! However, Significant Figures gave an overview of the mathematicians' lives from birth to death, whereas other books (if my memory serves) usually focused on the mathematicians' discoveries and had less about the whole arc of their lives. Also, the audiobook gave me the pronunciation of the mathematicians' names, so hopefully now I can reference Gödel and Fourier and Galois and Noether without making a fool of myself. Alas, the fate of those who only read words and never hear them pronounced!
Readalikes:
The Joy of X: A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity
Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics
The Unimaginable Mathematics of Borges' Library of Babel
The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science
Infinite Ascent: A Short History of Mathematics (An overview like Significant Figures, but not nearly as engaging.)
Math-focused picture book biographies worth checking out, including many mathematicians not included in this book:
The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos
Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain
Numbers in Motion: Sophie Kowalevski, Queen of Mathematics
Hedy Lamarr's Double Life: Hollywood Legend and Brilliant Inventor
Code Breaker, Spy Hunter: How Elizebeth Friedman Changed the Course of Two World Wars
Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13
Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code
Queen of Physics: How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom
The Man Who Made Time Travel
March 5, 2021
Stewart procura incidir en el aspecto creativo de las matemáticas a través de los grandes creadores, de algunos de los más originales. No profundiza en nada, intentando ofrecer una pequeña mirada a la vida y a la obra de esas personas para intentar ofrecer de un vistazo una medida de su genialidad, como queriendo entender de dónde surge esta. Y hace además, al final del libro, una pequeña reflexión sobre posibles tendencias o parecidos entre todas las personas de las que habla.
Deja así veinticinco historias personales, antiguas y modernas, de hombres y de mujeres, orientales y occidentales, y de distintas ramas de las matemáticas. Una selección de este tipo es muy discutible, y si bien puede haber algún caso concreto más que discutible, el conjunto final no desmerece, y como es obvio siempre tiene que quedar alguien fuera que pueda merecerlo; cada uno habríamos hecho una elección diferente, creo que la de Stewart coincide en muchos nombres con la que yo habría podido decidir, aunque no en todos. Igualmente, quizás habría reducido la lista un poco (a 18-20 personas) para poder explicar algunas cosas más de cada persona.
El orden elegido, cronológico en la medida de lo posible, es bastante acertado, ya que deja clara también la evolución que las matemáticas han sufrido, del modo en que ha cambiado la forma de afrontarlas y el estilo de vida, personal y académico, de los y las matemáticas profesionales.
El libro merece la pena ya solo sea por esa visión un poco distinta de las grandes mentes de la historias de esta ciencia, procurando hacer hincapié en lo que las hizo sobresalir entre las demás, intentando comprender ese carácter que en cierta forma nos está vedado a quienes carecemos de genialidad (la inmensa mayoría de la gente, vamos). Y Stewart es un buen divulgador, uno de los más importantes, de los más leídos; escribe con claridad y fluidez, sabiendo exponer de forma sencilla conceptos complicados, y manteniendo al servicio de una bella historia, la historia de los grandes genios creadores de las matemáticas.
Deja así veinticinco historias personales, antiguas y modernas, de hombres y de mujeres, orientales y occidentales, y de distintas ramas de las matemáticas. Una selección de este tipo es muy discutible, y si bien puede haber algún caso concreto más que discutible, el conjunto final no desmerece, y como es obvio siempre tiene que quedar alguien fuera que pueda merecerlo; cada uno habríamos hecho una elección diferente, creo que la de Stewart coincide en muchos nombres con la que yo habría podido decidir, aunque no en todos. Igualmente, quizás habría reducido la lista un poco (a 18-20 personas) para poder explicar algunas cosas más de cada persona.
El orden elegido, cronológico en la medida de lo posible, es bastante acertado, ya que deja clara también la evolución que las matemáticas han sufrido, del modo en que ha cambiado la forma de afrontarlas y el estilo de vida, personal y académico, de los y las matemáticas profesionales.
El libro merece la pena ya solo sea por esa visión un poco distinta de las grandes mentes de la historias de esta ciencia, procurando hacer hincapié en lo que las hizo sobresalir entre las demás, intentando comprender ese carácter que en cierta forma nos está vedado a quienes carecemos de genialidad (la inmensa mayoría de la gente, vamos). Y Stewart es un buen divulgador, uno de los más importantes, de los más leídos; escribe con claridad y fluidez, sabiendo exponer de forma sencilla conceptos complicados, y manteniendo al servicio de una bella historia, la historia de los grandes genios creadores de las matemáticas.
