Modern Mathematicians (Global Profiles)

Includes biographies of thirteen people who made significant contributions to modern mathematics, including Charles Babbage, Sofia Kovalevskaia, Julia Bowman Robinson, and John H. Conway

Grade 9 Up-Clearly written, lively profiles of nine men and four women who contributed to the development of modern mathematics. Henderson discusses both the people and the math they created/discovered and effectively simplifies concepts, all without including more than an equation or two. The author's theme is politically correct: he stresses that individuals of diverse backgrounds have helped mathematics to progress. Donald Albers's More Mathematical People (Harcourt, 1990) is much longer, requires more background, and doesn't cover the same people. An average-quality, black-and-white portrait of each person is included. With the increasing popularity of assignments on mathematicians and the history of science, this book may be just what the teacher ordered.?Margaret Chatham, Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library of Fairfax County Library System, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 7^-12. Not unexpectedly, most of the 13 mathematicians profiled in this book showed signs of early genius. Many had to exercise their perseverance skills as well, struggling with anti-semitism, sexism, and lack of funds, and fighting to get their work noticed. In the early 1900s, German Emmy Noether had to settle for an unpaid research job, in spite of receiving her doctorate with highest honors, because no university would hire a woman for a faculty position. Indian Srinivasa Ramanujan sent samples of his mathematical work to a famous British mathematician and implored his help in entering a university for further study. Henderson writes with an engaging style and delves into mathematical concepts just enough to hold readers who cannot digest too many formulas. Other subjects include Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, George Boole, Georg Cantor, Sophia Kovalevsky, Shiing-Shen Cuurn, Alan Turing, Stanislaw Ulam, Benoit Mandelbrot, Julia Bowman-Robinson, and John Conway. Annotated bibliography; chronology. Anne O'Malley