Underrated Celebrities

Celebrities are pretty much known by everyone. And almost everyone aspires to be just like them; to be known for something. It doesn’t matter what for, as long as we’re remembered. If I asked you to name any celebrity right at this moment, you’d probably mention big names like Brad Pitt, Kobe Bryant, Madonna. But how long would it take you to think about Piero della Francesca, Descartes, Leibniz? Do any of these even ring a bell?

In the third episode of BBC’s Story of Maths, Marcus du Sautoy journeys to Europe to shed light on big names in mathematics in the 17^th century which have contributed great mathematical ideas.

First stop is in Albino, Italy.  Back then, artists and architects found the use of perspective to be quite challenging. But here comes Piero della Francesca, both an artist and mathematician, whom is known for his painting ‘The Falgellation of Christ’ which depicts a 3-dimensional image on a 2-dimensional surface. He was able to do this through understanding perspective. The power of perspective then paved a way to understanding geometry.

Ideas usually come when your mind is calm and free of distractions. Rene Descartes can attest to that. He is a giant in the math world for his great contributions like the Cartesian coordinates, fusion of algebra and geometry which are essential to physics and modern technology. All these came to him by simply lying in bed. If I had his mind, plus the amount of time I lie in bed, I’d be able to solve all the problems in the world. 

Pierre de Fermat, a rival of Descartes, is known for his modern number theory. He also discovered a wide range of patterns on numbers. Unlike his rival, he believes that math should be convivial to increase interest in solving problems. Fermat’s contributions have become the basis of fun pastime but also in serious matters like technology.

Isaac Newton, one of the few mathematicians any layman would know, is mostly known for his laws on gravity. But, he is also responsible for the discovery of calculus. He didn’t see the full potential of calculus until another mathematician, Gottfried Leibniz, published his discoveries that are exactly the same as his. This resulted in a rivalry between the two but ended when the royal society decided to give credit to Newton for first discovery and Leibniz for first publication.

Switzerland, home of the Bernoulli’s who have distributed and carried on the works of Leibniz. However, they were not simply messengers. They also discovered the calculus of variation. Leonard Euler, prodigy of Johann Bernoulli, is known for popularizing the use of pi, e and i.

Carl Freidrich Gauss, a prodigy who has accomplished a lot more at the age of 17 than most teenagers. He’s not very well known outside Gottingen, Germany. Nevertheless, his works on elliptical functions, explanation of distribution of numbers and discovery of imaginary numbers which is the key to quantum physics are great contributions in mathematics. He was asked to tutor yet another prodigy, Janos Bolyai, but declined. This didn’t hinder Bolyai though as he explored hyperbolic geometry. Another great mathematician in Germany was Bernhard Riemann whom understood geometry and its relationship to the world. 

 This episode is the best out of the three so far. I have to admit I did not pay any attention to this in class, but as I watched it at home with no other people to distract me, I noticed that the camera effects have improved. This episode also introduced me to great names I did not know before but should. These are people who have contributed greatly but sadly are not known by people outside the mathematical world. Though, they have passed, they live on through their discoveries. This has inspired me to also strive hard to leave a mark. Hopefully my name will be plastered in books for discoveries in math or other subjects (most likely).