1 Leonhard Euler

If Gauss is the Prince, Euler is the King. Living from 1707 to 1783,
he is regarded as the greatest mathematician to have ever walked
this planet. It is said that all mathematical formulas are named after
the next person after Euler to discover them. In his day he was
ground breaking and on par with Einstein in genius. His primary (if
thats possible) contribution to the field is with the introduction of
mathematical notation including the concept of a function (and
how it is written as f(x)), shorthand trigonometric functions, the e
for the base of the natural logarithm (The Euler Constant), the
Greek letter Sigma for summation and the letter /i for imaginary
units, as well as the symbol pi for the ratio of a circles
circumference to its diameter. All of which play a huge bearing on
modern mathematics, from the every day to the incredibly
complex.
As well as this, he also solved the Seven Bridges of Koenigsberg
problem in graph theory, found the Euler Characteristic for
connecting the number of vertices, edges and faces of an object, and (dis)proved many well known
theories, too many to list. Furthermore, he continued to develop calculus, topology, number theory,
analysis and graph theory as well as much, much more and ultimately he paved the way for modern
mathematics and all its revelations. It is probably no coincidence that industry and technological
developments rapidly increased around this time.

2 Carl Friedrich Gauss

Child prodigy Gauss, the Prince of Mathematics, made his first
major discovery whilst still a teenager, and wrote the incredible
Disquisitiones Arithmeticae, his magnum opus, by the time he was
21. Many know Gauss for his outstanding mental ability quoted
to have added the numbers 1 to 100 within seconds whilst
attending primary school (with the aid of a clever trick). The local
Duke, recognizing his talent, sent him to Collegium Carolinum
before he left for Gottingen (at the time it was the most prestigious
mathematical university in the world, with many of the best
attending). After graduating in 1798 (at the age of 22), he began to
make several important contributions in major areas of
mathematics, most notably number theory (especially on Prime
numbers). He went on to prove the fundamental theorem of
algebra, and introduced the Gaussian gravitational constant in
physics, as well as much more all this before he was 24!
Needless to say, he continued his work up until his death at the age
of 77, and had made major advances in the field which have
echoed down through time.

3 G. F. Bernhard Riemann
Bernhard Riemann, born to a poor family in 1826, would rise to
become one of the worlds prominent mathematicians in the 19th
Century. The list of contributions to geometry are large, and he
has a wide range of theorems bearing his name. To name just a
few: Riemannian Geometry, Riemannian Surfaces and the
Riemann Integral. However, he is perhaps most famous (or
infamous) for his legendarily difficult Riemann Hypothesis; an
extremely complex problem on the matter of the distributions of
prime numbers. Largely ignored for the first 50 years following
its appearance, due to few other mathematicians actually
understanding his work at the time, it has quickly risen to
become one of the greatest open questions in modern science,
baffling and confounding even the greatest mathematicians.
Although progress has been made, its has been incredibly slow.
However, a prize of $1 million has been offered from the Clay
Maths Institute for a proof, and one would almost undoubtedly
receive a Fields medal if under 40 (The Nobel prize of
mathematics). The fallout from such a proof is hypothesized to
be large: Major encryption systems are thought to be breakable
with such a proof, and all that rely on them would collapse. As well as this, a proof of the hypothesis is
expected to use new mathematics. It would seem that, even in death, Riemanns work may still pave
the way for new contributions to the field, just as he did in life.

4 Euclid
Living around 300BC, he is considered the Father of
Geometry and his magnum opus: Elements, is one the greatest
mathematical works in history, with its being in use in
education up until the 20th century. Unfortunately, very little
is known about his life, and what exists was written long after
his presumed death. Nonetheless, Euclid is credited with the
instruction of the rigorous, logical proof for theorems and
conjectures. Such a framework is still used to this day, and
thus, arguably, he has had the greatest influence of all
mathematicians on this list. Alongside his Elements were five
other surviving works, thought to have been written by him,
all generally on the topic of Geometry or Number theory.
There are also another five works that have, sadly, been lost
throughout history.

5 Ren Descartes
French Philosopher, Physicist and Mathematician Rene
Descartes is best known for his Cogito Ergo Sum
philosophy. Despite this, the Frenchman, who lived 1596
to 1650, made ground breaking contributions to
mathematics. Alongside Newton and Leibniz, Descartes
helped provide the foundations of modern calculus (which
Newton and Leibniz later built upon), which in itself had
great bearing on the modern day field. Alongside this, and
perhaps more familiar to the reader, is his development of
Cartesian Geometry, known to most as the standard graph
(Square grid lines, x and y axis, etc.) and its use of algebra
to describe the various locations on such. Before this most
geometers used plain paper (or another material or surface)
to preform their art. Previously, such distances had to be
measured literally, or scaled. With the introduction of
Cartesian Geometry this changed dramatically, points could now be expressed as points on a graph,
and as such, graphs could be drawn to any scale, also these points did not necessarily have to be
numbers. The final contribution to the field was his introduction of superscripts within algebra to
express powers. And thus, like many others in this list, contributed to the development of modern
mathematical notation.

