Mathematics

Daniel Bernoulli was born on January 29th 1700. He came from a long line of mathematicians. His father Johann was head of mathematics at Groningen University in the Netherlands. The family was prone to bitter rivalry: something he was to suffer when he became estranged from his father some 30 years later.

At the age of five, the Bernoulli family returned home to Basel in Switzerland, so that Johann's wife could be with her ailing father. Some years earlier Johann had applied to become professor of mathematics at Basel University, but this was denied him because his elder brother, Jakob had deliberately schemed to prevent him getting the post. Later Jakob got the professorship. En route to Basel, Johann learned that Jakob had just died of tuberculosis. He later recalled rather shamelessly that " ... I could succeed to my brother's position." He set about lobbying for the vacant position and in less than two months he got his way.

1642 Pascal's calculator
At age 19, Blaise Pascal (France) constructs the first mechanical calculator and offers it for sale. The machine is capable of adding and subtracting.
[Oxford Reference English Dictionary (1996): under "Pascal" and "Appendix 2 - Chronology of Scientific Developments"]
1647: Leibniz
1674 Leibniz's machine
Gottfried Leibniz (Germany) designs a machine for multiplication and division.
[Oxford Reference English Dictionary (1996): under "Leibniz" and "Appendix 2 - Chronology of Scientific Developments"]

A major contribution to Western thought was the publication in 1543 of De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, libri VI (Eng. trans., On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, 1952; Latin reprint, 1965) by Copernicus, Polish astronomer, who is noted for the Copernican theory of the heavens. By attributing to the Earth a daily motion around its own axis and a yearly motion around the stationary Sun, Copernicus developed an idea that had far-reaching implications for the rise of modern science. Henceforth, the Earth could no longer be considered the centre of the cosmos; rather, as one celestial body among many, it became subject to mathematical description.

This site contains HTML-versions of some original documents related to the early history of calculators.
For more information on the history of calculators, see Erez Kaplan's Calculating Machines, the pre-HP section of Dave Hicks' Museum of HP Calculators, James Redin's Vintage Calculators and Andrew Davie's Slide Rule Trading Post (and their lists of links).
If you are interested in the more recent history of computers, check out the document collections of Ed Thelen and the Computer History Museum.

V.G Sprindzuk was a famous authority on the theory of Diophantine equations, Diophantine approximation and transcendental Number Theory. An alumnus of the Belorussian State University (1954-1959, where he was an undergraduate) and of the State University of Vilnius (1959-1962, where he undertook his postgraduate studies), he obtained his PhD in 1963, and his DSc degree in 1965. In 1969 he was made a full professor and a member of the Editorial Board of the Vesti of the Akademija Nauk BSSR (Mathematics). The following year he joined the Editorial Board of Acta Arithmetica, and in 1986 Prof. Sprindzuk became an Academician of the Belorussian Academy of Sciences.

Brahmagupta (598-670) writes Khandakhadyaka which solves quadratic equations and allows for the possibility of negative solutions.
pre
1136 Abraham bar Hiyya Ha-Nasi writes the work Hibbur ha-Meshihah ve-ha-Tishboret, translated in 1145 into Latin as Liber embadorum, which presents the first complete solution to the quadratic equation.
1484 Nicolas Chuquet (1445-1500) writes Triparty en la sciences des nombres. The fourth part of which contains the "Regle des premiers," or the rule of the unknown, what we would today call an algebra. He introduced an exponential notation, allowing positive, negative, and zero powers. In solving general equations he showed that some equations lead to imaginary solutions, but dismisses them ("Tel nombre est ineperible").

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This article will tell you about the history of Japanese Mechanical Calculating Machines, mainly those of manual type. A time table is also provided.
Through this article you will have the opportunity to see a typical example of the industrial life cycle including:
Beginning stage: An innovative engineer invents a new technology which starts a new industry.
Growing stage: Many companies get into the new industry under a patent license or after the patent expires. The market is expanded.
Saturation stage: The market becomes saturated, many companies disappear after being merged by larger companies or fail due to the hard competition. A few big companies control the market.
New beginning stage: An innovative engineer invents a new technology.
This life cycle is repeated in many type of industries. You can learn where is your business now within such cycle.

Historia Mathematica is the official journal of the ICHM. It publishes original research on the history of the mathematical sciences in all periods and cultures.
The goal of all activities of the ICHM is to promote history of mathematics as a scientific discipline. As a consequence:
the ICHM organizes scientific symposia, especially on the occasion of the International Congresses of the History of Science;
it publishes a World Directory of the historians of mathematics. A new edition is in press;
it awards the Kenneth O. May Medal to historians of mathematics for outstanding contributions to the history of mathematics, and that on the occasion of the International Congresses of the History of Science;
it is establishing a photo archive which will comprehend photographs of mathematicians to complement the collection already housed at the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut in Oberwolfach, Germany;
an ICHM Dictionary on History of Mathematics edited by John Fauvel, England, continues to progress.

John Knopfmacher- A Mathematical Biography
Compiled by Doron Lubinsky
John Peter Louis Knopfmacher was born in Johannesburg in 1937. He
attended primary school at Yeoville Boy's School, and high school
at Athlone Boys' High. He majored in Mathematics and Applied
Mathematics in his B.Sc. at Witwatersrand University, scoring
firsts in both, followed by firsts in two successive honours
degrees in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics. In recognition of
his academic merit, he was awarded the Rusterholz Memorial Scholarship
for his M.Sc. and then the J.H. Hofmeyr Postgraduate Scholarship to
complete his Ph.D.