Mathematical Legends: From Thales to Erdos (Springer Biographies)

This book is not only about the history of mathematics, but also by telling the story of some of the most distinctive personalities in the history of mathematics, it goes on to reveal the various strange treasures, bright flowers and hidden passions of the mathematical kingdom. Some of these mathematicians were thinkers, writers, poets, musicians, painters, politicians, judges, soldiers, clerks, young men of society or even prisoners. The mathematical world constructed by these geniuses is exquisite, and a walk in such a world not only expands our mathematical horizons and imagination, but also raises our humanistic cultivation to a higher level.

Written for general audience, this book will be of interest to anyone who's studied mathematics in university or even high school, while also benefiting researchers in mathematics and the humanities. The readers will also enjoy reading the beautiful and simple language of all the articles and interviews.

Cai Tianxin was born in Taizhou, in southeastern China in 1963. He received his doctorate in science in 1987 from Shandong University, and currently serves as an outstanding professor at the School of Mathematics at Zhejiang University. In his capacity as a professor of mathematics, Cai proposed a class of Diophantine equations that was hailed as a “truly original contribution” by the British mathematician and recipient of the Fields Medal Alan Baker. He is also a poet, writer, and photographer, who has published more than forty literary and scholarly works, translated variously into more than twenty languages, including nine works translated into English. For his poetical and literary works, Cai was awarded the Naji Naaman Poetry Prize (Beirut) in 2013, and the Kathak Literary Award(Dakar) in 2019. As a speaker, he has delivered more than 600 public lectures on Mathematics throughout the world.