Influential Mathematicians in History

Date: 9/12/96 at 10:9:51
From: Bette Benda
Subject: Really Cool Famous Individual

My son has been assigned a project on a famous individual and his/her 
influence on math, e.g. Michelangelo. My son wonders if there is any 
one really cool person that you could suggest.  He loves using the 
Internet resources for his projects. Thank you for your time,

Sincerely Bette and Michael

Date: 9/12/96 at 10:31:48
From: Doctor Steve
Subject: Re: Really Cool Famous Individual

Hello Bette and Michael,

The ideas that come to my mind at first are:

Euler (wide-ranging, important contributions): 
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Euler.html   

Fermat (famous for a problem long unsolved):
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Fermat.html   

Galois (had a made-for-tv life):
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Galois.html   
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Life_of_Evariste_Galois.html#1   

Gauss (wide-ranging, important contributions):
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Gauss.html   

Pascal (invented first digital calculator, known for his work in 
probability, geometry, and other sciences): 
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Pascal.html   

Poincaré (exciting mathematics linked to physics):
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Poincare.html   

and then there are the golden oldies:
Euclid (famous work on geometry): 
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Euclid.html   

Archimedes (also famous for work with the circle and curves as well as 
with mechanics): 
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Archimedes.html   

-Doctor Steve,  The Math Forum
 Check out our web site!  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/