The Great Mathematicians

by H.W. Turnbull

The Great Mathematicians is a concise biographical history of mathematics from Thales and Pythagoras in the sixth century BC to the great mathematical innovators of our own century.

To many people mathematics is a forbidding subject, but Herbert Westren Trunbull has succeeded in conveying to the reader the eternally fascinating interplay of numbers, problems, and ideas that make up the science of mathematics, as well as the lives of the great men who have dedicated themselves to the most exacting of man's sciences.

The Great Mathematicians is divided into eleven parts, from early beginnings, through Euclid, Archimedes, Kepler, Descartes, Pascal, and Newton, to the discoveries of the twentieth century.

Genres: Mathematics, History, Biography

141 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1901

Reviews

[John Isles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine a history of mathematics with most of the mathematics left out! We read here the lives of some notable European characters (and one Indian) who made advances in the field between ancient times and the early 20th century. They were interesting enough, but I'd like to know more about what they did.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brief (under 150 pages) biographical survey of the history of mathematics from the Ancient Greeks to the "present" (the book was written in 1929). Don't know why we have this at all, let alone have it with us in Afghanistan, but it was an interesting review of basic math (I always liked math, though I'm a word person) in a pretty readable style. I'll confess the last couple of chapters -- post-discovery of calculus -- flew over my head, but it was still useful for the layman with an interest in the topic.

[Marissa Genta Pineda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this, but it was a snore.