Jean Le Rond d'Alembert

1
Jean Le Rond d'Alembert Born 17 Nov 1717 in
Paris, France Died 29 Oct 1783 in Paris, France
Illegitimate son of an ex nun
Thus metaphysics and mathematics are, among all
the sciences that belong to reason, those in
which imagination has the greatest role. I beg
pardon of those delicate spirits who are
detractors of mathematics for saying this ....
- Discours Preliminaire de L'Encyclopedie,
Tome 1, 1967. pp 47 - 48.
FRS Elected 1748 Crater d'Alembert Rue
d'Alembert (14th Arrondissement)
2
Joseph-Louis Lagrange (Giuseppe Lodovico
Lagrangia) Born 25 Jan 1736 in Turin,
Sardinia-Piedmont (now Italy) Died 10 April
1813 in Paris
Impressed Euler with his work on Calculus of
Variations Appointed professor at age 19.
If I had been rich, I probably would not have
devoted myself to mathematics.
Elected FRS 1791 Crater Lagrange Rue Lagrange
(5th Arrondissement) Via Giuseppe Lodovico
Lagrange Commemorated on the Eiffel Tower
3
Leonhard Euler Born 15 April 1707 in Basel,
Switzerland Died 18 Sept 1783 in St Petersburg,
Russia
A giant of Mathematics. Philosophy Theology
-Mathematics Basel, St. Petersburg, Berlin.
Wrote 390 articles. Worked on just about
everything
Invented notation f(x), e, i, p
Elected FRS 1747 Crater Euler and Rima Euler
Rue Euler (8th Arrondissement)
4
Sir William Rowan Hamilton
Born 4 Aug 1805 in Dublin, IrelandDied 2 Sept
1865 in Dublin, Ireland

• Knew Latin, Greek, Hebrew by age 5
• Took up maths at 12 inspired by losing mental
  arithmetic competition.
• Fancied himself a poet. Friend of Wordsworth
  (who recommended he stick to the day job).
• Appointed Professor of Astronomy at Trinity
  College while he was still an undergraduate aged
  21.
• Mechanics, Optics, Astronomy, Mathematics
• Hamiltonian. Quaternions
• i2j2k2ijk-1 (Brougham Bridge)
• Quaternions came from Hamilton after his really
  good work had been done, and though beautifully
  ingenious, have been an unmixed evil to those who
  have touched them in any way Lord Kelvin

Royal Society Royal Medal Awarded 1835 Crater
Hamilton Knighted in 1835
5
Marius Sophus Lie Born 17 Dec 1842 in
Nordfjordeide, Norway Died 18 Feb 1899 in
Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway

• Invented
• Lie Algebras (which he called groups) and
• Lie Groups (which he also called groups)
• Theorie der Transformationsgruppen in 3
  volumes (with Engel)
• In Leipzig Lie was troubled by constant
  homesickness. A keen outdoor man, he missed the
  forests and mountains of Norway.

Elected FRS 1895
6
Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi Born 10 Dec 1804 in
Potsdam, Prussia Died 18 Feb 1851 in Berlin,
Germany
Contemporay of Gauss, Bessel, Abel, Legendre,
Poisson, Fourier
FRS 1833 Lunar Crater Jacobi