Charles Babbage (1792-1871, England)  
Babbage was definitely born a century too early!  Today he is known as the "Father of Computing."  His modern thinking led him to invent the Difference Engine: the very first, very large, machine that could produce mathematical tables.  Learn more about his life and cool inventions here, or learn about how the Difference Engine works here.
    
  
   
    


Alan Mathison Turing (1912-1954, England)
Turing greatly contributed to the world of mathematics and codebreaking during World War II, and he is known as the founder of computer science.  He discovered theoretical machines that are now known as the Turing Machines, which became a major component of the theory of computability.  For an interactive experience with the Turing Machines, click here, and to learn more about his interesting life, click here.






Blaise Pascal (1623-1662, France)
As a mathematician, physicist, and theologian in a time long before ours, Pascal paved the way in the search for intelligence.  He laid the foundation for the binomial theorem and for the theory of probability, and is famous for what is now called Pascal's Triangle.  To discover more about his experiences and accomplishments, click here.  To learn about Pascal's Triangle and its patterns, click here.






Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727, England)
It is evident that Newton had a lifelong passion for learning, and his free-thinking intellect and determination led to fantastic contributions.  He is most famous for the Three Laws of Motion, but discovered much more relating to the field of scientific research.  He also took Pascal's ideas about binomial coefficients and developed the binomial theorem.  For more information on just how much Newton has influenced the world's understanding, click here.  To refresh your memory on the Three Laws of Motion, click here.





Albert Einstein (1879-1955, Germany-USA)
Perhaps the most famous of them all, Einstein has been named the "Person of the Century" by Time Magazine.  With his genius mind, he changed the way the world thought about the universe.  The world definitely would not be what it is today without him.  To read the Time Magazine article click here.  Or play some games and see some animations using Einstein's theories on Relativity here.  
 






Augustine Cauchy (1789-1857, France)
"Men pass away, but their deeds abide..." are thought to be some of the last words Cauchy ever uttered.  For all calculus students, Cauchy's words ring clear.  Limits, continuity, and combinatorial are just a few areas that Cauchy made large contributions.  To learn more about this great Frenchman click here.   To learn more about the Cauchy Sequence and to link to a site that simplifies finding various calculus theorems click here.







Carle David Tolm Runge (1856-1927, Germany)
Runge began working with differential equations and produced the simplified Runge-Kutta algorithms with another mathematician named Martin Kutta.  Runge then became interested in the wavelengths of the spectral lines of elements and published an abundant amount of his results.  For a greater understanding of his existence and interests, click here.  To learn more about the Runge-Kutta algorithms, click here.







Joseph Fourier (1768-1830, France)
Fourier was a mathmatician since the day he was born.  He was a great admirer of Newton and Pascal.  During his life time, he wrote many math related books, developed theories on heat, and was involved with the political scene.  To read more about the life of Fourier click here.  To learn about the Fourier Theory click here.








George Gabriel Stokes (1819-1903, Ireland-England)
Stokes significantly contributed to fluid dynamics, optics, and mathematical physics.  He established the science of hydrodynamics with his law of viscosity, which is now known as Stokes Law.  You can find out more about this law here, and more about his life here.








Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855, Germany)
Gauss did not have the easiest life.  Although he was born into humble circumstances, his genius was not easily overlooked.  The duke of Brunswick took care of his education costs for 16 years of his life.  The results of his education have effected all of us in terms of theory of numbers, algebra, geometry, probability, and the list goes on.  To learn more about his struggles and accomplishments click here.  Or link directly to all of the formulas that he helped developed and/or are named after him here.






David Hilbert (1862-1943, Germany)
"Good--he did not have enough imagination to be a mathematician," said Hilbert when he found out that a student dropped his math class in order to become a poet.  Hilbert was the first mathematician to create a set of geometric axioms.  These axioms helped remove the flaws of Euclidean Geometry.  To learn more about his life and work click here.  To learn about the 23 math problems for the 20th century he posed to the International Congress of Mathematicians here (see the list of problems here).

 



Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827, France)