Famous Mathematicians quiz

More questions about Famous Mathematicians

These visible examples show the question style. LearnClash turns the full topic into ranked duels and spaced repetition.

1. 1 Easy

   Which mathematician broke the Enigma code at Bletchley Park?

   Answer: Alan Turing

   Why: Polish cryptologists broke Enigma first, in 1932, and handed Britain their methods and machine replicas in July 1939.

2. 2 Medium

   Who was the first woman to be awarded the Fields Medal?

   Answer: Maryam Mirzakhani

   Why: Her 2014 citation in Seoul praised the geometry of Riemann surfaces; as a teenager she scored a perfect 42 at the 1995 maths olympiad in Toronto.

3. 3 Hard

   Which mathematician used the male pseudonym M. LeBlanc to correspond with Gauss?

   Answer: Sophie Germain

   Why: In 1816 she became the first woman to win a prize from the Paris Academy of Sciences, for her theory of vibrating plates.

4. 4 Easy

   Who shouted 'Eureka!' in the famous bath story?

   Answer: Archimedes

   Why: Vitruvius told the bath story some 200 years later, describing a crown King Hiero suspected of hiding cheap silver.

5. 5 Medium

   Which mathematician died in a duel at age 20 after writing theories overnight?

   Answer: Évariste Galois

   Why: The all night legend is overstated: he had worked on the theory since seventeen, and Liouville only published the papers in 1846.

6. 6 Hard

   Which mathematician developed calculus independently of Newton and created binary notation?

   Answer: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

   Why: The Royal Society ruled for Newton in 1712, using a committee its president Newton had picked and a report he wrote himself.