6 Alan Turing
Computer Scientist and Cryptanalyst Alan Turing
is regarded my many, if not most, to be one of the
greatest minds of the 20th Century. Having
worked in the Government Code and Cypher
School in Britain during the second world war, he
made significant discoveries and created ground
breaking methods of code breaking that would
eventually aid in cracking the German Enigma
Encryptions. Undoubtedly affecting the outcome
of the war, or at least the time-scale.
After the end of the war he invested his time in
computing. Having come up with idea of a
computing style machine before the war, he is
considered one of the first true computer
scientists. Furthermore, he wrote a range of
brilliant papers on the subject of computing that
are still relevant today, notably on Artificial Intelligence, on which he developed the Turing test which
is still used to evaluate a computers intelligence. Remarkably, he began in 1948 working with D. G.
Champernowne, an undergraduate acquaintance on a computer chess program for a machine not yet in
existence. He would play the part of the machine in testing such programs.

7 Leonardo Pisano Blgollo

Blgollo, also known as Leonardo Fibonacci, is perhaps one of
the middle ages greatest mathematicians. Living from 1170 to
1250, he is best known for introducing the infamous
Fibonacci Series to the western world. Although known to
Indian mathematicians since approximately 200 BC, it was,
nonetheless, a truly insightful sequence, appearing in
biological systems frequently. In addition, from this
Fibonacci also contributed greatly to the introduction of the
Arabic numbering system. Something he is often forgotten
for.
Haven spent a large portion of his childhood within North
Africa he learned the Arabic numbering system, and upon
realizing it was far simpler and more efficient then the bulky
Roman numerals, decided to travel the Arab world learning
from the leading mathematicians of the day. Upon returning to Italy in 1202, he published his Liber
Abaci, whereupon the Arabic numbers were introduced and applied to many world situations to further
advocate their use. As a result of his work the system was gradually adopted and today he is considered
a major player in the development of modern

8 Isaac Newton and Wilhelm Leibniz

I have placed these two together as they are both often given the honor of being the inventor of
modern infinitesimal calculus, and as such have both made monolithic contributions to the field. To
start, Leibniz is often given the credit for introducing modern standard notation, notably the integral
sign. He made large contributions to the field of Topology. Whereas all round genius Isaac Newton has,
because of the grand scientific epic Principia, generally become the primary man hailed by most to be
the actual inventor of calculus. Nonetheless, what can be said is that both men made considerable vast
contributions in their own manner.

9 Andrew Wiles
The only currently living mathematician on this list, Andrew Wiles is most well known for his proof of
Fermats Last Theorem: That no positive integers, a, b and c can satisfy the equation a^n+b^n=c^n For
n greater then 2. (If n=2 it is the Pythagoras Formula). Although the contributions to math are not,
perhaps, as grand as other on this list, he did invent large portions of new mathematics for his proof
of the theorem. Besides, his dedication is often admired by most, as he quite literally shut himself away
for 7 years to formulate a solution. When it was found that the solution contained an error, he returned
to solitude for a further year before the solution was accepted. To put in perspective how ground
breaking and new the math was, it had been said that you could count the number of mathematicians in
the world on one hand who, at the time, could understand and validate his proof. Nonetheless, the
effects of such are likely to only increase as time passes (and more and more people can understand it).

10 Pythagoras of Samos

Greek Mathematician Pythagoras is considered by some to

be one of the first great mathematicians. Living around 570
to 495 BC, in modern day Greece, he is known to have
founded the Pythagorean cult, who were noted by Aristotle
to be one of the first groups to actively study and advance
mathematics. He is also commonly credited with the
Pythagorean Theorem within trigonometry. However, some
sources doubt that is was him who constructed the proof
(Some attribute it to his students, or Baudhayana, who
lived some 300 years earlier in India). Nonetheless, the
effect of such, as with large portions of fundamental
mathematics, is commonly felt today, with the theorem
playing a large part in modern measurements and
technological equipment, as well as being the base of a
large portion of other areas and theorems in mathematics.
But, unlike most ancient theories, it played a bearing on
the development of geometry, as well as opening the door
to the study of mathematics as a worthwhile endeavor.
Thus, he could be called the founding father of modern mathematics.

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