It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results.
Choose a prominent mathematician and discuss their contributions to the field of mathematics.
Ada Lovelace
Ada Lovelace by Kristi LewNearly one hundred years before the advent of the computer age, Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, published the first set of instructions intended to extract data from a machine. This accessible, engaging biography will introduce readers to the mathematician who is considered by many to be the world's first computer programmer. Readers follow Lovelace, the daughter of renowned romantic poet Lord Byron and his highly educated, analytical wife, Annabella, from her sickly childhood to her untimely death at age thirty-six. What emerges is a compelling portrait of a woman who overcame Victorian conventions to become a pioneer in computer science.
See Chapter 7 on Ada Byron Lovelace (1815-1852). It includes a brief biography, her work, and five activities.
John Urschel
Mind and Matter by John Urschel; Louisa Thomas
Publication Date: 2019
A New York Times bestseller John Urschel, mathematician and former offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens, tells the story of a life balanced between two passions For John Urschel, what began as an insatiable appetite for puzzles as a child developed into mastery of the elegant systems and rules of mathematics. By the time he was thirteen, Urschel was auditing a college-level calculus course. But when he joined his high school football team, a new interest began to eclipse the thrill he felt in the classroom. Football challenged Urschel in an entirely different way, and he became addicted to the physical contact of the sport. After he accepted a scholarship to play at Penn State, his love of math was rekindled. As a Nittany Lion, he refused to sacrifice one passion for the other. Against the odds, Urschel found a way to manage his double life as a scholar and an athlete. While he was an offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens, he simultaneously pursued his PhD in mathematics at MIT. Weaving together two separate narratives, Urschel relives for us the most pivotal moments of his bifurcated life. He explains why, after Penn State was sanctioned for the acts of former coach Jerry Sandusky, he declined offers from prestigious universities and refused to abandon his team. He describes his parents' different influences and their profound effect on him, and he opens up about the correlation between football and CTE and the risks he took for the game he loves. Equally at home discussing Georg Cantor's work on infinities and Bill Belichick's playbook, Urschel reveals how each challenge--whether on the field or in the classroom--has brought him closer to understanding the two different halves of his own life, and how reason and emotion, the mind and the body, are always working together. "So often, people want to divide the world into two," he observes. "Matter and energy. Wave and particle. Athlete and mathematician. Why can't something (or someone) be both?"
Collected Biographies - Selected Books
Power in Numbers by Patrick Jones (Contribution by); Joaquin Navarro; Talithia Williams"From rocket scientists and code breakers to computer programmers and data scientists, discover the incredibly inspiring stories of more than 30 women who fought through the obstacles, shattered the stereotypes, and embraced, their STEM professions. You'll see each eminent mathematician come to life on each page, women like the astronomer-philosopher Hypatia, theoretical physicist Emmy Noether, and rocket scientist Annie Easley.
Call Number: 510.92 WILL
Publication Date: 2018
A to Z of Mathematicians by Tucker McElroyPresents a biographical A to Z collection of one hundred fifty math specialists that focuses on their work, achievements, and contributions to the field and includes background and educational information on Rene Descartes, Emily Noether, Charles Pierce, and others.
A to Z of Women in Science and Math by Lisa YountProfiles 195 women throughout history to have achieved prominence and success in the fields of math and science including eighteenth-century Italian mathematician Maria Gaetana Agnesi, African-American physicist Shirley Ann Jackson, and British zoologist Valerie Jane Goodall.
The Birth of Mathematics by Michael J. BradleyChronicles the early history of mathematics through profiles of major figures from around the world, including Pythagoras, Euclid, Archimedes, Hypatia of Alexandria, Abū Ja'far Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī, and five others, describing their lives and discoveries.
Biographical reference articles alongside magazine and journal articles, primary sources, videos, audio podcasts, and images. Covering a vast array of people from historically significant figures to present-day newsmakers.