Top 10 Greatest Mathematicians of All Time
This a list of the greatest mathematicians who have ever walked on this world. This is based on my knowledge... please help and enrich this list adding more names of the great mathematicians.Euler is to math as Einstein is to physics. He is the greatest mathematician of all time, and I don't see how anyone can pick anyone else. It's not even close. Euler is the best by a long shot.
He is not only a prolific writer in mathematics, but there is also a beauty in the theorems and concepts made by him. A very interesting mathematician.
Why is there even a discussion about this? Just look at his scope in quality and quantity. Nobody comes close.
He developed mathematical functions, including what is now known as mock modular forms, based on what one would call his "visions". He did this just by thought and without proof in most cases. None of his work has been repudiated to this date, albeit there have been corrections and improvements. Mathematicians who came after him have been able to prove most of Ramanujan's work. His mathematical model that points to the existence of black holes, a full 100 years before there was any concept of black holes (let alone a fully developed theory), showcases his brilliance as a mathematician. His influence has also been rightly noted in the development of string theory.
Unparalleled in originality and creativity among all mathematicians, Srinivasa Ramanujan was an autodidact who came from humble beginnings. He is credited with 3,900 theorems and dedicated his life to math. If he had lived longer, he would have surpassed Euler and Gauss. His abilities were astounding. Just to give a perspective, if you spent a dime in one city, he could tell you where that dime would end up in two years.
Now, to make it more complicated, if you spent two identical dimes and asked him 10 years later, considering there were 1000+ cities, his calculations could predict whether those dimes were together or not, and if not, where they were. He dealt with infinities and large numbers that normal brains can't even comprehend.
So, he should be first on the list. Not Newton, Euler, Gauss, and definitely not Archimedes. I also see several articles about the greatest mathematicians of all time, and he was never even listed, while I see Alan Turing on that list. I admire Alan Turing's work, but it's not even close to being comparable to Ramanujan's. It's ridiculous.
Gauss took the baton from Euler and worked on hard problems. Not as prolific as Euler because he preferred more rigorous proofs. I think he was that much more influential. Mathematics is a subject that becomes more difficult as we progress. Who knows who would have been the best had everybody started with a similar state of knowledge. Euler, Gauss, Gauss, Euler, or von Neumann. I'm going for Gauss, maybe I just like number theory.
Even though I like Leonard Euler very much, due to the beautiful theorems invented by him, I feel Gauss would stand as the greatest mathematician of all times if we consider the rigor of his mathematical analysis and his ability.
I am astounded by his theory and how he came up with an answer to adding up all the numbers between 1 and 100 within two minutes. Genius!
He is the only human being to be argued as the greatest mathematician ever and the greatest physicist ever at the same time.
Gauss is cool but only a mathematician, Einstein is fine and dandy but only a physicist. Newton is in a league of his own.
I don't know of what kind of thing this creature is made of.
He should be at the top of the list. He is just the greatest mathematician who ever lived! After all, he's the founder of the most important branch of mathematics - "calculus". So please, vote for him.
He really was the greatest mathematician who found calculus and was fantastic, as placed by Bernoulli. Today we know calculus, but the essence was Newton's invention.
The father of geometry should be on top of the list.
I believe Archimedes should be in the top 3. He invented buoyancy and the principle of the lever. The principle of the lever is the first principle ever to be introduced. He also made the spiral pump, which is still used today. If it weren't for him, there would be no science of today.
Archimedes used calculus 1000 years before Newton "invented" it. He also founded pi. Just look up the Antikythera mechanism. While some do not believe he invented it, it comes from Syracuse, his time, and he is the only one who could have invented it. Texts claim he built such a thing.
In rating these geniuses, one needs to take account of what they had to build on. Gauss and Euler were original but had 1500 years of other brilliant minds as a starting block - what Newton called "the shoulders of giants". Archimedes got there out of almost nothing. I would put him at the top.
This is one of the fathers of the modern math argumentation system and also the author of the first mathematical theorems in history.
The God of Trigonometry, a subject which I couldn't solve without a calculator.
The Pythagorean Theorem is very important in maths. He deserves to be in the top 5 at least!
Among his many contributions to a variety of fields, he independently invented Calculus, and it is his notation that we learn today in school. His notation was so much more powerful than Newton's that, because of their furious dispute, the British refused to adopt it. Thus, they fell behind the rest of Europe in mathematics over the next century. This is why, after Newton, you don't hear about any great mathematicians from England. The next wave of math geniuses came from France, Germany, and other countries, in the persons of Laplace, Lagrange, Gauss, Euler, etc.
Although Newton may have "discovered" calculus first, Leibniz did so as well and independent of Newton, and was first to publish. But since Isaac was president of the Royal Society, he accused Leibniz of plagiarism and, in the end, Newton was credited with the creation of calculus. But today, we primarily use Leibniz's methods and notations. Newton's notations were confusing and not very helpful.
