Carl Friedrich Gauss.

Damn. Apparently it's /ˈɡaʊs/. I always thought it was /ɡʊərs/.

Oh well - apparently I've been saying it wrong all these years...

Is there any specific reason why all great mathematicians were foreign? 
(Not to mention great scientists. And come to think of it, why are all 
the best programmers Finnish or German??)

Post a reply to this message

> Is there any specific reason why all great mathematicians were foreign?

Because 99% of the people in the world are foreign for you?

I can think of Newton, Babbage, Turing and Darwin off the top of my head as 
very famous British scientists/mathematicians, I am sure there are many many 
more.

Post a reply to this message

"Invisible" <voi### [at] devnull> wrote in message 
news:49101a91$1@news.povray.org...
> Is there any specific reason why all great mathematicians were foreign? 
> (Not to mention great scientists. And come to think of it, why are all the 
> best programmers Finnish or German??)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_scientists

no reason

--
Tim Cook
http://empyrean.freesitespace.net

Post a reply to this message

scott wrote:
>> Is there any specific reason why all great mathematicians were foreign?
> 
> Because 99% of the people in the world are foreign for you?

Mmm. Yes, that must be it...

> I can think of Newton, Babbage, Turing and Darwin off the top of my head 
> as very famous British scientists/mathematicians, I am sure there are 
> many many more.

Heh. Imagine going to school and learning about "Dave's forces" or 
"Bob's law". Wouldn't be quite the same as van der Waals forces and 
Hooke's law, would it?

At least at college we had somebody to tell us that "Euler" is 
pronounced /ˈɔɪlɚ/. When you read a book and you come across something 
like "Gödel", it's not trivial to figure out how the hell you actually 
proncounce that...

Post a reply to this message

> Heh. Imagine going to school and learning about "Dave's forces" or "Bob's 
> law". Wouldn't be quite the same as van der Waals forces and Hooke's law, 
> would it?

Hooke was English.

> At least at college we had somebody to tell us that "Euler" is pronounced 
> /ˈɔɪlÉš/. When you read a book and you come across something like "Gödel", 
> it's not trivial to figure out how the hell you actually proncounce 
> that...

It is if you learnt German at school :-)  Knowing the basics of a few common 
languages is quite helpful in life...

Post a reply to this message

scott wrote:
>> Heh. Imagine going to school and learning about "Dave's forces" or 
>> "Bob's law". Wouldn't be quite the same as van der Waals forces and 
>> Hooke's law, would it?
> 
> Hooke was English.

...really?

Heh. You learn something every day.

Did you see the episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? where 3% of 
the audience thought that "Ludwig van Beethoven" was English? :-D (I 
have no idea what his nationallity actually was, but I'm fairly sure 
it's not a typical English name...)

>> At least at college we had somebody to tell us that "Euler" is 
>> pronounced /ˈɔɪlɚ/. When you read a book and you come across something 
>> like "Gödel", it's not trivial to figure out how the hell you actually 
>> proncounce that...
> 
> It is if you learnt German at school :-)  Knowing the basics of a few 
> common languages is quite helpful in life...

...[insert COBOL joke here]...

Post a reply to this message

Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> scott wrote:
> >> Heh. Imagine going to school and learning about "Dave's forces" or
> >> "Bob's law". Wouldn't be quite the same as van der Waals forces and
> >> Hooke's law, would it?
> >
> > Hooke was English.
>
> ...really?

As was Lord Kelvin, Napier, Stephen Hawkins (Well British)


>
> Heh. You learn something every day.
>
> Did you see the episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? where 3% of
> the audience thought that "Ludwig van Beethoven" was English? :-D (I
> have no idea what his nationallity actually was, but I'm fairly sure
> it's not a typical English name...)
>

German! O_O

They (3%) must have been confusing him with Handel who lived in England and
composed Messiah, Zadok the Priest and Music for the Royal Fireworks there.