December 19, 2024
Mathematics is different. It endures. When the ancient Babylonians worked out how to solve quadratic equations – probably around 2000 BC, although the earliest tangible evidence dates from 1500 BC – their result never became obsolete. It was correct, and they knew why.
Significant Figures is a biographical history of many of the key players in mathematical history. Ian Stewart briefly discusses the lives of 25 mathematicians and their major contributions to the world through humanizing and down to Earth explanations of often complex subjects.
There are dozens (maybe hundreds) of books covering the lives of famous scientists of the past, but for whatever reason (perhaps the esoteric nature of their work), mathematicians rarely make it into the modern canon.
Stewart's biographies of the many trailblazers in the field are much like a good skirt - long enough to cover the essentials, but short enough to be interesting. Many of the figures are familiar to all of us, such as Newton and Archimedes. For those of us who have been long steeped in mathematics, engineering, and science, many other names will be familiar to us - Fermat, Euler, Fourier, Gauss, Boole, and Turing. Stewart does these greats justice through clear and interesting biography combined with a clear explanations of their work - including figures and equations where necessary.
Where Stewart stumbles is the inclusion of a couple of questionable figures, which stem likely from a desire to craft a non-Eurocentric and non-masculine history, rather than a purely honest history.
Anyone with a STEM degree has certainly used some of the work of these figures and will find this book fascinating. Those unfamiliar with the math might fail to appreciate just how incredible these contributions were, though Stewart might help shed some light on their greatness.
Significant Figures is a biographical history of many of the key players in mathematical history. Ian Stewart briefly discusses the lives of 25 mathematicians and their major contributions to the world through humanizing and down to Earth explanations of often complex subjects.
There are dozens (maybe hundreds) of books covering the lives of famous scientists of the past, but for whatever reason (perhaps the esoteric nature of their work), mathematicians rarely make it into the modern canon.
Stewart's biographies of the many trailblazers in the field are much like a good skirt - long enough to cover the essentials, but short enough to be interesting. Many of the figures are familiar to all of us, such as Newton and Archimedes. For those of us who have been long steeped in mathematics, engineering, and science, many other names will be familiar to us - Fermat, Euler, Fourier, Gauss, Boole, and Turing. Stewart does these greats justice through clear and interesting biography combined with a clear explanations of their work - including figures and equations where necessary.
Where Stewart stumbles is the inclusion of a couple of questionable figures, which stem likely from a desire to craft a non-Eurocentric and non-masculine history, rather than a purely honest history.
Anyone with a STEM degree has certainly used some of the work of these figures and will find this book fascinating. Those unfamiliar with the math might fail to appreciate just how incredible these contributions were, though Stewart might help shed some light on their greatness.
January 17, 2025
¿Qué se puede decir de un libro del que no se entendió más que un 30%, a lo sumo?
Primero, reconozco que por mi formación en ingeniería creía saber algo de matemáticas, pese a que nunca me he destacado en el área, sin embargo, este libro me enseñó lo mucho que ignoro de la materia que le da sentido a nuestro mundo y la que hemos utilizado para explorarlo, estudiarlo, conocerlo.
Segundo, la historia de cada mente maravillosa está tan bien contada que desee pasar cada palabra a fin de comprender un poco más del contexto de los personajes: sus peculiaridades, su entorno familiar, económico, social y, como bien lo narra el autor al final, me maravillé ante la diversidad de dichos rasgos (con la salvedad de la mujer, que hasta hace poco fue discriminada y relegada del estudio de la materia). Y sí, es que sin un ápice de beligerancia política este autor hace muchísimo por la reivindicación de la mujer y por exponer con crudeza las barreras que tuvieron para acceder a posiciones de relevancia dentro del mundo matemático.
Tercero, el autor se encarga de resumir brevemente los aportes de cada personaje al desarrollo de las matemáticas y aquí es donde la pendiente se pone resbaladiza; definitivamente se requiere de una formación fuerte en la materia para comprender muchos de estos conceptos. No obstante, la curiosidad por exponer mi mente a tanta complejidad me dio la motivación suficiente para llegar al final.
En conclusión, es asombrosa la capacidad del ser humano para interpretar su entorno y darle sentido a través de la creación de un lenguaje simbólico tan basto como el matemático, motiva mucho pensar a donde podemos llegar una vez encontramos aquello que nos apasiona y que hace match con las particularidades de muestras capacidades individuales. El ser humano es asombroso.
