# Who is the greatest mathematician of all time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 8, 2005, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646 "2005-09-08T13:45:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/1 "2005-09-08T13:45:23Z")
I’m not sure if this constitutes a Great Debate, or what. But anyway . . . who do you think is the greatest mathematician of all time? (And why, i.e. what did they do that’s so impressive?) What about the greatest of the 20th century? I’ve seen this question asked a lot more for physics, with the answer generally being either Newton (co-invented calculus, major contributions with regard to mechanics, gravitation, optics, etc.) or Einstein (special and general relativity, explained photoelectric effect and brownian motion, etc.). In math, I don’t know of any such concensus. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/2 "2005-09-08T13:55:56Z")
I think you’d have a hard time making a case for anyone outside of [Newton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton), [Archimedes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes), [Euler](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonhard_Euler) and [Gauss](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss). ---
**Author:** ![raindog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@raindog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raindog)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/3 "2005-09-08T13:57:12Z")
I’d say Matt Damon. You should have seen him in Good Will Hunting. Simply Amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/4 "2005-09-08T14:00:36Z")
According to **Tom Lehrer** it was[Nikolai Ivanovitch Lobachevsky](http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/newmath/newmath.htm) . ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/5 "2005-09-08T15:09:13Z")
I’m interested to know at what sort of level people here would place [Srinivasa Ramanujan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan)? Do you think he would make the top hundred mathematicians of all time? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/6 "2005-09-08T15:17:54Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > I think you’d have a hard time making a case for anyone outside of [Newton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton), [Archimedes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes), [Euler](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonhard_Euler) and [Gauss](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss). What about Euclid? Chopped liver? ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/7 "2005-09-08T15:41:47Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > What about Euclid? Chopped liver? Well, perhaps the other people **ultrafilter** quoted were active in a broader variety of areas, whereas so far as I know Euclid’s work (at least his surviving work) is mainly just geometry (plus a bit of astronomy, optics, and number theory.) Also, I’m not sure if we know just how much of Euclid’s _Elements_ was his own original work and how much was a compilation of previous results. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/8 "2005-09-08T15:46:42Z")
I think Descartes was most valuable in helping me to understand all the branches of mathematics visually. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/9 "2005-09-08T15:49:32Z")
Archimedes and Newton aren’t noted so much for their breadth as the fact that they more or less invented what we consider fundamental nowadays. Gauss and Euler were probably the two most prolific mathematicians of all time; Euler with his published works and Gauss with his notebooks. And yes, I’m aware of the Newton vs. Liebnitz issue. Common opinion has come down on the side of Newton. AFAIK, Ramanujan is considered more of a curiosity than an important mathematician. I don’t know of any of his work that would be considered influential. But I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/10 "2005-09-08T15:49:45Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > I think you’d have a hard time making a case for anyone outside of [Newton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton), [Archimedes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes), [Euler](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonhard_Euler) and [Gauss](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss). Right on, although many people might put Euler a notch below the others. Regardless, all these gentlemen made profound advances in all of the many areas of math they touched (especially Gauss 🙂 ) That is not the case with folks like Ramanujan or Lobachevsky. All IMNSHO. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/11 "2005-09-08T15:52:04Z")
I don’t know from math, but I find Pythagoras and Descartes to be the most useful on a day-to-day basis, followed closely by Hipparchus and Newton/Leibnitz. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/12 "2005-09-08T16:02:22Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > I think you’d have a hard time making a case for anyone outside of [Newton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton), [Archimedes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes), [Euler](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonhard_Euler) and [Gauss](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss). Inside of Newton, Archimedes, Euler, and Gauss, it’s too dark to do math. [/Groucho Marx] Although I suppose Euler could have managed, what with all the math he churned out after he lost his eyesight. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/13 "2005-09-08T16:08:06Z")
> [@kelly5078](#): > > I don’t know from math, but I find Pythagoras and Descartes to be the most useful on a day-to-day basis, followed closely by Hipparchus and Newton/Leibnitz. Although just because a certain person’s name is attached to something doesn’t necessarily mean that person deserves all the credit. Not much is known for sure about Pythagoras, including exactly what he had to do with the Theorem that bears his name. And the Cartesian coordinate system commonly used today doesn’t look like what Descartes originally dreamed up (IIRC he didn’t assume that the axes would be parallel and didn’t use negative coordinates). ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/14 "2005-09-08T16:12:34Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > IIRC he didn’t assume that the axes would be parallel and didn’t use negative coordinates. Perpendicular. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/15 "2005-09-08T16:25:54Z")
> [@kelly5078](#): > > Perpendicular. :smack: That’s what I really wrote. The, uh, hamsters came in and changed it. Yeah, that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/16 "2005-09-08T16:30:03Z")
[You Bastard](http://www.ie.lspace.org/books/whos-who/you-bastard.html) is the greatest mathematician in the (disc)world. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/17 "2005-09-09T15:13:17Z")
I don’t see Newton as being one of the top five mathematicians of all time; top 10, maybe. But I don’t see in Newton the breadth of _mathematical_ accomplishment to rank him in the same company as Gauss and Euler. After those two, the next name on my short list would be [Augustin-Louis Cauchy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustin_Louis_Cauchy). ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/18 "2005-09-09T15:35:50Z")
In Clifford Pickover’s book [Wonders of Numbers](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0195157990/qid=1126280278/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-2420150-6773702?v=glance&s=books), he lists “A Ranking of the 10 Most Influential Mathematicians Who Ever Lived” (based, if I understand correctly, on surveys and interviews with mathematicians). His list: 1. Newton 2. Gauss 3. Euclid 4. Euler 5. Hilbert 6. Poincare 7. Riemann 8. Galois 9. Descartes 10. Pascal (runners-up Cardano, Godel, Cantor, and Napier). It’s debatable to what extent “greatest” = “most influential” (which may be why Archimedes, for example, didn’t make the list while Euclid did). ---
**Author:** ![Spiritus\_Mundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Spiritus\_Mundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiritus_Mundi)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/19 "2005-09-10T06:53:57Z")
> [@](#): > > And yes, I’m aware of the Newton vs. Liebnitz issue. Common opinion has come down on the side of Newton. Are you sure? I never spent much time on the history of mathematics, but back in the Dark Ages when I groked on numbers the “mathemeticians on the street” pretty much spoke of Newton’s “method of fluxions” as retarding the progress of British mathematics for most of a century. Modern analysis is certainly based upon the notations and approach of Liebniz. Whomever may have “invented” calculus first, Liebniz did it better. (or at least more usefully). My contrarian vote goes to Cantor. But in my heart I know the answer is Gauss. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646/20 "2005-09-10T07:06:05Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > . . . who do you think is the greatest mathematician of all time? (And why, i.e. what did they do that’s so impressive?) What about the greatest of the 20th century? Most will not agree, but how about The Drug Dealer? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-mathematician-of-all-time/320646.md?page=2)