Mathematical Connection

Mathematical Connection

Mathematics has had an incredible impact on technology as we know it today. Understanding this impact aids in understanding the history of how technology has developed so thoroughly and what significant events happened to facilitate such an advanced society. A better understanding can be derived by analyzing the historical background on the mathematicians, the time periods, and the contributions that affected their society and modern society as well as specific examples of how the mathematical developments affected society.

Math had and has a great impact in technology. During the 20th century mathematics made very quick advances on all fronts. Mathematics sped up the development of symbolic logic as the foundation of Math became solidly grounded. Aside from logic, physics and philosophy also benefited from the quantum theory and the relativity theory during this time. New fields were developed like the chaos theory, the game theory and computational mathematics. During the 20th century, mathematics reached broader application than any other time before.

David Hilbert - (1862-1943) was born in East Prussia. He studied and taught at the University of Konigsberg, East Prussia until the mid 1890's. He soon transferred to the University of Gottingen which he later developed into a very popular mathematical center.

Hilbert was a mathematician of many fields like calculus of variations and the number theory. However he made a significant contribution in the field of geometry. His contribution to integral equations influenced the study in functional analysis.

Alfred North Whitehead - (1861-1947) Born in Ramsgate, England Whitehead was a professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge and Trinity College, University of London and Harvard University He made great contributions in the theoretical mathematics

Hermann Minkowski - (1864-1909) He was born in Russia, he moved to Germany where he attended and taught German universities. Hermann's contribution to mathematics involved his addition of a fourth dimension into the three dimensions of space time concept .He worked the concept of the space-time continuum Influenced by Albert Einstein's relativity theory of 1905 and later became the foundation of Einstein's' general theory of relativity of 1916.

John Von Neumann -(1903-1957) was born in Hungary and studied in Switzerland, Budapest and Berlin. In 1930 he immigrated to the United States to teach at Princeton University. Neumann contributions were his development of the game theory as a new branch in mathematics. He is also known for his contributions to the theory and design of electronic computers.

Alan Turing - (1912-1954) A British mathematician educated at Cambridge and Princeton universities. He introduced the concept of a theoretical computing device when his published the paper named "On Computable Numbers" in 1936. Turing was a pioneer working in computer theory; he expanded his research studying artificial intelligence and biological forms.

Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz - Gottfried Leibniz was born on July 1, 1646 in Leipzig, Saxony Germany. He died November 14 1716 in Hannover, Hanover Germany. In the seventy years that he lived he, he has accomplished many things as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist, engineer, lawyer, moralist, theologian, philologist, and sinophile. As a philosopher, Leibniz wrote the Thйodicйe in 1710. As a scientist and engineer, his writings are included in Gerhardt's Mathematical Writings. Leibniz came up with "a new theory of motion based on kinetic and potential energy." His Vis Viva which describes "a special case of the conservation of energy," was originally rejected in England and France because it was seen as a rival to the conservation of momentum which was discovered by Newton and Descartes. Leibniz proposed that the earth has a molten core. "He anticipated the distinction between conscious and unconscious states." He had various ideas for the unification of the European nations, for establishing a medical administrative authority, as well as a proposing tax reforms and a national insurance scheme. "It is well understood that Leibniz was a serious inventor, engineer, and applied scientist, with great respect for practical life. Following the motto theoria cum praxis, he urged that theory be combined with practical application, and thus has been claimed as the father of applied science. He designed wind-driven propellers and water pumps, mining machines to extract ore, hydraulic presses, lamps, submarines, clocks, etc. With Denis Papin, he invented a steam engine. He even proposed a method for desalinating water.

As a sinophile, "he noted with fascination how the I Ching hexagrams correspond to the binary numbers from 0 to 111111, and mistakenly concluded that this mapping was evidence of major Chinese accomplishments in the sort of philosophical mathematics he admired."

"Leibniz

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