Primero, reconozco que por mi formación en ingeniería creía saber algo de matemáticas, pese a que nunca me he destacado en el área, sin embargo, este libro me enseñó lo mucho que ignoro de la materia que le da sentido a nuestro mundo y la que hemos utilizado para explorarlo, estudiarlo, conocerlo.
Segundo, la historia de cada mente maravillosa está tan bien contada que desee pasar cada palabra a fin de comprender un poco más del contexto de los personajes: sus peculiaridades, su entorno familiar, económico, social y, como bien lo narra el autor al final, me maravillé ante la diversidad de dichos rasgos (con la salvedad de la mujer, que hasta hace poco fue discriminada y relegada del estudio de la materia). Y sí, es que sin un ápice de beligerancia política este autor hace muchísimo por la reivindicación de la mujer y por exponer con crudeza las barreras que tuvieron para acceder a posiciones de relevancia dentro del mundo matemático.
Tercero, el autor se encarga de resumir brevemente los aportes de cada personaje al desarrollo de las matemáticas y aquí es donde la pendiente se pone resbaladiza; definitivamente se requiere de una formación fuerte en la materia para comprender muchos de estos conceptos. No obstante, la curiosidad por exponer mi mente a tanta complejidad me dio la motivación suficiente para llegar al final.
En conclusión, es asombrosa la capacidad del ser humano para interpretar su entorno y darle sentido a través de la creación de un lenguaje simbólico tan basto como el matemático, motiva mucho pensar a donde podemos llegar una vez encontramos aquello que nos apasiona y que hace match con las particularidades de muestras capacidades individuales. El ser humano es asombroso.
October 29, 2020
Me ha parecido un libro maravilloso que logra un buen balance entre la parte biográfica y la matemática. El resultado en una lectura bastante digerible y que cumple con su función de divulgación de la ciencia.
Es interesante revisar los transfondos de cada personaje y, como dice el autor, encontrar que los orígenes son diversos, no hay una fórmula probada para producir genios matemáticos, si acaso una serie de principios y patrones que no resultan exentos de excepciones. Como dato curioso, me llamó la atención que muchos perdieron a sus padres desde pequeños, aunque esto más que una característica de estas mentes brillantes, resultaba ser el común denominador en los siglos y décadas de menos avances científicos o de periodos bélicos. Sin duda un gran contraste con los años más recientes. Stewart también aporta detalles curiosos que desconocía de algunos de ellos y lo hace bastante comprometido con la veracidad.
Desde la óptica matemática, la verdad es que no esperaba que se abordaran de manera profunda y así fue. El libro, sin embargo, no esta exento de números y fórmulas. No esta de más decir que, abordar algunos temas matemáticos y tratar de ofrecer una explicación en los términos más simples puede ser una tarea demasiada compleja. He de admitir que hubo un par de casos donde sencillamente no tuve el suficiente conocimiento para entender lo que se estaba tratando. Aún asi, creo que comparado a otros libros que lo intentan, este supera bastante bien la prueba. Eso sí, el formato de audiolibro falla rotundamente y me hace pensar si de verdad existe una forma en que se pueda mejorar la experiencia para un "audioescucha".
Es interesante revisar los transfondos de cada personaje y, como dice el autor, encontrar que los orígenes son diversos, no hay una fórmula probada para producir genios matemáticos, si acaso una serie de principios y patrones que no resultan exentos de excepciones. Como dato curioso, me llamó la atención que muchos perdieron a sus padres desde pequeños, aunque esto más que una característica de estas mentes brillantes, resultaba ser el común denominador en los siglos y décadas de menos avances científicos o de periodos bélicos. Sin duda un gran contraste con los años más recientes. Stewart también aporta detalles curiosos que desconocía de algunos de ellos y lo hace bastante comprometido con la veracidad.
Desde la óptica matemática, la verdad es que no esperaba que se abordaran de manera profunda y así fue. El libro, sin embargo, no esta exento de números y fórmulas. No esta de más decir que, abordar algunos temas matemáticos y tratar de ofrecer una explicación en los términos más simples puede ser una tarea demasiada compleja. He de admitir que hubo un par de casos donde sencillamente no tuve el suficiente conocimiento para entender lo que se estaba tratando. Aún asi, creo que comparado a otros libros que lo intentan, este supera bastante bien la prueba. Eso sí, el formato de audiolibro falla rotundamente y me hace pensar si de verdad existe una forma en que se pueda mejorar la experiencia para un "audioescucha".
