assuming the identity of a male student, Monsieur Le Blanc,
who had left Paris, and studying mathematics at the Ecole
Polytechnique with JOSEPH-LOUIS LAGRANGEby remotely
sending letters and turning in papers using LeBlanc’s name.
She is remembered for her work on FERMAT’S LAST THEOREM,
in which she devised a unique way of looking at the problem,
and her theory of elasticity, which deals with stress on
construction materials such as steel beams.Girard, Albert (1592–1632) French musician, engineer, and
mathematician who is credited as the first to define the
FIBONACCI SEQUENCEas fn+2 = fn+1 + fn. He also made
contributions to the FUNDAMENTAL THEOREM OF ALGEBRA,
which was not defined enough to prevent subsequent
mathematicians from attempting a PROOFthat could not work,
and which was finally proved 174 years later by KARL
FRIEDRICH GAUSS.Goldbach, Christian(1690–1764) Russian historian and
mathematician who studied curves, the theory of EQUATIONs,
number theory, and infinite SUMs. He is most known for his
letter to LEONHARD EULER, in which he wrote that every EVEN
NUMBERgreater than two is the sum of two primes, although
he gave no PROOF. Known as Goldbach’s CONJECTURE, this
remains one of the most long-standing unsolvedmathematical
problems of all time.Gregory, James(1638–75) This Scottish mathematician, who was
taught geometry by his mother, used mathematical computations
to invent the first reflecting telescope, now called the Gregorian
telescope. His book, Optica Promota,contained POSTULATEs,
definitions, and 59 THEOREMs pertaining to the reflection and
refraction of light, and explained how the telescope worked in
detail, although he had no way to build it. He also made
contributions in geometry, particularly regarding the AREAof a
CIRCLEand a HYPERBOLA, and in trigonometry. The majority of
his work went unpublished because of a dispute in which he was
accused of stealing another mathematician’s work, but he is
credited as having made many of the same major findings in
mathematics as SIR ISAAC NEWTON, Brook Taylor, Johannes
Kepler, AUGUSTIN-LOUIS CAUCHY, and BERNHARD RIEMANN
prior to their own discoveries.BIOGRAPHIES Girard – Gregory
BIOGRAPHIES Girard – Gregory