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 × Research skills ×
Mathematics
Al-Khwārizmī
c. 780-c. 850 · Persia / Abbasid Caliphate (active in Baghdad)
Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī was a Persian scholar born around 780, probably in Khwarezm, a region in what is now Uzbekistan. His family name, al-Khwārizmī,…
Scientific thinking Problem solving Critical thinking Research skills +1
"That fondness for science, by which God has distinguished the Imām al-Ma'mūn... has encouraged me to compose a short work…"
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Mathematics
Emmy Noether
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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Mathematics
Grace Hopper
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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Mathematics
Hypatia of Alexandria
c.350-415 CE · Alexandria, Roman Egypt
Hypatia of Alexandria (c.350-415 CE) was a mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who taught in the Egyptian city of Alexandria during the late Roman Empire. She…
Scientific thinking Critical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Research skills +1
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all."
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Mathematics
Isaac Newton
1643-1727 · England, United Kingdom
Isaac Newton (1643-1727) was an English mathematician, physicist, and natural philosopher. He was born prematurely in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, and his father died before he was…
Scientific thinking Research skills Numeracy and mathematical thinking Critical thinking +1
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."
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Mathematics
W. Edwards Deming
1900-1993 · United States
William Edwards Deming (1900-1993) was an American statistician and management consultant whose work on quality control and systematic thinking about production reshaped manufacturing in Japan…
Scientific thinking Critical thinking Research skills Ethical thinking +1
"In God we trust; all others must bring data."
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