Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

De Morgan, Augustus

(Encyclopedia)De Morgan, Augustus də môrˈgən [key], 1806–71, English mathematician and logician, b. India. A noted teacher, he was professor of mathematics (1828–31, 1836–66) at University College (now pa...

Mayer, Johann Tobias

(Encyclopedia)Mayer, Johann Tobias yōˈhän tōbēˈäs mīˈər [key], 1723–62, German mathematician and astronomer. In 1751 he became professor of economics and mathematics at the Univ. of Göttingen, and in 1...

Papin, Denis

(Encyclopedia)Papin, Denis dənēˈ päpăNˈ [key], 1647–1712?, French physicist and inventor. He was an assistant of Christian Huygens and of Robert Boyle and was professor of mathematics at the Univ. of Marbur...

Young, Charles Augustus

(Encyclopedia)Young, Charles Augustus, 1834–1908, American astronomer, b. Hanover, N.H., grad. Dartmouth, 1853. He discovered the reversing layer of the solar atmosphere and proved the gaseous nature of the sun's...

Hebrew University

(Encyclopedia)Hebrew University of Jerusalem, at Mt. Scopus, Givat Ram, Ein Karem, and Rehovot, Israel; coeducational. First proposed in 1882, formally opened 1925. It is the world's largest Jewish university and i...

Mexico, National Autonomous University of

(Encyclopedia)Mexico, National Autonomous University of, at Mexico City, Mexico; founded 1551 by the Spanish king Charles I (Holy Roman Emperor Charles V). It has faculties of accounting and business administration...

Brahmagupta

(Encyclopedia)Brahmagupta bräˌməgo͝opˈtə [key], c.598–c.660, Indian mathematician and astronomer. He was among the first to meaningfully discuss the concepts of zero and of negative numbers. He wrote in ver...

Stifter, Adalbert

(Encyclopedia)Stifter, Adalbert äˈdälbĕrt shtĭfˈtər [key], 1805–68, Austrian writer, b. Bohemia. Learned in law, mathematics, and science and accomplished as an artist, he was a tutor to important families...

secant

(Encyclopedia)secant, in mathematics. 1 In geometry, a secant is a straight line cutting a curve or surface. If it intersects the curve in two different points, as in the secant of a circle, the segment of the seca...

Fibonacci, Leonardo

(Encyclopedia)Fibonacci, Leonardo lāōnärˈdō fēbōnätˈchē [key], b. c.1170, d. after 1240, Italian mathematician, known also as Leonardo da Pisa. In Liber abaci (1202, 2d ed. 1228), for centuries a standard...