Stephen

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"scott" <sco### [at] scottcom> a écrit dans le message de news: 
49101ed2$1@news.povray.org...
>> Is there any specific reason why all great mathematicians were foreign?
>
> Because 99% of the people in the world are foreign for you?
true for Andrew, false for an Indian or a Chinese ;-)


Marc

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Invisible wrote:

> At least at college we had somebody to tell us that "Euler" is 
> pronounced /ˈɔɪlɚ/. When you read a book and you come across something 

Much how Reuters is pronounced. Hmm. I only learned the correct way on 
that one recently.
-- 
~Mike

Post a reply to this message

Tim Cook escreveu:
> "Invisible" <voi### [at] devnull> wrote in message 
> news:49101a91$1@news.povray.org...
>> Is there any specific reason why all great mathematicians were 
>> foreign? (Not to mention great scientists. And come to think of it, 
>> why are all the best programmers Finnish or German??)
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_scientists
> 
> no reason

I believe he's from the UK. :)

Post a reply to this message

Stephen escreveu:
> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>> scott wrote:
>>>> Heh. Imagine going to school and learning about "Dave's forces" or
>>>> "Bob's law". Wouldn't be quite the same as van der Waals forces and
>>>> Hooke's law, would it?
>>> Hooke was English.
>> ...really?
> 
> As was Lord Kelvin, Napier, Stephen Hawkins (Well British)
> 
> 
>> Heh. You learn something every day.
>>
>> Did you see the episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? where 3% of
>> the audience thought that "Ludwig van Beethoven" was English? :-D (I
>> have no idea what his nationallity actually was, but I'm fairly sure
>> it's not a typical English name...)
>>
> 
> German! O_O
> 
> They (3%) must have been confusing him with Handel who lived in England and
> composed Messiah, Zadok the Priest and Music for the Royal Fireworks there.

"Ludwig" by itself should be enough. :)

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nemesis <nam### [at] gmailcom> wrote:

> "Ludwig" by itself should be enough. :)

Indeed :)

Post a reply to this message

nemesis wrote:
> "Ludwig" by itself should be enough. :)

Especially if the MC pronounced it right while reading the question.

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)

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Invisible wrote:
> Heh. Imagine going to school and learning about "Dave's forces" or
> "Bob's law". Wouldn't be quite the same as van der Waals forces and
> Hooke's law, would it?

	And given that Hooke's first name was Robert, you'd be well justified
to refer to it as Bob's Law.

-- 
The worst thing about censorship is .


                    /\  /\               /\  /
                   /  \/  \ u e e n     /  \/  a w a z
                       >>>>>>mue### [at] nawazorg<<<<<<
                                   anl

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Mueen Nawaz wrote:
> Invisible wrote:
>> Heh. Imagine going to school and learning about "Dave's forces" or
>> "Bob's law". Wouldn't be quite the same as van der Waals forces and
>> Hooke's law, would it?
> 
> 	And given that Hooke's first name was Robert, you'd be well justified
> to refer to it as Bob's Law.

Heh. How random is that?

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On Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:03:28 -0200, nemesis wrote:

>> They (3%) must have been confusing him with Handel who lived in England
>> and composed Messiah, Zadok the Priest and Music for the Royal
>> Fireworks there.
> 
> "Ludwig" by itself should be enough.

Well, for a guess perhaps, but I could see it also being popular in 
Austria.  And of course in the modern world (especially), the name isn't 
necessarily a good indicator - I just had a call with someone with the 
surname Assaf.  Any guesses as to what country code I dialed?  The answer 
surprised me....

Jim

Post a reply to this message

On Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:20:14 -0600, Mueen Nawaz wrote:

> Invisible wrote:
>> Heh. Imagine going to school and learning about "Dave's forces" or
>> "Bob's law". Wouldn't be quite the same as van der Waals forces and
>> Hooke's law, would it?
> 
> 	And given that Hooke's first name was Robert, you'd be well 
justified
> to refer to it as Bob's Law.

I prefer Cole's Law myself. :-)

Jim

Post a reply to this message

Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> On Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:20:14 -0600, Mueen Nawaz wrote:
>
> > Invisible wrote:
> >> Heh. Imagine going to school and learning about "Dave's forces" or
> >> "Bob's law". Wouldn't be quite the same as van der Waals forces and
> >> Hooke's law, would it?
> >
> >  And given that Hooke's first name was Robert, you'd be well
> justified
> > to refer to it as Bob's Law.
>
> I prefer Cole's Law myself. :-)
>
> Jim

Groan!

Post a reply to this message

On Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:38:42 -0500, Stephen wrote:

>> I prefer Cole's Law myself. :-)
>>
>> Jim
> 
> Groan!

I couldn't help myself. :-)  Or rather, I could, if there was a container 
in the fridge.

Jim

Post a reply to this message

>>> I prefer Cole's Law myself. :-)
>>>
>>> Jim
>> Groan!
> 
> I couldn't help myself. :-)  Or rather, I could, if there was a container 
> in the fridge.

