This is a list of amateur mathematicians—people whose primary vocation did not involve mathematics (or any similar discipline) yet made notable, and sometimes important, contributions to the field of mathematics. *

Ahmes Ahmes ( egy, jꜥḥ-ms “, a common Egyptian name also transliterated Ahmose) was an ancient Egyptian scribe who lived towards the end of the Fifteenth Dynasty (and of the Second Intermediate Period) and the beginning of the Eighteenth Dyna ...

(scribe) *

Ashutosh Mukherjee Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee (anglicised, originally Asutosh Mukhopadhyay, also anglicised to Asutosh Mookerjee) (29 June 1864 – 25 May 1924) was a prolific Bengali educator, jurist, barrister and mathematician. He was the first student to be awa ...

(lawyer) *

Robert Ammann Robert Ammann (October 1, 1946 – May, 1994) was an amateur mathematician who made several significant and groundbreaking contributions to the theory of quasicrystals and aperiodic tilings. Ammann attended Brandeis University, but generally did ...

(programmer and postal worker) * John Arbuthnot (surgeon and author) * Jean-Robert Argand (shopkeeper) *

Leon Bankoff Leon Bankoff (December 13, 1908 – February 16, 1997), born in New York City, New York, was an American dentist. As an amateur mathematician he constructed the Bankoff circle. He was also an Esperantist. Life After a visit to the City Col ...

(Beverly Hills dentist) * Rev. Thomas Bayes (Presbyterian minister) *

Andrew Beal Daniel Andrew Beal (born November 29, 1952) is an American banker, businessman, investor, and amateur mathematician. He is a Dallas-based businessman who accumulated wealth in real estate and banking. Born and reared in Lansing, Michigan, Beal i ...

(businessman) *

Isaac Beeckman Isaac Beeckman (10 December 1588van Berkel, p10 – 19 May 1637) was a Dutch philosopher and scientist, who, through his studies and contact with leading natural philosophers, may have "virtually given birth to modern atomism".Harold J. Cook, i ...

(candlemaker) *

Chester Ittner Bliss Chester Ittner Bliss (February 1, 1899 – March 14, 1979) was primarily a biologist, who is best known for his contributions to statistics. He was born in Springfield, Ohio in 1899 and died in 1979. He was the first secretary of the International ...

(biologist) *

Napoléon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

(general) *

Mary Everest Boole Mary Everest Boole (11 March 1832 in Wickwar, Gloucestershire – 17 May 1916 in Middlesex, England) was a self-taught mathematician who is best known as an author of didactic works on mathematics, such as ''Philosophy and Fun of Algebra'', an ...

(homemaker, librarian) * William Bourne (innkeeper) *

Nathaniel Bowditch Nathaniel Bowditch (March 26, 1773 – March 16, 1838) was an early American mathematician remembered for his work on ocean navigation. He is often credited as the founder of modern maritime navigation; his book '' The New American Practical Navi ...

(indentured bookkeeper) * Achille Brocot (clockmaker) *

Jost Bürgi Jost Bürgi (also ''Joost, Jobst''; Latinized surname ''Burgius'' or ''Byrgius''; 28 February 1552 – 31 January 1632), active primarily at the courts in Kassel and Prague, was a Swiss clockmaker, a maker of astronomical instruments and a ma ...

(clockmaker) * Marvin Ray Burns (veteran) *

Gerolamo Cardano Gerolamo Cardano (; also Girolamo or Geronimo; french: link=no, Jérôme Cardan; la, Hieronymus Cardanus; 24 September 1501– 21 September 1576) was an Italian polymath, whose interests and proficiencies ranged through those of mathematician, ...

(medical doctor) *

D. G. Champernowne thumbail, right David Gawen Champernowne, (9 July 1912 – 19 August 2000) was an English economist and mathematician. Champernowne was the only child of Francis Gawayne Champernowne (1866–1921), M.A. (Oxon.), a barrister and bursar of Kebl ...

(college student) * Thomas Clausen (technical assistant) * Sir James Cockle (judge) *

Federico Commandino Federico Commandino (1509 – 5 September 1575) was an Italian humanist and mathematician. Born in Urbino, he studied at Padua and at Ferrara, where he received his doctorate in medicine. He was most famous for his central role as translat ...

(medical doctor) * Herb Conn (rock climber) *

William Crabtree William Crabtree (1610–1644) was an astronomer, mathematician, and merchant from Broughton, then in the Hundred of Salford, Lancashire, England. He was one of only two people to observe and record the first predicted transit of Venus in 16 ...

