Mathematicians through history
The atlas holds 31 people and 675 moments here, from 570 BC to 2017. The most recorded lives are Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton. Across the Age of Exploration and the Scientific Revolution.
Notable people
Albert Einstein
from 1879 to 1955
85 moments here
German-born theoretical physicist who transformed modern physics through special and general relativity, foundational work on quantum theory, and…
Al-Biruni
from 973 to 1048
9 moments here
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni was a Khwarazmian polymath whose documented movements connect Kath and Khwarazm, Bukhara, Gurgan, Gurganj,…
Albrecht Dürer
from 1471 to 1528
34 moments here
German painter, printmaker, and theorist of the Northern Renaissance. Born and died in Nuremberg, Dürer trained there before traveling through the…
Archimedes
from 287 BC to 212 BC
5 moments here
Ancient Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor associated above all with Syracuse in Sicily.…
Avicenna
from 980 to 1037
17 moments here
Ibn Sina (Avicenna; c. 980–22 June 1037) was a Persian philosopher, physician, and court official.…
Blaise Pascal
from 1623 to 1662
11 moments here
French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic writer. Pascal spent his life principally between Clermont-Ferrand, Paris,…
Carl Friedrich Gauss
from 1777 to 1855
35 moments here
German mathematician, astronomer, geodesist, and physicist. Gauss was born in Brunswick, studied there and at Göttingen, worked privately in…
Democritus
in 460 BC
1 moment here
Greek atomist philosopher traditionally dated c. 460–c. 370 BC. Ancient biographical testimony is sparse, late, and sometimes contradictory; this…
Euclid
in 300 BC
1 moment here
Ancient Greek mathematician and geometer, conventionally known as Euclid of Alexandria. Biographical evidence is exceptionally sparse: his birthplace…
Galileo Galilei
from 1564 to 1642
35 moments here
Italian astronomer, physicist, engineer, mathematician, and natural philosopher. Born in Pisa, Galileo was educated in Tuscany, taught mathematics at…
George Washington
from 1732 to 1799
45 moments here
George Washington was a Virginia surveyor, planter, military commander, revolutionary leader, constitutional statesman, and the first president of…
Giordano Bruno
from 1548 to 1600
31 moments here
Italian Renaissance philosopher, Dominican friar, writer, and cosmological theorist. Born at Nola, Bruno studied and lived in Italy, Switzerland,…
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
from 1646 to 1716
54 moments here
German polymath, philosopher, mathematician, jurist, diplomat, court councillor, historian, and librarian.…
Hypatia
from 370 to 415
5 moments here
Hypatia was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, and teacher. Her birth is disputed, with estimates ranging from about 350 to…
Immanuel Kant
from 1724 to 1804
15 moments here
German Enlightenment philosopher whose critical philosophy transformed epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, and political thought.…
Isaac Newton
from 1643 to 1727
16 moments here
English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, alchemist, author, and public official.…
Johannes Kepler
from 1571 to 1630
16 moments here
German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher, and music theorist. Kepler’s documented life moved from Württemberg schooling…
Leonardo da Vinci
from 1452 to 1519
27 moments here
Italian Renaissance painter, draftsman, engineer, architect, anatomist, and natural philosopher.…
Leonhard Euler
from 1707 to 1783
18 moments here
Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, engineer, and polymath. Euler’s documented life moved from Basel and nearby Riehen to Saint Petersburg,…
Maryam Mirzakhani
from 1977 to 2017
15 moments here
Iranian mathematician whose work transformed the study of hyperbolic surfaces, moduli spaces, and dynamics.…
Muḥammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
from 780 to 825
3 moments here
Persian mathematician, astronomer, geographer, and author active under the Abbasid caliphs. Biographical evidence is exceptionally sparse and his…
Nicolaus Copernicus
from 1473 to 1543
15 moments here
Renaissance astronomer, canon, physician, administrator, and economist whose heliocentric model placed the Sun rather than Earth at the center of the…
Omar Khayyam
from 1048 to 1131
5 moments here
Persian polymath, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet. The securely dated portions of his documented life place him in Nishapur,…
Ptolemy
from 127 to 141
2 moments here
Claudius Ptolemy was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and music theorist.…
Moments
- 570 BC Birth and early years on Samos Pythagoras
- 460 BC Birth at Abdera Democritus
- 300 BC Mathematical career in Alexandria Euclid
- 269 BC Studies in Alexandria Archimedes
- 126 BC Departure from Chang'an on research tour Sima Qian
- 127 Earliest exactly dated astronomical observation Ptolemy
- 393 Teaches Synesius in Alexandria Hypatia
- 820 Works at the House of Wisdom Muḥammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
- 995 Samanid patronage in Bukhara Al-Biruni
- 999 Departure from Bukhara Avicenna
- 1068 Library visit in Bukhara Omar Khayyam
- 1469 Moves to Florence Leonardo da Vinci
- 1486 Apprenticeship with Michael Wolgemut Albrecht Dürer
- 1491 Studies at the University of Kraków Nicolaus Copernicus
- 1564 Baptized at Pisa Cathedral Galileo Galilei
- 1577 Family move to Leonberg Johannes Kepler
- 1579 University enrollment in Geneva Giordano Bruno
- 1603 Student at Magdalen Hall Thomas Hobbes
- 1607 Enters the College of La Flèche René Descartes
- 1631 Family relocation to Paris Blaise Pascal
- 1654 Boards and studies in Grantham Isaac Newton
- 1687 Stay at Rheinfels Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- 1707 Baptism at St. Martin's Church Leonhard Euler
- 1730 Attends the Hospitalschule Immanuel Kant
- 1735 Lives at Little Hunting Creek George Washington
- 1761 College of William & Mary student Thomas Jefferson
- 1784 Elementary schooling Carl Friedrich Gauss
- 1854 Childhood in Port Huron Thomas Edison
- 1880 Family moves to Munich Albert Einstein
- 1967 Move to Crist Drive home Steve Jobs
- 1995 International Mathematical Olympiad perfect score Maryam Mirzakhani