John Von Neumann was a polymath who made vast contributions to a multitude of fields in mathematics, including ergodic theory and stochastic computing. He addressed an array of topics awaiting exploration by the layman. Von Neumann was asked to write an essay on what mathematics is for the layman, and he formulated an eloquent piece. His linguistic prowess was in correspondence with his mathematical flair.
He described how the empirical straddled the logical and warned us mere mortals of how we could readily be diverted from our path to ultimate complexity (simplicity) with convoluted matters. Edward Teller once said, "Nobody knows all of science, not even JVN," illustrating how vast the scope of scientific knowledge is and how Von Neumann's prefrontal cortex was addled with a deep thinking regime.
He gave the theoretical architecture of the computer, known as Von Neumann architecture, and his contributions are far greater. Being number 11 is a very low rank for him. He wasn't much visible in popular culture. That's why he is ranked so low, I suppose.
The greatest mathematician, in my opinion. He set the foundations of modern geometry. You won't see anything more than his name when you study topology, complex analysis, differential geometry, etc. He is also the originator of the biggest open problem in mathematics, The Riemann Hypothesis, which, after 160 years, still hasn't been proven.
He created the Riemann hypothesis, considered the most difficult problem by many. His teacher gave him an 859-page book on number theory, and he returned it in just 6 days when he was just 14 (and that's saying a lot, since number theory is one of the most difficult math branches).
I think he is the best mathematician. He gave a lot to math, including geometry. Elliptic geometry is a very important and interesting geometric model. Then, he discovered many other things too.
His works suggest that he was a man who possessed superhuman brains. He was more than a millennium ahead of the West. He knew about gravity, different properties of the solar system, the size of the Earth, trigonometry, the value of pi, the length of a year accurate to four places after the decimal, eclipses, properties and nature of the mystic number zero, etc. He also used a different approach to integral calculus in order to calculate various areas.
He is the best mathematician ever. His works were not converted into books. That was the reason why he was not as famous as Euler. He invented trigonometry, which is the most essential field in geometry. He proved the theorem of Pythagoras much before, but they were not converted into books. Therefore, we say it's Pythagoras' theorem.
The first inventor of zero and pi, and the first astronomer who said that the Earth is round, not Copernicus. Europeans stole many concepts from Indians and certain other Eastern countries. He said that there are 7 satellites of Saturn before 8000 years and now NASA scientists have not found the 8th one.
Should've ranked higher. Almost solved/completed Einstein's General Relativity theory after Albert had been working on it for 8-9 years. Hilbert decided to try and solve it, and probably did, right before Einstein. He never tried to take any credit. He wasn't a dick and knew this was Einstein's life's work.
He created the theorem and demonstrated the proof for the Algebraic Finite Basis Theorem.
Surely one of the most influential 20th-century mathematicians. He turned Göttingen into the most important center of mathematical activity in the world (until the Nazis dismantled it for political reasons).
Cantor should be much higher than 14th. He invented set theory and revolutionized the concept of infinity.
Basically invented set theory, the underlying basis of all modern mathematics.
The first one with the guts to attempt to tackle infinity.
Well, he should at least be in the top 2 for the spectacular maths he did.
This guy is huge in Physics, Mechanics, and Engineering, with a focus on Statics and Dynamics. His work includes calculations for objects either at rest or in constant motion, providing a plethora of examples and a framework for understanding these concepts. In the future, these might be done in real time, although some background might be needed. With René Descartes, all this became possible, which is a great contribution to Christianity and the celebration of Christmas. His awesome contributions dared to explore where none had been, without which there might have been delays. Those who just get the job done owe their name attribution to René Descartes.
He bridged the disparate universes of algebra and geometry with his seemingly simplistic, yet ever so intricate, Cartesian system. It's funny that it's not noted as the Descartesian plane.
Inventor of the Turing machine. The first theoretical computer. Inventor of the Turing test for AI. Cracked the Enigma machine during WWII.
Please put him at the top because he really deserves it. How can the founder of algebra be situated here? You should even replace him with Euler, as without the first, the second wouldn't even conceive of something new.
I guess it's shameful that Europeans are always on top of any lists. It is a shame for our societies that the inventor of math/algebra is not at the top of this list.
He's the inventor of algebra! How come he's not in the top 5 at least!
Remember how he made other mathematicians suffer after he died.
From theorizing to formulating a solution to prove he's right about the nature of the cosmos, going way beyond the understanding of Newton. I put him as the greatest theoretical physicist, and one of, if not the greatest mathematician of all time.
What! Are you crazy? He is a scientific genius. He worked through geometry, algebra, and calculus before his uncle understood it. And his uncle was an electrical engineer.
Proved his mathematical genius (as well as his prowess as the greatest physicist) in the formulation of general relativity.
Differential equations and dynamical systems are at the base of modern math applications and technical progress. Poincaré is undoubtedly one of the most prominent scientists who made this branch of math what it currently is. He deserves to stand in one line with Newton, so I give him my vote.
One of the fathers of the mathematical theory of Chaos.
The last true master of ALL of mathematics!