(merchant) *

Nathan Daboll Nathan Daboll ( – March 9, 1818) was an American teacher who wrote the mathematics textbook most commonly used in American schools in the first half of the 19th century. During the course of his career, he also operated a popular navigation sc ...

(cooper) * Felix Delastelle (bonded warehouseman) * Martin Demaine (goldsmith and glass artist) *

Humphry Ditton Humphry Ditton (29 May 1675 – 15 October 1715) was an English mathematician. He was the author of several influential works. Life Ditton was born on 29 May 1675 in Salisbury, the only son of Humphry Ditton, gentleman and ardent nonconformist, ...

(minister) * Harvey Dubner (engineer) *

Henry Dudeney Henry Ernest Dudeney (10 April 1857 – 23 April 1930) was an English author and mathematician who specialised in logic puzzles and mathematical games. He is known as one of the country's foremost creators of mathematical puzzles. Early life ...

(civil servant) *

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

(painter) *

M. C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (; 17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. Despite wide popular interest, Escher was for most of his life neglected in t ...

(graphic artist) * John Ernest (painter) * Pasquale Joseph Federico (patent attorney) *

Pierre de Fermat Pierre de Fermat (; between 31 October and 6 December 1607 – 12 January 1665) was a French mathematician who is given credit for early developments that led to infinitesimal calculus, including his technique of adequality. In particular, he ...

(lawyer) * Sarah Flannery (high school student) *

Reo Fortune Reo Franklin Fortune (27 March 1903 – 25 November 1979) was a New Zealand-born social anthropologist. Originally trained as a psychologist, Fortune was a student of some of the major theorists of British and American social anthropology i ...

(anthropologist) * John G.F. Francis (research assistant) *

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading int ...

(printer and diplomat) * Bernard Frenicle de Bessy *

Gemma Frisius Gemma Frisius (; born Jemme Reinerszoon; December 9, 1508 – May 25, 1555) was a Frisian physician, mathematician, cartographer, philosopher, and instrument maker. He created important globes, improved the mathematical instruments of his ...

(medical doctor) * Britney Gallivan (high school student) *

James Garfield James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881 until his death six months latertwo months after he was shot by an assassin. A lawyer and Civil War gene ...

(United States President) *

Antoine Gombaud Antoine Gombaud, ''alias'' Chevalier de Méré, (1607 – 29 December 1684) was a French writer, born in Poitou.E. Feuillâtre (Editor), ''Les Épistoliers Du XVIIe Siècle. Avec des Notices biographiques, des Notices littéraires, des Notes ex ...

(essayist) *

Thorold Gosset John Herbert de Paz Thorold Gosset (16 October 1869 – December 1962) was an English lawyer and an amateur mathematician. In mathematics, he is noted for discovering and classifying the semiregular polytopes in dimensions four and higher, ...

(lawyer) *

Jørgen Pedersen Gram Jørgen Pedersen Gram (27 June 1850 – 29 April 1916) was a Danish actuary and mathematician who was born in Nustrup, Duchy of Schleswig, Denmark and died in Copenhagen, Denmark. Important papers of his include ''On series expansions deter ...

(actuary) *

Hermann Grassmann Hermann Günther Grassmann (german: link=no, Graßmann, ; 15 April 1809 – 26 September 1877) was a German polymath known in his day as a linguist and now also as a mathematician. He was also a physicist, general scholar, and publisher. His mat ...

(school teacher) *

John Graunt John Graunt (24 April 1620 – 18 April 1674) has been regarded as the founder of demography. Graunt was one of the first demographers, and perhaps the first epidemiologist, though by profession he was a haberdasher. He was bankrupted later in li ...

(haberdasher) * George Green (miller) *

Aubrey de Grey Aubrey David Nicholas Jasper de Grey (; born 20 April 1963) is an English author and biomedical gerontologist. He is the author of ''The Mitochondrial Free Radical Theory of Aging'' (1999) and co-author of ''Ending Aging'' (2007). He is known ...

(gerontologist) *

André-Michel Guerry André-Michel Guerry (; December 24, 1802 – April 9, 1866) was a French lawyer and amateur statistician. Together with Adolphe Quetelet he may be regarded as the founder of moral statistics which led to the development of criminology, soci ...

(lawyer) * Charles James Hargreave (judge) *

Oliver Heaviside Oliver Heaviside FRS (; 18 May 1850 – 3 February 1925) was an English self-taught mathematician and physicist who invented a new technique for solving differential equations (equivalent to the Laplace transform), independently develope ...

