Mathematicians 2013-2014 Flashcards
Pick the right mathematician for each statement.
1
Q
From Baltimore County
A
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)
2
Q
Carved a wall clock by recreating the mechanism found in a pocket watch
A
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)
3
Q
African American
A
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)
4
Q
No formal education
A
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)
5
Q
A few seasons in a Quaker school to learn elementary arithmetic and music
A
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)
6
Q
Predicted solar eclipse
A
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)
7
Q
Worked on lunar eclipses
A
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)
8
Q
Earned 8th grade education by 15
A
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)
9
Q
Took over farm and devised irrigation system & grew tobacco
A
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)
10
Q
Survey of District of Columbia (recommended by Thomas Jefferson)
A
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)
11
Q
Traded letters with Jefferson urging him to change his pro-slavery views
A
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)
12
Q
Letters with Jefferson were published
A
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)
13
Q
Published astronomy almanac
A
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)
14
Q
One of his letters featured an argument that black and white people have the same intellectual abilities
A
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)
15
Q
Wrote journals with math puzzles & calculations (did not survive a fire)
A
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)
16
Q
Studied oceanography
A
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
17
Q
An American navigator
A
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
18
Q
From Salem, Massachusetts
A
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
19
Q
His family struggled financially after loss of their family company
A
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
20
Q
Father was a cooper
A
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
21
Q
Had to end his formal education to help his father in his cooperage
A
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
22
Q
Worked as a clerk (teenage years) in a shop that worked with ship parts… Taught himself at the time
A
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
23
Q
Learned from the works of Irish chemist Richard Kirwin. Kirwin’s library was on a ship that was intercepted and brought back to Salem
A
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
24
Q
Motivated to read Newton’s Principia.
A
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
25
Taught himself calculus (differential and integral) and Latin to understand Newton's works
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
26
Learned other languages to study mathematics
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
27
Made 4 major voyages and studied Laplace's work while en route.
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
28
Was a sailor and owned his own merchant ship
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
29
Quit being a sailor; became president of an insurance company, Essex Fire and Marine Insurance
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
30
Had a high reputation in the world due to his astronomical and mathematical investigations
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
31
Corrected and published the first American Moore's Practical Navigator
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
32
Loved to check math calculations in Moore's book; by 3rd edition he published it under his OWN name
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
33
Attended the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
34
Offered the chair of math and sciences at Harvard, and the Universities of West Point and Virginia.... But declined all.
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
35
Wrote articles on naval charts of harbors (Salem) and articles on the moon
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
36
Scientific publications on a meteor explosion, orbits of comets, and Lissajours (pendulum motion suspended from two points)
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
37
Translated some of Laplace's work Fr - - - > En
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
38
Published in British and Continental journals
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
39
Member of American Philosophical Society
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
40
Member of Royal Society of Edinburgh
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Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
George William Hill (1838-1914)
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41
Member of Royal Society of England
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
42
Member of Royal Irish Society
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
43
After being president of a company, later became an actuary for an insurance company
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
44
Worked with meteors, comets, tides, and orbits.
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838)
45
From Waterton, Connecticut
Erastus DeForest (1834-1888)
46
Had a well-off family
Erastus DeForest (1834-1888)
47
Entered Yale
Erastus DeForest (1834-1888) at age 16 to study math. Emory McClintock (1840-1916) after attending Dickinson College. Theodore Strong (1790-1869) also.
48
Father endowed a named mathematical prize at Yale in his name to celebrate his graduation
Erastus DeForest (1834-1888)
49
Earned a BA then remained at Yale to study engineering
Erastus DeForest (1834-1888)
50
Earned PhB at Yale.
