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Boole, George

(Encyclopedia)Boole, George, 1815–64, English mathematician and logician. He became professor at Queen's College, Cork, in 1849. Boole wrote An Investigation of the Laws of Thought (1854) and works on calculus an...

Hilbert, David

(Encyclopedia)Hilbert, David, 1862–1943, German mathematician, professor at Königsberg (1886–95) and Göttingen (1895–1930), b. Königsberg, Germany. His proof of the theorum of invariants (1890) supplanted ...

combinatorics

(Encyclopedia)combinatorics kŏmˌbĭnətôrˈēəl [key], sometimes called the science of counting, the branch of mathematics concerned with the selection, arrangement, and operation of elements within sets. Combi...

Plücker, Julius

(Encyclopedia)Plücker, Julius yo͞oˈlyo͝os plüˈkər [key], 1801–68, German mathematician and physicist. He became professor of mathematics (1836) and of physics (1847) at the Univ. of Bonn. He is known for h...

Ramelli, Agostino

(Encyclopedia)Ramelli, Agostino ägōstēˈnō rämĕlˈlē [key], c.1531–c.1600, Italian engineer who served in the armies of the marquis de Marignan and of the duc d'Anjou (later Henry III of France). His book,...

Rheticus

(Encyclopedia)Rheticus (Georg Joachim von Lauchen) rāˈtēko͝os, gāˈôrk yōäˈkhĭm fən louˈkhən [key], 1514–76, German astronomer, mathematician, and first disciple of Copernicus. In 1540 he printed a s...

Pais, Sidónio

(Encyclopedia)Pais or Pães, Sidónio sēdôˈnyo͝o päNsh [key], 1872–1918, Portuguese dictator. After service in the army he was a professor of mathematics at the Univ. of Coimbra and a leader in establishing ...

logical positivism

(Encyclopedia)logical positivism, also known as logical or scientific empiricism, modern school of philosophy that attempted to introduce the methodology and precision of mathematics and the natural sciences into t...

Pappus

(Encyclopedia)Pappus păpˈəs [key], fl. c.300, Greek mathematician of Alexandria. He recorded and enlarged on the results of his predecessors, including Euclid and Apollonius of Perga, in his Mathematical Collect...

Cecco d'Ascoli

(Encyclopedia)Cecco d'Ascoli chĕkˈkō däsˈkōlē [key], 1269?–1327, Italian astrologer, mathematician, poet, and physician, whose real name was Francesco degli Stabili, b. Ascoli. A teacher of astrology at se...