Who's your favourite Math Geek - and do you have a story to tell about them?

[MarySue]

One of mine is Archimedes - my favourite story regarding this math whiz is

Hieron asked Archimedes to discover, without damaging it, whether a certain crown or wreath was made of pure gold, or if the goldsmith had fraudulently alloyed it with some baser metal. While Archimedes was turning the problem over in his mind, he chanced to be in the bath house. There, as he was sitting in the bath, he noticed that the amount of water that was flowing over the top of it was equal in volume to that part of his body that was immersed. He saw at once a way of solving the problem. He did not delay, but in his joy leaped out of the bath. Rushing naked through the streets towards his home, he cried out in a loud voice that he had found what he sought. For, as he ran, he repeatedly shouted in Greek; 'Eureka! Eurekal I've found it! I've found it!' — Marcus Vitrivius Pollio

But how can you talk about maths without mentioning Sir Isaac Newton - and the story I love about him has nothing to do with apples!

One evening a friend arrived as scheduled to dine with Isaac Newton in his room. Finding him deeply engrossed in an abstruse mathematical problem, he simply sat down to wait.


Some time later, a servant brought dinner in - for one; Newton had forgotten about his invitation. When Newton continued to work at his desk, the friend, taking care not to disturb him, pulled up a chair and consumed Newton's meal. Shortly thereafter, Newton, having finished his work, finally looked up and was startled, first by the presence of his friend, and then by the absence of his dinner: "If it weren't for the proof before my eyes," he declared, gazing at the empty plate, "I could have sworn that I had not yet dined."

[finefocus]

I find poignant the story of Alan Turing, a math savant who was the crazy genius of Bletchley Park (where the Enigma cryptology was cracked). After the war, he was turned upon by those who should have been grateful. Forced to deny himself, plead guilty to being himself, to undergo a humiliating medical procedure, he died in questionable circumstances. The posthumous apology from the British government didn't mean much.

By the way, Archimedes was capable of absorption-to-extremes as was Newton; he was killed by a Roman soldier for not responding while rapt in a problem.

[Striderswife]

My favorite math geek is my dad. He's an instructor of aviation maintenance, and the typical engineer type. Growing up, we knew better than to ask him a question about anything in nature, science or math, unless we wanted a complete explanation. He taught me my times tables in the 4th grade, and was my biggest fan when I was on the Algebra team in middle school and junior high.

[MarySue]

FINEFOCUS - I think all people with that mathematical minds tend to get lost in equations and forget to respond at times, I know a few people who are just the same, and find myself (although no genius) losing myself as well in thought to some ideas and concepts and calculations.

STRIDERSWIFE - you're fortunate to be from such a wonderful family. Your dad sounds like he not only is smart, but spent time caring for you as well. I think Newton's kids would have had a different opinion of having a genius for a dad.

[DragonLensmanWV]

My favorite math geek is a friend of mine since grade school, though I haven't seen him in 35 years or so. He got his Masters five years out of high school, PHD a few years later in an obscure topological math called cuboidism (sp?). He's now apparently a math professor at Yale.
When we were in grade school he built a six foot tall Tesla coil that used to disrupt TV and radio for blocks around and for power he used a neon sign transformer. The secondary output would light up a four foot fluorescent bulb to full brightness, and the primary arc would melt a dime if you dropped on into it.

Once in high school we were walking home and he was teased by a grade schooler. Now, this guy was skinny, bespectacled, and not only had a stack of books to carry that ran from his extended hands clear up to his chin, but also a violin slung over one arm. So the kid comes up and starts teasing him, to which Mike replied loudly and gutterally, "gehen Sie nach Hause und nehmen Sie den Abfall heraus!!" (thanks Babelfish) The kid cringed away then skedoodled. I asked him what in the world he said, because it sounded really bad in German, and he said, "I just told him to go home and take out the trash. You can make anything sound really bad in German!"

[Diopterman]

Harry Chilling!

As for stories...................................my lips are sealed!

[Uncle Fester]

This is what I got when I googled math geek-- Sorry

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...:0&tx=50&ty=69

[finefocus]

she doesn't look like a base10 kinda girl to me

[Uncle Fester]

But how can you talk about maths without mentioning Sir Isaac Newton - and the story I love about him has nothing to do with apples!

Newton was also well known for his lack of a sense of humor and was said to have been known to laugh only once when a student asked what was the use of studying Euclid.

[WFruit]

I don't think either of them are really "geeks" but I would have to say Steven Hawking and Darryl Meister.

[WFruit]

Newton was also well known for his lack of a sense of humor and was said to have been known to laugh only once when a student asked what was the use of studying Euclid.

He's also known to have been really into alchemy, something that was a bit of a no-no in his time.

[Uncle Fester]

I don't think either of them are really "geeks" but I would have to say Steven Hawking and Darryl Meister.

I thought it was a typo and she meant Greek.:bbg:

[rbaker]

Ernst Mach, Max Planck, Niels Bohr, Wolfgang Pauli, Paul Dirac,Werner HeisenbergJohn von Neuman and that gang. I would like to be able to cite some anecdotes to support my claims but my mind is insufficient to grasp even the most elementary of their thoughts, hence my choices.

[WFruit]

Oh, and Charles Babbage. Not that he really contributed anything to the technological complexities of our current society or anything.....

[GAgal]

Darryl and Harry....they may make my head hurt but they make me smile....and I never tell stories ;)

[HarryChiling]

There is an Indian story about lord Krishna, he appeared to the king as a sage and challenged him to a game of chess. The reward was that if he won he would ask for a meager amount of rice. One grain of rice on the first square of the chess board and then every other square would be double the one adjacent to it. The king thought it was too meager and asked the sage to add more valuables to the reward but the sage refused. The sage won and the king quickly realized what he had agreed to.

