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We know that there were/are many famous female mathematicians who influenced mathematics as we know it today, but their numbers are few compared to male mathematicians. While we have numerous famous ...
Kushal Bhuyan's user avatar
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87 votes
18 answers
28k views

What are the most glaring examples — if any — of when the professional scientists or mathematicians were wrong, but the nonprofessionals were right?
Seth Rich's user avatar
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81 votes
4 answers
19k views

Aside from the fact that Fermat was a genius, is it probable that he actually did have a proof? Some specifics that I think would point one way or another: Would the mathematics of his day allow him ...
Carlos Bribiescas's user avatar
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76 votes
5 answers
17k views

It is well known that Évariste Galois died a young man. I have heard that he died in a duel. What was the duel about? More rather what is the back story behind his death and did he really write down ...
Ali Caglayan's user avatar
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73 votes
1 answer
10k views

Years ago, I read a story about a mathematician who found a numerical counterexample to some conjecture long believed to be true. He gave a talk during which he didn't utter a single word but simply ...
user4894's user avatar
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62 votes
3 answers
3k views

What is the name of the device Ptolemy is holding in the following picture? [Image Source: Wikipedia]
hb20007's user avatar
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61 votes
3 answers
18k views

I realize that $X$ and $Y$ are relatively popular terms when wanting to use a placeholder for an unknown English or math term. What is the origin of this term, and why was it $X$ and $Y$; why not the ...
Sweet_Cherry's user avatar
  • 713
60 votes
2 answers
8k views

Where can I find a paper or reference that describes the timeline of measurements of the magnitude of the electron's electric charge. For context, Millikan's oil drop experiment in 1908 determined the ...
BMS's user avatar
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58 votes
3 answers
8k views

The natural logarithm function ($\ln x$) and the base of the natural logarithm function ($e$) are both extremely useful. They're also both closely related: $\ln (e^x)=x$, and $e^{\ln x}=x$. But which ...
HDE 226868's user avatar
  • 8,673
53 votes
5 answers
7k views

In brief, I am looking for an example where Occam’s razor favoured a theory A over another theory B, but theory B turned out to be a better description of reality later. But let me formulate some ...
Wrzlprmft's user avatar
  • 1,082
52 votes
3 answers
68k views

In most of science, it is typical to have the independent variable on the horizontal axis and the dependent variable on the vertical axis. But in economics, this is often (traditionally?) flipped ...
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52 votes
2 answers
19k views

I heard Gauss's primary school teacher gave some busy-work to his class: to add all the numbers between 1 and 100 up. Gauss immediately wrote 5050. His teacher was shocked, so she told him to add up ...
Geremia's user avatar
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51 votes
6 answers
10k views

Recently, I read an interesting article about how English replaced German as the language in which scientists communicate. But how did German become the leading language in the first place? In the ...
Ondřej Černotík's user avatar
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51 votes
1 answer
12k views

Grothendieck is arguably the most brilliant mathematician of the 20th century, with his influence felt the most in algebraic geometry, which he transformed. Some time ago the story used to be told was ...
Conifold's user avatar
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50 votes
5 answers
10k views

As I was reading some papers written by Schrödinger and Heisenberg back in 1920s, I noticed that the symbols they use such as the integral or summation sign or calligraphic letters are as if printed ...
Gonenc's user avatar
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