Template:Selected anniversaries/February 2

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  1768: Mathematician and mechanician Charles Étienne Louis Camus dies. He was the author of Cours de mathématiques (Paris, 1766), along with a number of essays on mathematical and mechanical subjects.

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  1786: Mathematician, physicist, and astronomer Jacques Philippe Marie Binet born. He will make significant contributions to number theory, and the mathematical foundations of matrix algebra.

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  1829: Inventor, engineer, and philanthropist William Stanley born. He will design and manufacture precision drawing and mathematical instruments, as well as surveying instruments and telescopes.

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  1882: Mathematician Joseph Wedderburn born. He will make significant contributions to algebra, proving that a finite division algebra is a field, and proving part of the Artin–Wedderburn theorem on simple algebras.

• Returning to Scotland in 1905, Wedderburn worked for four years at the University of Edinburgh as an assistant to George Chrystal, who supervised his D.Sc, awarded in 1908 for a thesis titled On Hypercomplex Numbers.
• A significant algebraist, he proved that a finite division algebra is a field, and part of the Artin–Wedderburn theorem on simple algebras.
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  1900: "Fightin'" Bert Russell agrees to fight three rounds of bare-knuckled boxing at World Peace Conference.

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  1905: Writer and philosopher Ayn Rand born.

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  1950: Mathematician and author Constantin Carathéodory dies. He pioneered the axiomatic formulation of thermodynamics along a purely geometrical approach.

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  1969: New evidence suggests that The Eel Escapes Hydrolab is based on actual events.

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  1970: Philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, social critic and political activist Bertrand Russell dies.

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  1974: Mathematician, philosopher, and academic Imre Lakatos dies. He is known for his thesis of the fallibility of mathematics and its 'methodology of proofs and refutations' in its pre-axiomatic stages of development.