Table of Contents

Preface; 1. From Euler to Legendre; 2. From Fourier to Cauchy; 3. From Abel to Grassmann; 4. From Kummer to Cayley; 5. From Hermite to Lie; 6. From Cantor to Hilbert; 7. From Moore to Takagi; 8. From Hardy to Lefschetz; 9. From Birkhoff to Alexander; 10. From Banach to von Neumann; Epilogue; Further reading.

Promotional Information

This 2003 book contains portrayals of sixty mathematicians, which collectively convey how mathematics developed into its modern form.

About the Author

Ioan James is the former Savilian Professor of Geometry at the University of Oxford. He won both the Junior Berwick and Whitehead Prizes of the London Mathematical Society.

Reviews

'... can be recommended to all scientists and teachers of mathematics, the history and philosophy of mathematics, as well as to anyone interested in history of science.' European Mathematical Society 'Enjoyable, accessible, informative across three centuries, and supplying an excellent concise bibliography of both primary and secondary sources, James's book is a good reference work for those in any field or profession.' Endeavour '... recommended to all scientists and teachers of mathematics, the history and philosophy of mathematics, as well as to anyone interested in history of science.' EMS Newsletter '... a nice book to dip into, and a good source of anecdotes.' Metascience 'The book stands out from other biographical collections by its engaging prose and its facility for putting a human face to mathematics. For anyone who would like to learn about the Fourier behind the Fourier series, or the Riemann of the Riemann hypothesis, this is a useful collection to have on the shelf ready to dip into.' British Society for the History of Science '... will serve as an inspired contribution to the history of mathematics for a great many decades.' Kybernetes