On This Day ...
Important events from the history of math that happened on this day:
Choose a day and month and click the button to see events from history for that day.
February 19th
| 1473 | Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, who placed the sun at the center of the universe with the earth rotating around it in his De revolutionibus, was born in Torun, Poland, on this day.
More information about: Nicolaus Copernicus De revolutionibus orbium coelestium |
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| 1549 | Osiander wrote of Stifel: "He has devised new numbers for the alphabet, namely the triangular numbers, and his fantasies are more absurd than before."
More information about: Michael Stifel Andreas Osiander |
| 1672 | Newton's first publication appeared as a letter in the Philosophical Transactions. It dealt with his new theory of light, showing that a prism separates white light into its component colors. Huygens, Hooke, and others objected so strongly that he vowed not to publish again. Fortunately that vow was not kept.
More information about: Isaac Newton Robert Hooke Christiaan Huygens |
| 1876 | J. J. Sylvester began his duties at the newly founded Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
More information about: James Joseph Sylvester |
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