2⁶⁴-1 = 18,446,744,073,709,551,615

The sage revealed himself as Krishna and told the king that he didn't have to pay the debt all at once but would have to serve a dish made of rice (rice pudding) to the pilgrims of his temple until the debt is paid off. This ice pudding is still served in the temple to this day. Now that's a mathmatician.

Then their is the story about Euclid, Ptolemy Soter, the first King of Egypt and the founder of the Alexandrian Museum, patronized the Museum by studying geometry there under Euclid. He found the subject difficult and one day asked his teacher if there weren't some easier way to learn the material. To this Euclid replied, "Oh King, in the real world there are two kinds of roads, roads for the common people to travel upon and roads reserved for the King to travel upon. In geometry there is no royal road." Now that's what you call a bold mathematician you didn't talk to kings like that back then.

Euler also had a cataract removed from one of his eye's in the lat 1700's which got infected and left him blind. That one is an interesting story that crosses paths with our field.

[MarySue]

I find poignant the story of Alan Turing, a math savant who was the crazy genius of Bletchley Park (where the Enigma cryptology was cracked). After the war, he was turned upon by those who should have been grateful. Forced to deny himself, plead guilty to being himself, to undergo a humiliating medical procedure, he died in questionable circumstances. The posthumous apology from the British government didn't mean much.

By the way, Archimedes was capable of absorption-to-extremes as was Newton; he was killed by a Roman soldier for not responding while rapt in a problem.

Amazing, my husband would love to hear this story, the number of times he has stood next to me while I'm writing, and tried to get my attention is apparently appalling.

[MarySue]

Newton was also well known for his lack of a sense of humor and was said to have been known to laugh only once when a student asked what was the use of studying Euclid.

Geometry - blech

[MarySue]

Euler also had a cataract removed from one of his eye's in the lat 1700's which got infected and left him blind. That one is an interesting story that crosses paths with our field.

Cool - when was the first cataract extraction performed ... and who still makes lenticular lenses?

[vintagetie]

In response to MarySue's first post, I always admired the Archimedes tale as well as the follow-up. His method was a success resulting in proof that the smith was cheating the King. You'll never guess how that turned out...beheading as I understand it.
Emilie du Chatelet is my favorite mathematician, not only brilliant in math and successful at establishing a haven of knowledge involving the brightest minds of her time, she inspired Voltaire, bucked the expectations (gender roles) of the times, and worked furiously in the last six months of her life knowing she would not survive the birth of Voltaire's child since she was forty(not a survivable condition pre-modern medicine).

[rinselberg]

Cool - when was the first cataract extraction performed ... and who still makes lenticular lenses?

I don't know about lenticular lenses, but cataract surgery is known to go back almost 4000 years ago(!) to 1700 B.C.

http://www.optiboard.com/forums/show...l=1#post156374

[WFruit]

... and who still makes lenticular lenses?

Well, the blanks can be had from at least two vendors (Signet Armorlite and Aire-O-Lite) up to 50 base. (yes, that's 50, not .50)

[DragonLensmanWV]

I use their 20D sv lenticulars for some of my myodisks.

[optilady1]

Cool - when was the first cataract extraction performed ... and who still makes lenticular lenses?

My mother was born with cataracts, and had her first was removed at 12-ish, and they did a keyhole iridectomy. She was in the children's hospital for a week. The next year they must have advanced the surgury, because they didn't remove any of her iris. Anyway, they didn't put implants in, and so she wears +13-ish rgps, and every 10 years or so I make her a pair of lenticular glasses. I've tried to get her into a high index aspheric lens, but she cannot wear it. But she's the only one I've ever done.
Also, my husband is my favorite math geek. He's a sonar chief on a sub, and everything he does involves math. I'm not sure how, but imagine having no 'eyes' and using math to determine how to move, what is in front of you or miles away, and how to tell the difference between a whale fart and another sub. I'll be sticking to my eyeglass math that basically involves 4th grade math, thank you very much.

[MarySue]

My mother was born with cataracts, and had her first was removed at 12-ish, and they did a keyhole iridectomy. She was in the children's hospital for a week. The next year they must have advanced the surgury, because they didn't remove any of her iris. Anyway, they didn't put implants in, and so she wears +13-ish rgps, and every 10 years or so I make her a pair of lenticular glasses. I've tried to get her into a high index aspheric lens, but she cannot wear it. But she's the only one I've ever done.
Also, my husband is my favorite math geek. He's a sonar chief on a sub, and everything he does involves math. I'm not sure how, but imagine having no 'eyes' and using math to determine how to move, what is in front of you or miles away, and how to tell the difference between a whale fart and another sub. I'll be sticking to my eyeglass math that basically involves 4th grade math, thank you very much.

My first husband drove the USS guardfish (now retired sub). From what I know of being a submariner's wife ... you must have a great sense of humour, and the patience of Job. I know this is off the beaten topic, but where does your husband's sub travel from? Are you at Point Loma, or out east? Is his boat a fast attack nuclear or a boomer?

Back on track to the topic - the aspheric design for a patient with aphakia is not usually recommended. The lenticular gives a different type of magnified view, and in my 30 years of dispensing, I've found very few aphakic patients who accept a different design. In New Zealand, it's nigh on impossible to buy one though. That's the reason for my query as to "where" to purchase. There must be a lab out there with the blanks at the ready?