Great Thinkers

Meet the great minds whose ideas have shaped the world — philosophers, scientists, artists, leaders, and revolutionaries whose thinking still matters today.

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Subject: Mathematics × Creative expression ×

1912-1954 · United Kingdom

Alan Turing was an English mathematician, codebreaker, and founder of modern computer science. He was born in London on 23 June 1912. His father worked…

Critical thinking Problem solving Scientific thinking Creative expression +1

"We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done."

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c. 287 BCE - c. 212 BCE · Syracuse, Sicily (Hellenistic Greek world)

Archimedes was a Greek mathematician, scientist, and engineer. He was born around 287 BCE in Syracuse, a Greek city on the island of Sicily. We…

Scientific thinking Problem solving Critical thinking Creative expression +1

"Eureka! I have found it!"

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1916 - 2001 · United States

Claude Shannon was an American mathematician and engineer. He invented the field of information theory. His work made the digital age possible. Almost every technology…

Scientific thinking Problem solving Creative expression Research skills +1

"Information is the resolution of uncertainty."

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1882-1935 · Germany (later United States)

Emmy Noether was a German mathematician who changed how we understand algebra and physics. She was born in 1882 in Erlangen, Germany. Her father was…

Scientific thinking Critical thinking Problem solving Creative expression +1

"My methods are really methods of working and thinking; this is why they have crept in everywhere anonymously."

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c. 325 BCE - c. 265 BCE · Alexandria, Egypt (Hellenistic Greek world)

Euclid was a Greek mathematician who lived in Alexandria, in Egypt, around 300 BCE. He is sometimes called the 'father of geometry'. We know almost…

Scientific thinking Critical thinking Problem solving Research skills +1

"There is no royal road to geometry."

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1906-1992 · United States

Grace Brewster Murray Hopper (1906-1992) was an American mathematician, computer scientist, and United States Navy rear admiral whose work on programming languages and compilers helped…

Scientific thinking Critical thinking Creative expression Research skills +1

"It is easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission."

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1906 - 1978 · Austria (later United States)

Kurt Gödel was an Austrian-American logician, mathematician, and philosopher. He is widely considered the greatest logician of the 20th century. His incompleteness theorems changed how…

Scientific thinking Critical thinking Problem solving Research skills +1

"Either mathematics is too big for the human mind, or the human mind is more than a machine."

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Maryam Mirzakhani

1977 - 2017 · Iran (later United States)

Maryam Mirzakhani was an Iranian mathematician. She was the first woman ever to win the Fields Medal, the highest prize in mathematics. She was born…

Scientific thinking Problem solving Creative expression Critical thinking +1

"I don't think that everyone should become a mathematician, but I do believe that many students don't give mathematics a…"

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Srinivasa Ramanujan

1887-1920 · India (British Raj)

Srinivasa Ramanujan was an Indian mathematician born in 1887 in Erode, a small town in Tamil Nadu. His family was poor but educated. His father…

Scientific thinking Critical thinking Problem solving Creative expression +1

"An equation for me has no meaning unless it expresses a thought of God."

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