MATH 5400, History of Mathematicspcgibson/math5400/math5400files/...John Playfair (1748-1819) James...
Transcript of MATH 5400, History of Mathematicspcgibson/math5400/math5400files/...John Playfair (1748-1819) James...
MATH 5400, History of MathematicsLecture 13: The 18th Century
Professor: Peter Gibson
January 29, 2013
Some Russian history
St. Petersburg was founded in 1703
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Peter the Great (ruled 1682-1725)
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Catherine the Great (ruled 1762-1796)
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The contemporary Prussian monarch was Frederick the Great (1740-1786)
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Which brings us to Euler (1707-1783)
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Two of Euler’s many, many works:
Methodus inveniendi lineas curvas maximi minimive proprietategaudentes, sive solutio problematis isoperimetrici latissimo sensuaccepti (1744)
Introductio in analysin infinitorum (1748)
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France during the Enlightenment
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Joseph-Louis Lagrange (1736-1813)
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Born in Turin
1755, Professor of Mathematics at the School of Artillery in Turin
1766, summoned to Berlin by Frederick the Great
1786, death of Frederick; Lagrange moves to Paris
1795, Professor at the Ecole normale
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Important works of Lagrange include:
Sur la resolution des equations numeriques (1767)
Mechanique analytique (1788)
Theorie des fonctions analytiques (1797)
Le cons sur le calcul des fonctions (1801)
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Pierre-Simon Laplace (1747-1827) was a professor at the Ecole militaire inParis.
He wrote some of the most important works of his day:
Mechanique celeste (5 volumes) (1799-1825)
Theorie analytique des probabilites (1812)
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Pierre-Simon Laplace (1747-1827) was a professor at the Ecole militaire inParis.
He wrote some of the most important works of his day:
Mechanique celeste (5 volumes) (1799-1825)
Theorie analytique des probabilites (1812)
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There were many other prominent French mathematicians besidesLagrange and Laplace:
Jean le Rond D’Alembert (1717-1783)
Adrien Marie Legendre (1752-1833)
Joseph Fourier (1768-1830)And somewhat later...
Simeon-Denis Poisson (1781-1840)
Augustin Cauchy (1789-1857)
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There were many other prominent French mathematicians besidesLagrange and Laplace:
Jean le Rond D’Alembert (1717-1783)
Adrien Marie Legendre (1752-1833)
Joseph Fourier (1768-1830)And somewhat later...
Simeon-Denis Poisson (1781-1840)
Augustin Cauchy (1789-1857)
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There were many other prominent French mathematicians besidesLagrange and Laplace:
Jean le Rond D’Alembert (1717-1783)
Adrien Marie Legendre (1752-1833)
Joseph Fourier (1768-1830)And somewhat later...
Simeon-Denis Poisson (1781-1840)
Augustin Cauchy (1789-1857)
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The Scottish Enlightenment
A period of intellectual flowering in Scotland in the 18th century.
1707 Act of Unification (creating Great Britain)
Scotland had suffered a financial collapse and was poor
Following union with England, there was established a system of publicschooling, and a revitalization of the Universities. As in Europe,intellectual culture in Scotland flourished.
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Figures of 18th century Scotland
David Hume (1711-1776)I A Treatise of Human NatureI Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
I The Wealth of Nations
Robert Burns (1759-1796)
John Playfair (1748-1819)
James Hutton (1726-1797)
This set the stage for later developments...
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Figures of 18th century Scotland
David Hume (1711-1776)I A Treatise of Human NatureI Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
Adam Smith (1723-1790)I The Wealth of Nations
Robert Burns (1759-1796)
John Playfair (1748-1819)
James Hutton (1726-1797)
This set the stage for later developments...
P. Gibson () Math 5400 29.1.2013 15 / 15
Figures of 18th century Scotland
David Hume (1711-1776)I A Treatise of Human NatureI Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
Adam Smith (1723-1790)I The Wealth of Nations
Robert Burns (1759-1796)
John Playfair (1748-1819)
James Hutton (1726-1797)
This set the stage for later developments...
P. Gibson () Math 5400 29.1.2013 15 / 15
Figures of 18th century Scotland
David Hume (1711-1776)I A Treatise of Human NatureI Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
Adam Smith (1723-1790)I The Wealth of Nations
Robert Burns (1759-1796)
John Playfair (1748-1819)
James Hutton (1726-1797)
This set the stage for later developments...
P. Gibson () Math 5400 29.1.2013 15 / 15
Figures of 18th century Scotland
David Hume (1711-1776)I A Treatise of Human NatureI Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
Adam Smith (1723-1790)I The Wealth of Nations
Robert Burns (1759-1796)
John Playfair (1748-1819)
James Hutton (1726-1797)
This set the stage for later developments...
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