Ignorance is bliss...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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On 04-Nov-08 16:03, nemesis wrote:
> Stephen escreveu:
>> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>>> scott wrote:
>>>>> Heh. Imagine going to school and learning about "Dave's forces" or
>>>>> "Bob's law". Wouldn't be quite the same as van der Waals forces and
>>>>> Hooke's law, would it?
>>>> Hooke was English.
>>> ...really?
>>
>> As was Lord Kelvin, Napier, Stephen Hawkins (Well British)
>>
>>
>>> Heh. You learn something every day.
>>>
>>> Did you see the episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? where 3% of
>>> the audience thought that "Ludwig van Beethoven" was English? :-D (I
>>> have no idea what his nationallity actually was, but I'm fairly sure
>>> it's not a typical English name...)
>>>
>>
>> German! O_O
>>
>> They (3%) must have been confusing him with Handel who lived in 
>> England and
>> composed Messiah, Zadok the Priest and Music for the Royal Fireworks 
>> there.
> 
> "Ludwig" by itself should be enough. :)

What about Georg Friedrich Händel, does that sound english to you?

Post a reply to this message

On 04-Nov-08 11:27, Invisible wrote:
> scott wrote:
>>> Is there any specific reason why all great mathematicians were foreign?
>>
>> Because 99% of the people in the world are foreign for you?
> 
> Mmm. Yes, that must be it...
> 
>> I can think of Newton, Babbage, Turing and Darwin off the top of my 
>> head as very famous British scientists/mathematicians, I am sure there 
>> are many many more.
> 
> Heh. Imagine going to school and learning about "Dave's forces" or 
> "Bob's law". Wouldn't be quite the same as van der Waals forces and 
> Hooke's law, would it?

First names of van der waals were: Johannes Diderik so if they followed 
your convention it might have been Johan's law (or Jan's or Diderik or 
Rik, I don't know what his family called him). Aside I studied in 
Amsterdam and had lectures in the room they built for him there. A 
theater with the names of famous physicist in friezes (if that is the 
correct term) on the wall. Like we have the famous composers in the 
Concertgebouw.
They also had the foundation of the workshop there separately from the 
rest of the foundations. Just to make sure they did not ruin the 
experiments.

Post a reply to this message

On 04-Nov-08 11:27, Invisible wrote:
> scott wrote:
>>> Is there any specific reason why all great mathematicians were foreign?
>>
>> Because 99% of the people in the world are foreign for you?
> 
> Mmm. Yes, that must be it...
> 
>> I can think of Newton, Babbage, Turing and Darwin off the top of my 
>> head as very famous British scientists/mathematicians, I am sure there 
>> are many many more.
> 
> Heh. Imagine going to school and learning about "Dave's forces" or 
> "Bob's law". Wouldn't be quite the same as van der Waals forces and 
> Hooke's law, would it?

Once someone remarked that in French all laws are names after the first 
French person to have discovered the law. Sometimes decades after it was 
discovered in the rest of the world. (If you think that is silly, think 
about things like Victoria Falls).

Post a reply to this message

Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>>> I prefer Cole's Law myself. :-)
>>>>
>>>> Jim
>>> Groan!
>> 
>> I couldn't help myself. :-)  Or rather, I could, if there was a container
>> in the fridge.
> 
> Ignorance is bliss...
> 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cole's_Law

I didn't know it either. Now Cole's Law on the "Murphy's Law and other
reasons why things go wrong" book makes sense.

"Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage."

Post a reply to this message

andrel wrote:
> theater with the names of famous physicist in friezes (if that is the 

Reminds me of one of the first places I worked: Institute for Scientific 
Information.  (Sort of a Google of the CP/M era.)  Founded by Eugene 
Garfield.

Walking up the stairway, there was a moasic portrait of Aristotle on the 
first floor, Newton on the second floor, Einstein on the third floor, 
and Garfield on the fourth floor. Cripes. :-)

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)

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andrel wrote:
> about things like Victoria Falls).

I like going to the zoo in the USA, where you can see which animals were 
discovered by the British and which by the Americans just by looking at 
their names.

"Sir George's Antelope."   "Lord Franken's Turtle."

"Red Neck Duck."  "Blue Belly Warbler."

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)

Post a reply to this message

Invisible wrote:
> Carl Friedrich Gauss.
> 
> Damn. Apparently it's /ˈɡaʊs/. I always thought it was /ɡʊərs/.
> 
> Oh well - apparently I've been saying it wrong all these years...
> 
> Is there any specific reason why all great mathematicians were foreign?

That's because every nation is a minority of the world, and therefore 
most mathematicians are foreign.

And before 1776, all great mathematicians were foreign to the US because 
there was no US.  This probably doesn't help your situation.

