September 24

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  1054: Composer, mathematician, and astronomer Hermann of Reichenau dies. He wrote a treatise on the science of music, several works on geometry and arithmetic, and astronomical treatises (including instructions for the construction of an astrolabe, at the time a very novel device in Western Europe).

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  1501: Gerolamo Cardano born. He will be one of the most influential mathematicians of the Renaissance.

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  1625: Mathematician and politician Johan de Witt born. He will derive the basic properties of quadratic forms, an important step in the field of linear algebra.

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  1844: Mathematician Max Noether born. Noether will contribute to algebraic geometry and the theory of algebraic functions. He will be the father of mathematician Emmy Noether.

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  1888: Cryptographer and intelligence officer Edward Travis born. Travis will become the operational head of Bletchley Park during World War II, and later become the head of GCHQ.

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  1934: Writer and peace activist John Brunner born.

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  1938: Mathematician Lev Schnirelmann dies. He proved that any natural number greater than 1 can be written as the sum of not more than C prime numbers, where C is an effectively computable constant.

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  1991: Children's author, political cartoonist, illustrator, poet, animator, screenwriter, and filmmaker Theodor Seuss "Ted" Geisel dies. Geisel wrote and illustrated more than 60 books under the pen name Dr. Seuss, including many of the most popular children's books of all time, selling over 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages.