Who are the three individuals that are generally considered to be the three greatest math minds of all time?

Question

Obviously this is somewhat subjective, but these three are generally considered to be without peer according to most texts written on the history of mathematics.

Answer 1

You've gotta put Euler on your list; he's one of the most prolific mathematicians EVER. Archimedes is probably the best ancient mathematician. (Pythagoras may be famous for his theorem, but that theorem was known to the Chinese before Pythagoras' time.) For a name that's been passed down through the ages, though, you've gotta go with al-Khowarizmi. While he wasn't an innovator, his classic text "al-Jabr wa'l Muqabala" gave us the term "algebra" and his name is the basis of our word "algorithm".

Answer 2

Archimedes and Gauss, for certain. Pure geniuses. Newton was an a$$ hole. He stole a lot of his mathematical work from DesCartes and made sure to do whatever was in his power to destroy the reputations of his peers, especially Leibniz. Newton's calculus was confusing, Leibniz's more elegant, and the calculus symbols and terminology we use today come from Leibniz, not Newton. "Fluents and fluxions?" Give me a break! There's a reason he didn't publish it 'til after Leibniz did... 'cause it was crap. Also, Newton suffered a mental breakdown mid-life and spent most of his time in later years trying to determine the physical geography of Hell.

The reason so many texts bow to Newton is because he was English. (England was Europe's most powerful nation in his day.) Yeah, there's the gravity thing and all, but as far as pure mathematics is concerned, what about Kepler's discovery that the planets orbit in ellipses? Before the calculus! Newton said if he saw further, it was because he stood on the shoulders of giants, but he was a lot more like Jack climbing the beanstalk, if you ask me.

The three most written-about math minds, sure: Archimedes, Gauss, and Newton. The three greatest, though? Archimedes, Gauss, and DesCartes. It's also hard to ignore Riemann, Al-Khowarizmi, and Pythagoras.

Answer 3

Archimedes Many people consider Archimedes to be one of the most influential mathematicians of all time, an amazing claim considering he was born around 287 B.C.! He discovered buoyancy (he's said to have yelled “Eureka” in delight when he figured out why some things float and others do not), many weapons of war, several formulas for measuring capacity and pi.

Charles Babbage Considered the “father of computing,” Babbage devoted most of his life to inventing mechanical calculating machines. Around 1830, he designed the Difference Engine, a machine that would perform simple mathematical calculations. Next, he tried to make a device that used cards with holes to compute complicated functions at great speed, the Analytical Engine. Although both contraptions were too advanced for the mechanical devices available at the time, his designs became the basis for modern computers. He was born in England in 1791.

Albert Einstein Probably the most famous genius of all time, Einstein changed history when he scribbled E=mc² in 1905. This theory of relativity became the foundation for much of modern science. The famous theory says that the speed of light inside a vacuum, or a space where no matter exists, is the fastest speed in the universe. Einstein was born in Germany in 1879 and became a U.S. citizen in 1940. He won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Sir Isaac Newton Newton is considered one of the greatest mathematicians and physicists in history. He discovered the mathematical laws of gravity and solved difficult problems in geometry. Newton invented a type of math called calculus. He was born in England in 1643.

Blaise Pascal This French philosopher and mathematician was a math expert by age 12, and he invented the first calculator when he was only 19. He also invented the barometer, the hydraulic press and the syringe. He was born in 1623.

Answer 4

I would replace Newton with Hilbert in the list above. Newton is a great thinker who did pioneering work in calculus, but Hilbert is widely regarded as the last mathematician to be an expert in every mathematical field. His list of 23 problems inspired a great deal of the important mathematical work in the 20th century.

The other two, Archimedes and Gauss, are mathematicians of the highest order.

Answer 5

1. Blaise Pascal 1623 - 1662
2. David Hilbert 1862 - 1943
3. John von Neumann 1903 - 1957

Honorable mention: Leonhard Euler 1707 - 1783

FYI: As a physicist, Albert Einstein certainly deserves to be considered as one of the all time greats, if not the greatest. However, as a mathematician, he is considered merely very good.

Answer 6

Newton, Gauss, Euller, Bernulli, Einstein

Answer 7

Pythagoras,Newton, Einstein

Answer 8

What about Pythagorus??? I think everyone past 9th grade algebra can ramble off the Pythagorean Theorem!

Answer 9

Archimedes, Newton, and Gauss.

Answer 10

I would say Gauss, Euler and Hilbert