Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Famous Men Vs. Famous Women

A topic that is debated constantly since the beginning of age, can a women do a man's job? Can a man do a women's job. Sure there are some things that men can't do and women can't do, but is it really impossible.

What Work Is a World Famous Mathematician?

This in some cases is a matter of opinion, but if we look at history our question will be answered. BOTH MEN AND WOMEN can be world famous mathematicians. I have seen both be very successful and very influential women in the math world.

So for me this is totally not a debate anymore.

Famous Lagrange mathematician

Talk about finishing school early, this famous mathematician was lecturing when he was nineteen years of age. Joseph Louis Lagrange was born in Italy, but was known as the Italian born French mathematician. He dealt with the area of Calculus and impressed many with his knowledge on the subject.

This world mathematician took over from Euler as the Director of Mathematics on November 6, 1766 but then moved on to the Paris Academy of Science where he stayed for the rest of his career.

"Before we take to sea we walk on land, Before we create we must understand.”
"When we ask advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice."


These are some of the famous quotes that Lagrange was known for as one of the world's famous mathematicians.

World's Famous Mathematician Women

Let's have a look at a women who was a world famous mathematician. She has inspired and taught many the beauty of mathematics.
Irene Maria Quintanilha Coelho Da Fonseca was born in Portugal and after studying mathematics in Lisbon, she transferred to the USA. She earned her phd at university of Menosota in 1985.

Fonseca writes that "My research interests lie in the areas of continuum mechanics, calculus of variations, geometric measure theory and partial differential equations. Recent work has been focused on the search for effective or relaxed energies, and on the study of existence, regularity, oscillatory and hysteretic behavior of solutions of (non convex) variational problems associated with materials instabilities, phase transitions, plasticity, nucleation and growth of phases, fracture and defects in solids.
The applications which guide me in this program arise from the analysis of mathematical models for computer vision and imaging, as well as for novel man-made materials such as shape memory alloys, ferroelectric, magnetic and magnetostrictive materials, composites, liquid crystals, and thin films. The mathematical challenges lie in the description of the dynamics and evolution of microscopic structures and of phenomena that occur at vastly different temporal or spatial scales. They require recently developed mathematical tools and the introduction of new mathematical techniques."

She truly is a famous mathematician who viewed the world differently.