Erastus DeForest (1834-1888)
51
Before a trip to Havana, he disappeared; went to California and then to Australia with no trace... Was depressed of his privileged life
Erastus DeForest (1834-1888)
52
Taught in California and Australia at a grammar school... Returned to the US 4 years later and devoted his study to math
Erastus DeForest (1834-1888)
53
Published a paper on interpolation
Erastus DeForest (1834-1888)
54
Studied the liabilities of life insurance policies at the request of his uncle, president of Knickerbocker's Insurance company
Erastus DeForest (1834-1888)
55
Became obsessed with mortality tables and published over 20 papers on the subject
Erastus DeForest (1834-1888)
56
Introduced formal optimality criteria for smoothness
Erastus DeForest (1834-1888)
57
Borrowed statistical ideas from astronomy for his work with the least squares method of area
Erastus DeForest (1834-1888)
58
Made remarkable contributions to statistics before those credited with the same contributions (thus he received no credit)
Erastus DeForest (1834-1888)
59
Not part of any institution and thus did not get visibility
Erastus DeForest (1834-1888)
60
Published in obscure journals
Erastus DeForest (1834-1888)
61
Pearson acknowledges his priority in developing the Chi Square distribution
Erastus DeForest (1834-1888)
62
Did not teach at Yale after graduating there
Erastus DeForest (1834-1888)
63
From New York City
George William Hill (1838-1914)
64
His father was an artist specializing in engraving
George William Hill (1838-1914)
65
Had a formal education and excelled in math classes
George William Hill (1838-1914)
66
Graduated from Rutgers (but it was not called that at the time)
George William Hill (1838-1914)
67
Learned from Thomas Strong (also a mathematician), who was a friend of Bowditch
George William Hill (1838-1914)
68
Studied from Thomas Strong's personal library in addition to his own university studies
George William Hill (1838-1914)
69
After graduation, studied lunar theory for 12 years before publishing his findings
George William Hill (1838-1914)
70
Joined the Nautical Almanac Office
George William Hill (1838-1914)
71
Won 1st prize for his essay: On the Confrontation of the Earth
George William Hill (1838-1914)
72
Tended to work on his own and was reclusive
George William Hill (1838-1914)
73
For a 10 yr period, worked in Washington DC on the theory and tables for the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn
George William Hill (1838-1914)
74
Studied the transits of Venus
George William Hill (1838-1914)
75
First to use infinite determinants to study the orbit of the moon
George William Hill (1838-1914)
76
Published Researches on Lunar Theory
George William Hill (1838-1914)
77
His theory on the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn is considered to be a major contribution to mathematical astronomy
George William Hill (1838-1914)
78
Considered a mathematician, but his mathematical works are based entirely on his orbits calculations
George William Hill (1838-1914)
79
Lectured/taught at Columbia
George William Hill (1838-1914) for 3 years... Emory McClintock (1840-1916) was a math tutor/teacher there
80
Described the gravitational sphere of influence.
George William Hill (1838-1914)
81
Lived in Pennsylvania and Missouri
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
82
Father was a clergyman who taught math, Greek, and Latin at Dickinson College
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
83
Homeschooled, spent 1 year in college and then entered Dickinson College
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
84
Continued his studies in Europe
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
85
Studied chemistry at the University of Paris and Gottigen
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
86
Followed US politics while abroad and came home to join the Union army after Lincoln was elected and the South seceded.
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
87
Joined Union army as a topographical engineer
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
88
Was a lieutenant, but did not follow through because he suffered severe sunstroke
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
89
Represented the US Consul in England
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
90
Became associated with a bank in Paris for a year
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
91
Became an actuary in Asbury Life Insurance Company in New York
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
92
Leading actuary in America for many years
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
93
Published 30+ papers answering actuarial questions
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
94
Published papers abut treating difference equations as differential equations of infinite order
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
95
Published papers about quintic equations which are solvable algebraically
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
96
Published A Simplified Solution of the Cubic
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
97
Published On the Nature and Use of the Functions Employed in the Recognition of Quadratic Residues......... Therefore he worked on quadratic residues
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
98
VP and president of the NY Mathematical Society
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
99
Received honors for his work on the calculus of enlargement in his "An Essay of the Calculus of Enlargement" in which he worked on developing a unified theory on the calculus of finite differences and differential calculus.
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
100
Has honorary PhD degrees from the Universities: Wisconsin, Yale, and Columbia
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
101
Hobbies included genealogy and military history
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
102
Researched George Washington and the American Revolutionary War to write "The Rise and Fall of 1779," which was left unfinished on his death
Emory McClintock (1840-1916)
103
Father was a congregational minister
Theodore Strong (1790-1869)
104
Raised by his uncle
Theodore Strong (1790-1869)
105
Educated by clergymen in the area who prepared him for Yale
Theodore Strong (1790-1869)
106
Was not prepared mathematically by clergy, but quickly caught up and won several math awards
Theodore Strong (1790-1869)
107
Heavily influenced at Yale by a well-known chemist Silliman
Theodore Strong (1790-1869)
108
INITIALLY decided to study chemistry
Theodore Strong (1790-1869)
109
Dwight, president of Yale, encouraged him to study mathematics
Theodore Strong (1790-1869)
110
Served as a math tutor/teacher at Hamilton College, a college that served to bring the Oneida children and white settlers together
Theodore Strong (1790-1869)
111
Became a professor of mathematics and philosophy at Hamilton
Theodore Strong (1790-1869)
112
Reputation of being an excellent math professor, offered several professorships, which he declined until Rutgers.
Theodore Strong (1790-1869)
113
Known for helping provide a good foundation of mathematics to be developed in America
Theodore Strong (1790-1869)
114
Influenced by Scottish mathematicians and the Continental approach to calculus
Theodore Strong (1790-1869)
115
Provided a proof of Stewart's conjectures
Theodore Strong (1790-1869)
116
Used Leibniz' approach to calculus in his papers; which heavily introduced Americans to the Continental approach to calculus
Theodore Strong (1790-1869)
117
Has two named contributions:______'s Contributions to Mathematical Education ; _______'s Mathematical Work.
Theodore Strong (1790-1869)
118
Published A Treatise on Elementary and High Algebra
Theodore Strong (1790-1869)
119
Published A Treatise on Differential and Integral Calculus
Theodore Strong (1790-1869)
120
Books had little impact and were not widely distributed
Theodore Strong (1790-1869)