I recall reading somewhere, however, that the great work of math is 
still in progress.  There remain a large number of unsolved, 
long-standing problems in math, and some of the frontiers of theoretical 
physics are presently at a standstill because the necessary math hasn't 
been developed yet.

Regards,
John

Post a reply to this message

John VanSickle wrote:
> That's because every nation is a minority of the world, and therefore 
> most mathematicians are foreign.

This doesn't mathematically follow unless you assume a sufficiently flat 
distribution of mathematicians. Since intellectuals tend to like hanging 
around their peers, this tends not to happen.

Check out, for example, the number of Chinese Nobel prize winners vs USA 
Nobel prize winners. Not because Chinese aren't smart, but because the 
scientists from all over the world often come to the USA to do their 
thing, even if they're "foreign".  (Or at least used to, a few decades 
ago, before we started thinking stupidity was a virtue.)

> I recall reading somewhere, however, that the great work of math is 
> still in progress.  There remain a large number of unsolved, 
> long-standing problems in math, and some of the frontiers of theoretical 
> physics are presently at a standstill because the necessary math hasn't 
> been developed yet.

Well... maybe. :-) Lots of stuff is hard to calculate, even tho the math 
is, in theory, pretty simple.

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)

Post a reply to this message

andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> What about Georg Friedrich Händel, does that sound english to you?

No but George Fredrick Handle does :)

Remember since Q Vic married Alfred German names were popular here (or there :)

Stephen

Post a reply to this message

andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> On 04-Nov-08 16:03, nemesis wrote:
> > Stephen escreveu:
> >> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> >>> Did you see the episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? where 3% of
> >>> the audience thought that "Ludwig van Beethoven" was English? :-D (I
> >>> have no idea what his nationallity actually was, but I'm fairly sure
> >>> it's not a typical English name...)
> >>>
> >>
> >> German! O_O
> >>
> >> They (3%) must have been confusing him with Handel who lived in
> >> England and
> >> composed Messiah, Zadok the Priest and Music for the Royal Fireworks
> >> there.
> >
> > "Ludwig" by itself should be enough. :)
>
> What about Georg Friedrich Händel, does that sound english to you?

Why should it?

Post a reply to this message

On 05-Nov-08 10:59, nemesis wrote:
> andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
>> On 04-Nov-08 16:03, nemesis wrote:
>>> Stephen escreveu:
>>>> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>>>>> Did you see the episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? where 3% of
>>>>> the audience thought that "Ludwig van Beethoven" was English? :-D (I
>>>>> have no idea what his nationallity actually was, but I'm fairly sure
>>>>> it's not a typical English name...)
>>>>>
>>>> German! O_O
>>>>
>>>> They (3%) must have been confusing him with Handel who lived in
>>>> England and
>>>> composed Messiah, Zadok the Priest and Music for the Royal Fireworks
>>>> there.
>>> "Ludwig" by itself should be enough. :)
>> What about Georg Friedrich Händel, does that sound english to you?
> 
> Why should it?
> 
Because otherwise you can not use the sound of the name as an indication 
to distinguish the two.

Post a reply to this message

andrel escreveu:
> On 05-Nov-08 10:59, nemesis wrote:
>> andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
>>> On 04-Nov-08 16:03, nemesis wrote:
>>>> Stephen escreveu:
>>>>> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>>>>>> Did you see the episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? where 3% of
>>>>>> the audience thought that "Ludwig van Beethoven" was English? :-D (I
>>>>>> have no idea what his nationallity actually was, but I'm fairly sure
>>>>>> it's not a typical English name...)
>>>>>>
>>>>> German! O_O
>>>>>
>>>>> They (3%) must have been confusing him with Handel who lived in
>>>>> England and
>>>>> composed Messiah, Zadok the Priest and Music for the Royal Fireworks
>>>>> there.
>>>> "Ludwig" by itself should be enough. :)
>>> What about Georg Friedrich Händel, does that sound english to you?
>>
>> Why should it?
>>
> Because otherwise you can not use the sound of the name as an indication 
> to distinguish the two.

Ludwig and Friedrich are pretty good indications of german nationality. 
  But, no, I wasn't thinking about the spelling, only about the names 
themselves.

