Our class has to present a little talk on some mathematician's life and his work (about 15-20 minutes). It was first come first choose and thus most of the big guns are already taken like Gauss, Newton, Euler, Fermat, Abel, Galois, Ramanujan, Riemann, Bernoulli family etc.
Then I thought that almost every one with Masters in Math knows about these mathematicians and their famous work. So why not pick a mathematician who has done some really interesting and important work but has somehow remained obscure.
I have read a little about Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia in Cox's book on Galois Theory but not sure if he will have enough history available and how important his work was. Also among lady mathematicians, I thought of Noether and Germain, but they are also well known.
Can someone suggest some historical figure who somehow escaped major fame despite good work and should be applauded time to time.
Thanks!
Answer
Paul Erdős is a wonderful choice. Anyone can edit this to add more sources if they so chose, but here's a small list:
My Brain is Open (Book)
The Main Who Only Loved Numbers (Book)
N is a Number (Documentary)
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