April 18, 2018
I’d like to premise my review by revealing that I have about 1.5 years of university Maths experience (technically I finished second year, but my level of understanding was nothing to be desired).
I found Significant Figures to be incredibly interesting and full of fun knowledge. Stewart has done his homework and found truly magnificent stories of these mathematicians (spanning 2500 years), and does an excellent job of portraying the human side of them.
I greatly enjoyed the first half of the book - I could understand all the theory, and was learning a few new mathematical ideas too. My problem came in when I reached the end of my existing mathematical understanding.
In many cases, Stewart references ideas and theories, which I’ve never heard of. He sometimes gives a well thought out explanation, which aids learning, but most of the time I’m expected to know what he is talking about.
Is this book still enjoyable if you don’t get the maths?
Yes, as long as you’re content with not fully understanding the concepts and kinda glancing over them. There’s an abundance of interesting anecdotes to keep the pace going.
Despite the lack of understanding, or maybe because of it, I felt inclined to go back to my old maths notes and give maths another go. I think it takes an incredible book to make you enjoy something you long ago thought you’d never enjoy again.
I found Significant Figures to be incredibly interesting and full of fun knowledge. Stewart has done his homework and found truly magnificent stories of these mathematicians (spanning 2500 years), and does an excellent job of portraying the human side of them.
I greatly enjoyed the first half of the book - I could understand all the theory, and was learning a few new mathematical ideas too. My problem came in when I reached the end of my existing mathematical understanding.
In many cases, Stewart references ideas and theories, which I’ve never heard of. He sometimes gives a well thought out explanation, which aids learning, but most of the time I’m expected to know what he is talking about.
Is this book still enjoyable if you don’t get the maths?
Yes, as long as you’re content with not fully understanding the concepts and kinda glancing over them. There’s an abundance of interesting anecdotes to keep the pace going.
Despite the lack of understanding, or maybe because of it, I felt inclined to go back to my old maths notes and give maths another go. I think it takes an incredible book to make you enjoy something you long ago thought you’d never enjoy again.
July 3, 2022
Type of course: Appetizer
This is an appetizer type of book which is easy to digest and get a quick sense of life of prominent mathematicians who lived in from ancient greek times to our days. Alan Turing's part was most intriguing to read, for instance in one event, when he was cycling to his work he was fed up with constantly coming off bicycle chains that he had to grease them up with oil. Instead of constantly doing this labor, he found a solution by counting the number of maximum pedaling until the chain comes off. Eventually, he found a pattern between the number of spooks in the back wheel, the number of links on chains, and the total running count of pedaling. Then he kept running count of each pedaling until the chains come off and prevented the problem in the first place with some particular cycling maneuver.
Some of the books that tie up this course are
- Kline Mathematical Thought From Ancient to Modern Times, Morris Kline
- Science and hypothesis, Henri Poincaré
- The Value Of Science, Henri Poincaré
- Science and method, Henri Poincaré
And a movie 'The Imitation Game ' which is about Alan Turing and how he broke the code of enigma during WWII
This is an appetizer type of book which is easy to digest and get a quick sense of life of prominent mathematicians who lived in from ancient greek times to our days. Alan Turing's part was most intriguing to read, for instance in one event, when he was cycling to his work he was fed up with constantly coming off bicycle chains that he had to grease them up with oil. Instead of constantly doing this labor, he found a solution by counting the number of maximum pedaling until the chain comes off. Eventually, he found a pattern between the number of spooks in the back wheel, the number of links on chains, and the total running count of pedaling. Then he kept running count of each pedaling until the chains come off and prevented the problem in the first place with some particular cycling maneuver.
Some of the books that tie up this course are
- Kline Mathematical Thought From Ancient to Modern Times, Morris Kline
- Science and hypothesis, Henri Poincaré
- The Value Of Science, Henri Poincaré
- Science and method, Henri Poincaré
And a movie 'The Imitation Game ' which is about Alan Turing and how he broke the code of enigma during WWII
January 13, 2023
Про великих математиков Стюарт, конечно, преувеличил, хотя и о великих математиках (Ньютон, Гаусс, Эйлер, Пуанкаре) речь в его книге идет. Но по большей части эта книга о математиках замечательных, в том смысле, что каждый из них был чем-то замечателен. Если Ньютон замечателен своими "Математическими началами натуральной философии", то, Эварист Галуа, например, замечетелен своей ранней гибелью, Софья Ковалевская, замечательна тем, что она женщина, а Лю Хуэй - тем, что он китаец. Соответственно, из-за некоторого перекоса в сторону математиков замечательных, не нашлось в книге места для еще какого-то числа математиков значимых, вроде Евклида или Лейбница. Ну да шут с ним, автор сделал выбор свой выбор и выбор этот обосновал. Да и повествование получилось занимательным и куда более популярным, нежели научным. Хотя про дзета-функцию Римана, а также ее нетривиальные нули, а также на кой Риману эта функция сдалась, мне с большего стало понятно. Ну, по крайней мере блаженное незнание сменилось тревожаще-будоражащим полузнанием. Как-то так.