(telegraph operator) *

Kurt Heegner Kurt Heegner (; 16 December 1893 – 2 February 1965) was a German private scholar from Berlin, who specialized in radio engineering and mathematics. He is famous for his mathematical discoveries in number theory and, in particular, the Stark–He ...

(private scholar) * John R. Hendricks (meteorologist) * Anthony Hill (painter) *

Paul Jaccard Paul Jaccard (18 November 1868 in Sainte-Croix – 9 May 1944 in Zurich) was a professor of botany and plant physiology at the ETH Zurich. He studied at the University of Lausanne and ETH Zurich (PhD 1894). He continued studies in Paris with ...

(botanist) * Alfred Bray Kempe (lawyer) * Thomas Kirkman (church rector) *

Laurence Monroe Klauber Laurence Monroe Klauber (December 21, 1883 in San Diego, California – May 8, 1968), was an American herpetology, herpetologist and the foremost authority on rattlesnakes. He was the first curator of reptiles and amphibians at the San Diego Natural ...

(herpetologist) *

Hedy Lamarr Hedy Lamarr (; born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler; November 9, 1914 January 19, 2000) was an Austrian-born American film actress and inventor. A film star during Hollywood's golden age, Lamarr has been described as one of the greatest movie actress ...

(actress) *

Harry Lindgren Harry Lindgren (25 June 1912 – 1 July 1992) was a British-Australian engineer, linguist and amateur mathematician. Early life Lindgren was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England. In 1935 he emigrated to join his family in Perth, Australi ...

(civil servant) *

Ada Lovelace Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (''née'' Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the An ...

(countess) * Lu Jiaxi (high school physics teacher) * Kenneth McIntyre (lawyer) *

Danica McKellar Danica Mae McKellar (born January 3, 1975) is an American actress, mathematics writer, and education advocate. She played Winnie Cooper in the television series '' The Wonder Years'' from 1988 to 1993, and since 2010 has voiced Miss Martian in t ...

(actress) * Anderson Gray McKendrick (medical doctor) *

Marin Mersenne Marin Mersenne, OM (also known as Marinus Mersennus or ''le Père'' Mersenne; ; 8 September 1588 – 1 September 1648) was a French polymath whose works touched a wide variety of fields. He is perhaps best known today among mathematicians for ...

(theologian) *

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War ...

(nurse and statistician) * George Phillips Odom Jr. (artist) * B. Nicolò I. Paganini (schoolboy) *

Pāṇini , era = ;;6th–5th century BCE , region = Indian philosophy , main_interests = Grammar, linguistics , notable_works = ' ( Classical Sanskrit) , influenced= , notable_ideas= Descriptive linguistics (Devana ...

(linguist) *

Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal ( , , ; ; 19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic writer. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. Pascal's earliest ...

(heir, private scholar) * Padmakumar (technician) *

Henry Perigal Henry Perigal, Jr. FRAS MRI (1 April 1801 – 6 June 1898) was a British stockbroker and amateur mathematician, known for his dissection-based proof of the Pythagorean theorem and for his unorthodox belief that the moon does not rotate...... B ...

(stockbroker) * Kenneth Perko (lawyer) *

Ivan Pervushin Ivan Mikheevich Pervushin (russian: Иван Михеевич Первушин, sometimes transliterated as Pervusin or Pervouchine) (—) was a Russian clergyman and mathematician of the second half of the 19th century, known for his achievements ...

(priest) * Piero della Francesca (painter) *

Pingala Acharya Pingala ('; c. 3rd2nd century BCE) was an ancient Indian poet and mathematician, and the author of the ' (also called the ''Pingala-sutras''), the earliest known treatise on Sanskrit prosody. The ' is a work of eight chapters in the la ...

(musician) * William Playfair (draftsman) *

Henry Cabourn Pocklington Henry Cabourn Pocklington FRS (28 January 1870, Exeter – 15 May 1952, Leeds) was an English physicist and mathematician. His primary profession was as a schoolmaster, but he made important contributions to number theory Number theory (or a ...

(schoolmaster) *

François Proth François Proth (22 March 1852 – 21 January 1879) was a French self-taught mathematician farmer who lived in Vaux-devant-Damloup near Verdun, France. He stated four primality-related theorems. The most famous of these, Proth's theorem, ca ...

