André Marie Ampère (1775 – 1836)
Early Life
“My father… never required me to study anything, but he knew how to inspire in me a great
desire for knowledge. Before learning to read, my greatest pleasure was to listen to passages
from Buffon’s natural history. I constantly requested him to read me the history of animals and
birds…”
(S2)
● Aged 13, André-Marie began a serious study of mathematics using books in his father’s
library. He submitted a paper about conic sections to the Academy of Lyon, but it was
rejected.
● The rejection spurred him into working harder than ever. His father bought him specialist
books to help him improve. He also took his son into Lyon, where Abbot Daburon gave
him lessons in calculus – the first formal lessons André-Marie ever had.
Contributions
(S3)
● The Ampere
-the SI unit for electric current is the ampere or amp (symbol A), named in
Ampère’s honor. It was Ampère who first defined electric current as a ‘circulation of
electric fluid in a closed circuit.’
(S4)
● Electrodynamics
-Ampère found that parallel wires with currents flowing in the same direction
attract each other. Currents in opposite directions repel each other.
Sophie Germain (1776-1831)
● Never wavered in her pursuit of mathematics despite the hindrances in a patriarchal
society that barred a woman from taking education.
● Kept hidden her identity and worked under the pseudonym of Leblanc.
● Mainly she taught herself by studying books from her father’s library. Her passion for
mathematics despite obstacles and family pressure remained unrivaled.
● After being diagnosed with breast cancer, she never gave way to her disease rather
worked vigorously on her work of elasticity and game theory. At the age of 55, she died
in 1831.
Contribution in mathematics
● She presented her work on Fermat’s last theorem by proving that
n = p – 1, later came to be known as Sophie Germain’s theorem.
Louis Poinsot
● One of the 72 scientists whose name is inscribed on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. He
is the first, on the face facing east.
● Performed poorly in the algebra assessment, which he failed. Despite this poor
performance in one part of the entrance examinations, he was accepted for admission to
the École Polytechnique.
● Gave up the idea of becoming an engineer to become a mathematics teacher.
● He was involved both in the politics of higher education and also with the politics of
France: Chambre de Paris (1846) and the Senate (1852).
Contributions
● Elements of Static
-deals with the fundamental parts of mechanics, presents this essential character
of enclosing new principles in one of the oldest known materials, invented by
Archimedes, perfected by Galileo, Huyghens, and Newton.
● Diophantine equations
-how to express numbers as the difference of two squares and primitive roots.
Bernard Bolzano (1781-1848)
● Bernard and one of his brothers, Johann, were the only two to reach adulthood out of
twelve siblings. His health, however, was delicate and he had to fight against respiratory
problems throughout his life.
“My special pleasure in mathematics rested therefore particularly on its purely
speculative parts, in other words I prized only that part of mathematics which was
at the same time philosophy.”
Two days after receiving his doctorate Bolzano was ordained a Roman Catholic priest. However,
“He came to realise that teaching and not ministering defined his true vocation.” (Russ)
“Of all actions possible to you, choose always the one which, weighing all
consequences, will most further the good of the totality, in all its parts.”
Bolzano was removed from his professorship by Emperor Franz which came as a blessing in
disguise that Bolzano now — “exempted” from teaching duties — had all the time he needed to
elaborate and write his new foundation of logic. It was published in 1837 in four volumes as
Theory of Science. After that, Bolzano took great pains to elaborate a new foundation of
mathematics. The realization of this project was considerably developed but not yet completed
when Bolzano died in 1848.
Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784-1846)
GERMAN ASTRONOMER
● German astronomer whose measurements of positions for about 50,000 stars and rigorous
methods of observation (and correction of observations) took astronomy to a new level of
precision.
● He was the first to measure accurately the parallax, and hence the distance, of a star other than
the Sun.
Life And Accomplishments
● Bessel was born in Westphalia, the son of a poor government employee. At the age of 15, he
entered an export-import firm. During his apprenticeship, dreaming of travel, he studied
languages, geography, the habits of distant peoples, and the principles of navigation, which led
him to astronomy and mathematics.
William George Horner (1786-1837)
● At the almost unbelievable age of 14 he became an assistant master at Kingswood school
in 1800 and headmaster four years later. He left Bristol and founded his own school in
1809; The Seminary at 27 Grosvenor Place in Bath.
Contributins
● Horner's method
-solving algebraic equations ascribed to him by Augustus De Morgan and
othersAt first sight, Horner's plagiarism seems like direct theft. However, he was
apparently of an eccentric and obsessive nature ... Such a man could easily first persuade
himself that a rival method was not greatly different from his own, and then, by degrees,
come to believe that he himself had invented it.
● "butterfly problem"
-Let M be the midpoint of a chord PQ of a circle, through which two other chords
AB and CD are drawn. Suppose AD cuts PQ at X and BC cuts PQ at Y. Prove that M is
also the midpoint of XY.
August Leopold Crelle (1780-1855)
● August Crelle's father was a builder who had little in the way of income to be able to give
his son a good education. Crelle was therefore largely self-taught, studying civil
engineering.
● Had his family had the resources, then Crelle would have studied mathematics at
university. He always had a love of the subject but earning money was a necessity for
him. However, he was always one to be prepared to study on his own and indeed he spent
a great deal of time working on mathematics. He achieved a remarkable level of
mathematics considering that he had never been formally taught, and when he was 36
years old he submitted a thesis De calculi variabilium in geometria et arte mechanica
usu Ⓣ to the University of Heidelberg and was duly awarded a doctorate.
● These three qualities:
1. his great enthusiasm for the subject
2. his organisational ability, and thirdly his ability to spot exceptional talent
in young mathematicians.
3. Crelle had a unique sensitivity to mathematical genius; Crelle had an
extraordinary intuition for judging the qualities of young talents, and for
encouraging then with their research work.
“The real purpose of mathematics is to be the means to illuminate reason and to
exercise spiritual forces.”
References:
Retrieved from https://www.famousscientists.org/andre-marie-ampere/
https://famous-mathematicians.com/sophie-germain/
https://www.wonders-of-the-world.net/Eiffel-Tower/Pantheon/Louis-Poinsot.php
http://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Poinsot.html
http://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Bolzano.html
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/bolzano/#BolLifSciCar
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Friedrich-Wilhelm-Bessel
http://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Horner.html
http://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Crelle.html
