FamousPhilosophersandTheirWorkThroughtheAges

Scientistsandphilosophersaregreat.Withapparentmotivation,they
createabodyofworkthatislogicallyconsistent.

Godel:
Hegavetheworldtheincompletenessproof.Thatis,therearesome
systemsinwhichstatements
aretrue,butwhichcannotbeproved.C

Galois:
Hegaveusanewwayatlookingatthesolvabilityofequations.
Specifically,heshowed
thatpolynomialsofdegree5orgreatercannotbesolvedinradicals.The
most
puzzlingthingaboutthisiswhy5?What'ssospecialabout5?

Gelfand:
FineRussianMathematician.Hisbooksareadelighttoread.Helooksat
simpleproblems
butforwhichsimpleapproacheswillnotwork.

IsaacNewton
Discoverythattheforcethatattractsanappletothegroundisthesame
onethatcausesplanetstoorbitthesun.Thisobservationisnotobvious
oneiscelestialwhiletheotherisacommoneverydayoccurrence.

Archimedes
Hisanalysisofwhyboatsfloatisbreathtakinginitsappealtologic.

Galileo
Discoverythatdifferentobjectsthrownfromthesameheightwillreach
thegroundatthesametime.
Thisobservationishighlycounterintuitive.Mostpoeplewouldreason
thattheheavierobjectfallstothegroundearlier.Thisobservationis
incorrect.Theheavierobjectfallswithgreaterforce,butdoesn'tfall
earlier.

AlbertEinstein

Discoverythatnothingcantravelfasterthanthespeedoflight.
Again,mostpeoplewouldequatetheireverydayexperienceaboutjumping
off
movingtrainsandconcludethatalightbeamemittedfromarocketwould
travelfaster
thanoneemittedfromtheground.But,Einsteinobservedthatlightisan
electromagneticphenomenaamovingelectricfieldcausesamoving
magneticfield
whichinturncausesamovingelectricfield.Thisprocessis
selfsustainingand
doesn'tneedanyoutsidehelp(likeamovingtrain)tokeepitgoing.