(farmer) *

Ramchundra Ramchundra (Ramachandra Lal) (Devanagari,रामचन्द्र लाल) (1821–1880) was a British Indian mathematician. His book, ''Treatise on Problems of Maxima and Minima'', was promoted by the prominent mathematician Augustus De Mor ...

(head master) *

Marjorie Rice Marjorie Ruth Rice (née Jeuck) (1923–2017) was an American amateur mathematician most famous for her discoveries of pentagonal tilings in geometry. Background Rice was born February 16, 1923, in St. Petersburg, Florida. Marjorie Rice was a ...

(homemaker) *

Olinde Rodrigues Benjamin Olinde Rodrigues (6 October 1795 – 17 December 1851), more commonly known as Olinde Rodrigues, was a French banker, mathematician, and social reformer. In mathematics Rodrigues is remembered for Rodrigues' rotation formula for vectors ...

(banker, social reformer) *

Lee Sallows Lee Cecil Fletcher Sallows (born April 30, 1944) is a British electronics engineer known for his contributions to recreational mathematics. He is particularly noted as the inventor of golygons, self-enumerating sentences, and geomagic squares. ...

(engineer) * Robert Schlaifer (classics scholar) *

Robert Schneider Robert Peter Schneider (born March 9, 1971) is an American musician and mathematician. He is the lead singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer of rock/pop band the Apples in Stereo and has produced and performed on albums by Neutral Milk H ...

(musician and record producer) * William Shanks (landlord) *

Abraham Sharp Abraham Sharp (1653 – 18 July 1742) was an English mathematician and astronomer. Life Sharp was born in Horton Hall in Little Horton, Bradford, the son of well-to-do merchant John Sharp and Mary (née Clarkson) Sharp and was educated at Bradf ...

(schoolmaster) *

Simon Stevin Simon Stevin (; 1548–1620), sometimes called Stevinus, was a Flemish mathematician, scientist and music theorist. He made various contributions in many areas of science and engineering, both theoretical and practical. He also translated vario ...

(merchants clerk) *

Alicia Boole Stott Alicia Boole Stott (8 June 1860 – 17 December 1940) was an Irish mathematician. Despite never holding an academic position, she made a number of valuable contributions to the field, receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Gr ...

(secretary) * Paul Tannery (tobacco factory director) *

Gaston Tarry Gaston Tarry (27 September 1843 – 21 June 1913) was a French people, French mathematician. Born in Villefranche de Rouergue, Aveyron, he studied mathematics at high school before joining the civil service in Algeria. He pursued mathematics as an ...

(civil servant) *

Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia (; 1499/1500 – 13 December 1557) was an Italian mathematician, engineer (designing fortifications), a surveyor (of topography, seeking the best means of defense or offense) and a bookkeeper from the then Republi ...

(bookkeeper) *

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 1856 – 7 January 1943 ...

(engineer, inventor) * Sébastien Truchet (monk) * Franciscus Vieta (lawyer) * Giordano Vitale (soldier) *

Walter Frank Raphael Weldon Walter Frank Raphael Weldon FRS (15 March 1860 – 13 April 1906), was an English evolutionary biologist and a founder of biometry. He was the joint founding editor of ''Biometrika'', with Francis Galton and Karl Pearson. Family Weldon was th ...

(evolutionary biologist) *

Johannes Werner Johann(es) Werner ( la, Ioannes Vernerus; February 14, 1468 – May 1522) was a German mathematician. He was born in Nuremberg, Germany, where he became a parish priest. His primary work was in astronomy, mathematics, and geography, although he ...

(parish priest) *

Caspar Wessel Caspar Wessel (8 June 1745, Vestby – 25 March 1818, Copenhagen) was a Danish– Norwegian mathematician and cartographer. In 1799, Wessel was the first person to describe the geometrical interpretation of complex numbers as points in the comp ...

(lawyer) *

Leo Wiener Leo Wiener (1862–1939) was an American historian, linguist, author and translator. Biography Wiener was born in Białystok (then in the Russian Empire), of Lithuanian Jewish origin. His father was Zalmen (Solomon) Wiener, and his mother ...

(linguist) * Frank Wilcoxon (chemist) *

Edouard Zeckendorf Edouard Zeckendorf (2 May 1901 – 16 May 1983) was a Belgian doctor, army officer and amateur mathematician. In mathematics, he is best known for his work on Fibonacci numbers and in particular for proving Zeckendorf's theorem, though he pu ...

(medical doctor)

References

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Amateur mathematicians An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, self-taught, user-generated, DIY, and hobbyist. History Hist ...