HISTORY

I Archimedes
On intimate terms with the royal family.
Killed by a Roman soldier at the age of 75.
Running naked on the streets shouting Eureka! Eureka! after finding
out the answer to King Hierons request.
Led to say Give me a place to stand on, and I can move the earth by
study of levers.
Made burning mirrors that set the enemy ships on fire at a distance.
Said to intruder who came to close, Do not disturb my circles before
being stabbed to death with a sword.
II Pappus
Was an able, enthusiastic, and elegant mathematician who had many
good ideas.
Born when the great age of Greek mathematics was drawing its last
breath.
His main work, the Mathematical Collection, was the requiem of Greek
mathematics.
Known for his beautiful geometric theorems connecting centers of
gravity with solids and surfaces of revolution.
Gave first statement and proof of the focus directrix eccentricity
characterization of the three conic sections.
Introduced the important result of projective geometry known as
Pappus Theorem.
IIIHypatia
Was the first woman mathematician in history.
Beautiful, well-proportioned, eloquent and brilliant.
Daughter of mathematician Theon, who was the last man known to have
been a professor in the Museum.
Cultivated philosophy with great success.
Said to have lectured on Plato, Aristotle and other philosophers.
Brutally slaughtered by a howling Christian mob.
IV
Fermat
Influence was limited by lack of interest in publishing his discoveries.
A lawyer and member of the provincial supreme court in Toulouse by
profession.
Invented analytic geometry in 1629.
Introduced perpendicular axes and found general equations of straight
lines and circles and simplest equations of parabolas, ellipses and
hyperbolas.
Fermats theorem: If p is a prime and n is a positive integer not divisible
by p, then p divides np-1 1.
Fermats last theorem: The equation x n + yn = zn has no positive integer
solutions whatever for any exponent n > 2.
V Torricelli
Had a brief seven-year career from 1647 to 1647.

 Was assistant and secretary to the blind and aged Galileo during the last
months before his death in 1642.
Discovered the area of the cycloid.
Discovered that a solid can have finite volume even though it has
infinite extent.
Had reached the threshold of the new world of mathematics.
Died early at the age of 39.