May 26, 2021
As someone studying maths at uni currently, I found this book super interesting. I didn't understand all the maths in it, but I thoroughly enjoyed the stories told about the lives of all the mathematicians, and was thrilled when something I learned about in a paper came up in the book somewhere (either by a mathematician I already knew of, or one who I had no idea pioneered a particular field). It took me a very long time to get through the book (I ran out of renewals on my library card and had to go to the library and ask them to return it then get it out again to give back to me), but I blame my own brain emptiness rather than this book. I'd recommend this book to both students of mathematics as well as general people who'd like to read some interesting (factual) stories about interesting people!
May 14, 2023
Terminar este libro ha sido un ejercicio sadomasoquista por mi parte. No solo no he disfrutado, sino que me he torturado para poder terminarlo.
El libro no es en sí un desastre pero tienes que saber bastante de matemáticas si quieres seguir el hilo. Yo como no tengo ni idea, se me ha hecho extremadamente pesado ya que llegaba un punto en cada biografía que me perdía y no podía entender todo lo que decía.
Si sabes de matemáticas puede que le saques algo, pero más allá, yo creo que aún con el nivel de matemáticas adecuado, el libro es un torro insufrible.
Mi recomendación es alejarse de él.
El libro no es en sí un desastre pero tienes que saber bastante de matemáticas si quieres seguir el hilo. Yo como no tengo ni idea, se me ha hecho extremadamente pesado ya que llegaba un punto en cada biografía que me perdía y no podía entender todo lo que decía.
Si sabes de matemáticas puede que le saques algo, pero más allá, yo creo que aún con el nivel de matemáticas adecuado, el libro es un torro insufrible.
Mi recomendación es alejarse de él.
July 31, 2019
I’d say the main strength of this book was its historical breadth. Any one of the biographical sketches may not form a masterpiece in its own right, but taken together one is given a helpful feel for the life and times of (at least a handful) of important mathematicians through the ages. As a practicing mathematician myself, I find it beneficial to learn about the struggles, victories, defeats, and determination of those whose achievements make possible the work I strive to do. To learn about such things on such a sweeping historical scale can have a humbling and encouraging effect.
February 7, 2020
"Любой человек может заниматься чем угодно: все, что для этого нужно, – это обучение и много-много практики. И если вы захотите достаточно сильно, то сможете этого добиться. (А если не добьетесь, то это будет означать, что вы хотели недостаточно сильно… прекрасный пример порочного замкнутого круга)".
Книга о математиках с минимумом математики. Если вы уже знаете какие-то истории про Рамануджана или Гаусса, может быть не так интересно, но стиль автора мне нравится.
Книга о математиках с минимумом математики. Если вы уже знаете какие-то истории про Рамануджана или Гаусса, может быть не так интересно, но стиль автора мне нравится.
April 22, 2020
Enjoyable book. Stewart narrates about the lives of the greatest mathematicians and lays out their achievements. The latter is, as I'm guessing, pretty lightweight to make it more palatable to the average reader, but without mathematical background is still pretty hard to understand. I subtract one star because the chapter on Leonhard Euler I think does not do him justice. Watch lectures on Euler by William Dunham, they are readily available on YouTube and are highly recommended.
October 9, 2022
Me gustó mucho. Siempre me han gustado las matemáticas, pero la verdad es que nunca me había adentrado hacia la historia y personajes importantes. Siento que el autor hace un muy buen trabajo al describir a cada matemático o matemática porque hay mucha información sobre toda su vida. No le doy 5 estrellas solamente porque en ciertos puntos el nivel de matemáticas que se requería para entender lo que uno leía era bastante complejo, pero fuera de eso, muy interesante todo
January 21, 2023
Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this book. Both the lives and work of the mathematicians were not written in an interesting and engaging manner. The math was often described too complicated. I was reading some of the topics online and found much easier descriptions. I mean it gets rather boring if the math is confusing and you do not understand the meaning of it. And I think this is a shame because the topics are highly interesting.
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