Amath Timeline
I've been disappointed recently in my attempts to find good references on the
history of applied mathematics. As others have said, "applied mathematics" is
difficult to define, and perhaps more of an attitude towards science than a
field per se. But one thing I thought might be helpful was to make timeline of
scientists and engineers I feel are particularly notable to applied
mathematics.
This isn't meant to be an exhaustive list. It's a totally personal list, and
still incomplete -- I only really learned about the awesomeness of Theodore von
Karman this last summer, and I know I'm missing important contributions during
the middle ages. I look forward to learning more and filling out the timeline.
Anyway, maybe you'll find it interesting. You can hover over or click on things
to find out more information.
Applied Mathematicians Timeline (biased, in progress)
-500
0
500
1000
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
Thales, born -624, died -547 Pythagoras, born -569, died -475 Archimedes, born -287, died -212 Philon, born -280, died -220 Heron, born 10, died 75 Ptolemy, born 85, died 165 Theon, born 335, died 405 Hypatia, born 370, died 415 Fibonacci, born 1170, died 1250 Oresme, born 1323, died 1382 Pacioli, born 1445, died 1517 Pacioli Tartaglia, born 1500, died 1557 Tartaglia Gemma Frisius, born 1508, died 1555 Gemma Frisius Brahe, born 1546, died 1601 Brahe Stevin, born 1548, died 1620 Stevin Napier, born 1550, died 1617 Napier Galileo, born 1564, died 1642 Galileo Kepler, born 1571, died 1630 Kepler Snell, born 1580, died 1626 Snell Descartes, born 1596, died 1650 Descartes Fermat, born 1601, died 1665 Fermat Wallis, born 1616, died 1703 Wallis Pascal, born 1623, died 1662 Pascal Boyle, born 1627, died 1691 Boyle Huygens, born 1629, died 1695 Huygens Newton, born 1643, died 1727 Newton Leibniz, born 1646, died 1716 Leibniz Bernoulli, Jacob, born 1654, died 1705 Bernoulli, Jacob Bernoulli, Johann, born 1667, died 1748 Bernoulli, Johann De Moivre, born 1667, died 1754 De Moivre Bernoulli, Daniel, born 1700, died 1782 Bernoulli, Daniel Euler, born 1707, died 1783 Euler D'Alembert, born 1717, died 1783 D'Alembert Lagrange, born 1736, died 1813 Lagrange Laplace, born 1749, died 1827 Laplace Fourier, born 1768, died 1830 Fourier Bowditch, born 1773, died 1838 Bowditch Ampere, born 1775, died 1836 Ampere Gauss, born 1777, died 1855 Gauss Somerville, born 1780, died 1872 Somerville Poisson, born 1781, died 1840 Poisson Babbage, born 1791, died 1871 Babbage Green, born 1793, died 1841 Green Carnot, Sadi, born 1796, died 1832 Carnot, Sadi Peirce, Benjamin, born 1809, died 1880 Peirce, Benjamin Lovelace, born 1815, died 1852 Lovelace Boole, born 1815, died 1864 Boole Stokes, born 1819, died 1903 Stokes Chauvenet, born 1820, died 1870 Chauvenet Thomson, born 1824, died 1907 Thomson Maxwell, born 1831, died 1879 Maxwell Routh, born 1831, died 1907 Routh Gibbs, born 1839, died 1903 Gibbs Reynolds, born 1842, died 1912 Reynolds Rayleigh, born 1842, died 1919 Rayleigh Klein, born 1849, died 1925 Klein Heaviside, born 1850, died 1925 Heaviside FitzGerald, born 1851, died 1901 FitzGerald Poincare, born 1854, died 1912 Poincare Kutta, born 1867, died 1944 Kutta Bachelier, born 1870, died 1946 Bachelier Prandtl, born 1875, died 1953 Prandtl Gosset, born 1876, died 1937 Gosset Erlang, born 1878, died 1929 Erlang Einstein, born 1879, died 1955 Einstein Karman, born 1881, died 1963 Karman Noether, Emmy, born 1882, died 1935 Noether, Emmy Taylor, Geoffrey, born 1886, died 1975 Taylor, Geoffrey Fisher, born 1890, died 1962 Fisher Lanczos, born 1893, died 1974 Lanczos Wiener, Norbert, born 1894, died 1964 Wiener, Norbert Dirac, born 1902, died 1984 Dirac Von Neumann, born 1903, died 1957 Von Neumann Kolmogorov, born 1903, died 1987 Kolmogorov Hopper, born 1906, died 1992 Hopper Bethe, born 1906, died 2005 Bethe Ulam, born 1909, died 1984 Ulam Turing, born 1912, died 1954 Turing Isaacs, born 1914, died 1981 Isaacs Simon, born 1916, died 2001 Simon Feynman, born 1918, died 1988 Feynman Bellman, born 1920, died 1984 Bellman Maynard-Smith, John, born 1920, died 2004 Maynard-Smith, John Karlin, born 1924, died 2007 Karlin Knuth, born 1938, died 2016 Knuth
You may note the commonness of unconventional individuals on this list. Isaacs, Turing, Lotka, Heaviside, Green, Lovelace, Gosset and Fermat.
