February 2
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.
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.
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.
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.
1897: Mathematician Gertrude Blanch born. Blanch will be a pioneer of numerical analysis and computation, leading the Mathematical Tables Project in New York from its beginning, the Numerical Analysis at UCLA computing division, and mathematical research at the Aerospace Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
1900: "Fightin'" Bert Russell agrees to organize and chair an informal "Queensberry Rules" boxing subcommittee at the World Peace Conference "if so doing will further the best interests of humanity."
1905: Writer and philosopher Ayn Rand born.
1950: Mathematician and author Constantin Carathéodory dies. He pioneered the axiomatic formulation of thermodynamics along a purely geometrical approach.
1969: New evidence suggests that The Eel Escapes Hydrolab is based on actual events.
1970: Philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, social critic, and political activist Bertrand Russell dies.
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.
2017: Mathematician Bertram Kostant dies. He was one of the principal developers of the theory of geometric quantization.