Mathematician Stamps

F

• Fermat Pierre de

Born: 17 Aug 1601 in Beaumont-de-Lomagne, France

Died: 12 Jan 1665 in Castres, France

Biography

Fermat’s son Samuel after his fathers death in 1665, proceeded to collect Fermat’s mathematical correspondence. That, and a reprint of the Diophantus — together with Fermat’s marginal notes — was published in 1670. By the end of the 18th century all of Fermat’s other remarks

had been dealt with, one way or the other. Either properly proved, or shown to be false. Only this one remark, hence, the last theorem, remained. Fermat's Last Theorem states that the equation xⁿ + yⁿ = zⁿ has no solution for positive integer values of x, y, and z for any power n higher than 2. He professed to have a proof of this theorem but did not have space to write it down in the margin of the text he was then annotating. Not until 1994 was a satisfactory proof published, by Andrew Wiles. Fermat's enigmatic smile on the French stamp reflects perhaps the amusement he would have felt at the feverish attempts of mathematicians to prove him either right or wrong over the last four centuries.

• Leon Foucalt ( 1819 – 1868 ) France

Known by the experiment that uses a pendulum to prove the earth rotation. He also measured the speed of light.

• Fersman Alexander J. (1883 1945)

Member of the physical mathematical society of USSR (Vice-president from 1927-1929). Fersman prize given since 1994 by the academy. He studied minerals and his work helped establish a simple mathematical description of their structure.