Mathematics
| Subject | Father/mother of … | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Algebra Brahmagupta |
Brahmagupta Al-Khwarizmi (Algorismi) Diophantus |
Full exposition of solving quadratic equations in his Al-Jabr and recognized algebra as an independent discipline. First use of symbolism (syncopation) in his Arithmetica. |
| Algebraic topology | Henri Poincaré | Published Analysis Situs in 1895, introducing the concepts of homotopy and homology, which are now considered part of algebraic topology. |
| Analysis | Augustin-Louis Cauchy Karl Weierstrass |
|
| Analytic geometry | René Descartes Pierre de Fermat(founders) |
For their independent invention of the Cartesian Coordinate System |
| Calculus | Isaac Newton Gottfried Leibniz |
See Leibniz and Newton calculus controversy. |
| Classical analysis | Madhava of Sangamagrama | Developed Taylor series expansions of trigonometric functions |
| Computer science | George Boole Alan Turing |
Invented Boolean logic, which is the basis of modern digital computer logic Provided an influential formalisation of the concept of the algorithm and computation with the Turing machine. |
| Descriptive geometry | Gaspard Monge (founder) |
Developed a graphical protocol which creates three-dimensional virtual space on a two-dimensional plane |
| Fractal geometry | Benoît B. Mandelbrot | |
| Geometry | Euclid | Euclid's Elements deduced the principles of Euclidean geometry from a set of axioms. |
| Graph Theory | Leonhard Euler | See Seven Bridges of Königsberg |
| Italian school of algebraic geometry | Corrado Segre | Publications and students developing algebraic geometry |
| Non-Euclidean geometry | János Bolyai, Nikolai Lobachevsky(founders) |
Independent development of hyperbolic geometry in which Euclid's fifth postulate is not true |
| Number theory | Pythagoras | |
| Probability | Gerolamo Cardano, Pierre de Fermat, Blaise Pascal, Christiaan Huygens (founders) | Fermat and Pascal co-founded probability theory, about which Huygens wrote the first book |
| Projective geometry | Gérard Desargues(founder) | By generalizing the use of vanishing points to include the case when these are infinitely far away |
| Tensor calculus | Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro (founder) |
Book: The Absolute Differential Calculus |
| Trigonometry | Aryabhata Hipparchus | Constructed the first trigonometric table. |
| Vector algebra, vector calculus |
Willard Gibbs Oliver Heaviside (founders) |
For their development and use of vectors in algebra and calculus |
Read more about this topic: List Of People Considered Father Or Mother Of A Scientific Field, Formal Sciences
Famous quotes containing the word mathematics:
“Why does man freeze to death trying to reach the North Pole? Why does man drive himself to suffer the steam and heat of the Amazon? Why does he stagger his mind with the mathematics of the sky? Once the question mark has arisen in the human brain the answer must be found, if it takes a hundred years. A thousand years.”
—Walter Reisch (1903–1963)
“Mathematics alone make us feel the limits of our intelligence. For we can always suppose in the case of an experiment that it is inexplicable because we don’t happen to have all the data. In mathematics we have all the data ... and yet we don’t understand. We always come back to the contemplation of our human wretchedness. What force is in relation to our will, the impenetrable opacity of mathematics is in relation to our intelligence.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)