Who are the most badass mathematicians or scientists

I give you Janos Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician

one of the 3 discoverers of Non-Euclidean Geometry (others are Lobachevsky and Gauss)


He was also an incredible swordman, possibly one of the best in the Hungarian army at the time, if not the best


"It is related of him that he was challenged by thirteen officers of his garrison, a thing not unlikely to happen considering how differently he thought from everyone else. He fought them all in succession – making it his only condition that he should be allowed to play on his violin for an interval between meeting each opponent. He disarmed or wounded all his antagonists. It can be easily imagined that a temperament such as his was not one congenial to his military superiors. He was retired in 1833.[4]"

Seems like a badass dude

the violin part even makes him more badass

Yeh dude seems like a real life movie character

According to the popular account given by Plutarch, Archimedes was contemplating a mathematical diagram when the city was captured. A Roman soldier commanded him to come and meet General Marcellus but he declined, saying that he had to finish working on the problem. The soldier was enraged by this, and killed Archimedes with his sword. The last words attributed to Archimedes are "Do not disturb my circles", a reference to the circles in the mathematical drawing that he was supposedly studying when disturbed by the Roman soldier.

I remember when I heard this first time.

Archimedes was such a genius. He didnt give a shit about human happiness and suffering; just science (like any true scientist). But he was very good at tricking people to grant him money for his crazy research. Like he was studying lenses one time, and he said to some sovereign that "hey king if u give me money for my lens shit then we can burn ships with it" and the king did and archimedes knew all along that it wouldnt burn ships

Evariste Galois.

Made more contributions to math in his teens than anyone else in history.

Was a revolutionary who died in a duel at age 20.

James Harris Simons. Guy made a significant contribution that led to string theory and is also probably the richest mathematician who ever lived via hedge funds? Hell yeah.

he also has a giant Yacht named "Archimedes"

That kid that became a mathematics professor when he was 25 at Berkeley.

Meant to add: Unfortunately he chose another life path.

who is that?

oh shit are you talking about...

Are you not entertained?

is he still the youngest full math professor in US history?

I heard he blew away the competition.

died in a dual.

Math...not even once

was Galois even that good of a mathematician or is he just famous for dying in a duel early?

how do i via hedge funds?

Abel > Galois
Fite me

He invented Galois theory (duh) and the fundamentals of group theory

I think it was Bertrand Russel who said the manuscript he wrote the night before the duel, when he thought he was going to lose, was "the single most important document in human history"

At the age of 20

Yet he was breddy gud

He didn't have much volume compared to most others, but the fact that he pioneered modern algebra in his teens and then died makes people pine for what might have been if he had a real career

George Green is to me the best example of how having neither time or access doesn't hinder mathematical talent.

He attended university in his 30s with no prior background in mathematics other than possibly 1 year of public schooling at most, which may not have even gone into the topic.

He worked most of his life maintaining a windmill since he was 6 due to his dad. almost 23 hour maintenance mind you. not a lot of time trying to think about math and shit.

one day the dad croaks and due to him being gentry with his amassed land, he inherit a lot of money. he spends the rest of his days thinking about mathematics.

now here is where shit gets wild.

in the time between his abandomnent of the windmill job and going to actual school, this nigga not only learns the mathematical constructs of Laplace, Lacroix and Poisson but he IMPROVES them. and what makes shit more unsettling, this mofo fucking did it when this wasn't even being taught at CAMBRIDGE, let alone nottingham.

it just allures me. where did he get that knowledge. did he go to a library at one point? did he pull a Ramanujan on a hundred years worth of mathematics? i have so many questions for him. i relate because im an old guy trying to go to university for mathematics.

This guy is BASED. Thanks for teaching me about him. But 30s is still young. Sometimes people have to work and shit.

i don't know i just think it's awkward being around people who are 18 talking about how they're old around 16 year olds. i guess it's just insecurity on my part.

Dude, I am nearly 30 and taking courses with 18-19 year olds. I don't care. I want to learn. People have different life experiences. I'm actually acing my difficult courses too.