Post a reply to this message

On 05-Nov-08 18:50, nemesis wrote:
> andrel escreveu:
>> On 05-Nov-08 10:59, nemesis wrote:
>>> andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
>>>> On 04-Nov-08 16:03, nemesis wrote:
>>>>> Stephen escreveu:
>>>>>> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>>>>>>> Did you see the episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? where 
>>>>>>> 3% of
>>>>>>> the audience thought that "Ludwig van Beethoven" was English? :-D (I
>>>>>>> have no idea what his nationallity actually was, but I'm fairly sure
>>>>>>> it's not a typical English name...)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> German! O_O
>>>>>>
>>>>>> They (3%) must have been confusing him with Handel who lived in
>>>>>> England and
>>>>>> composed Messiah, Zadok the Priest and Music for the Royal Fireworks
>>>>>> there.
>>>>> "Ludwig" by itself should be enough. :)
>>>> What about Georg Friedrich Händel, does that sound english to you?
>>>
>>> Why should it?
>>>
>> Because otherwise you can not use the sound of the name as an 
>> indication to distinguish the two.
> 
> Ludwig and Friedrich are pretty good indications of german nationality.
exactly. Somehow I think at least one of us is not getting what the 
other means.

Post a reply to this message

andrel escreveu:
> On 05-Nov-08 18:50, nemesis wrote:
>> andrel escreveu:
>>> On 05-Nov-08 10:59, nemesis wrote:
>>>> andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
>>>>> On 04-Nov-08 16:03, nemesis wrote:
>>>>>> Stephen escreveu:
>>>>>>> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>>>>>>>> Did you see the episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? where 
>>>>>>>> 3% of
>>>>>>>> the audience thought that "Ludwig van Beethoven" was English? 
>>>>>>>> :-D (I
>>>>>>>> have no idea what his nationallity actually was, but I'm fairly 
>>>>>>>> sure
>>>>>>>> it's not a typical English name...)
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> German! O_O
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> They (3%) must have been confusing him with Handel who lived in
>>>>>>> England and
>>>>>>> composed Messiah, Zadok the Priest and Music for the Royal Fireworks
>>>>>>> there.
>>>>>> "Ludwig" by itself should be enough. :)
>>>>> What about Georg Friedrich Händel, does that sound english to you?
>>>>
>>>> Why should it?
>>>>
>>> Because otherwise you can not use the sound of the name as an 
>>> indication to distinguish the two.
>>
>> Ludwig and Friedrich are pretty good indications of german nationality.
> exactly. Somehow I think at least one of us is not getting what the 
> other means.

Yes, I thought you were implying Händel was english.

Post a reply to this message

nemesis <nam### [at] gmailcom> wrote:

>
> Yes, I thought you were implying Händel was english.

He Wasn't?

Stephen

Post a reply to this message

Stephen wrote:
> nemesis <nam### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> 
>> Yes, I thought you were implying Händel was english.
> 
> He Wasn't?
> 
> Stephen
> 
No, he was German by birth, but took English Nationality later on

John
-- 
"Eppur si muove" - Galileo Galilei

Post a reply to this message

Stephen escreveu:
> nemesis <nam### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> 
>> Yes, I thought you were implying Händel was english.
> 
> He Wasn't?

Now I'm confused again! :P

Post a reply to this message

Stephen escreveu:
> nemesis <nam### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> 
>> Yes, I thought you were implying Händel was english.
> 
> He Wasn't?
> 
> Stephen
> 
oh, wait?  You mean Händel or what Andrel said?

Händel was german.

Post a reply to this message

Doctor John <joh### [at] homecom> wrote:
> Stephen wrote:
> > nemesis <nam### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> >
> >> Yes, I thought you were implying Händel was english.
> >
> > He Wasn't?
> >
> > Stephen
> >
> No, he was German by birth, but took English Nationality later on
>

Is that why Percy Grainger wrote Handel in the Strand?

Him

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nemesis <nam### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> Stephen escreveu:
> > nemesis <nam### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> >
> >> Yes, I thought you were implying Händel was english.
> >
> > He Wasn't?
>
> Now I'm confused again! :P

Don’t worry, you’re in the write place for it.

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...

Post a reply to this message

nemesis <nam### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> Stephen escreveu:
> > nemesis <nam### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> >
> >> Yes, I thought you were implying Händel was english.
> >
> > He Wasn't?
> >
> > Stephen
> >
> oh, wait?  You mean Händel or what Andrel said?
>
> Händel was german.

And Andrel's a low lander.

As am I BTW.

Post a reply to this message

On 05-Nov-08 19:49, nemesis wrote:
> Stephen escreveu:
>> nemesis <nam### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
>>
>>> Yes, I thought you were implying Händel was english.
>>
>> He Wasn't?
> 
> Now I'm confused again! :P
Ok, shall we do a recap? Nah, you should never explain a joke or a 
newsgroup tread.

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On Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:58:19 -0200, Nicolas Alvarez wrote:


> "Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage."

That's the one. :-)

Jim

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