Timeline for What are examples of mathematical concepts named after the wrong people? (Stigler's law)
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
89 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jul 22 at 8:21 | review | Close votes | |||
| Jul 22 at 18:09 | |||||
| Jun 11 at 20:16 | comment | added | Michael Hardy | . . . and the state of Michigan interfaces with all of the Great Lakes except Lake Ontario, and the province of Ontario interfaces with all of the Great Lakes except Lake Michigan. | |
| Jun 11 at 19:30 | answer | added | Michael Hardy | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jun 11 at 18:15 | comment | added | Michael Hardy | @DanielAsimov : Instead of naming them for what they prove, how about naming them for what they can be used for? | |
| Nov 23, 2023 at 5:20 | answer | added | Timothy Chow | timeline score: 1 | |
| Nov 23, 2023 at 4:10 | comment | added | Daniel Asimov | If I had my druthers, all theorems would be named mnemonically for what they prove, and their actual histories would be stored in a readily accessible historical file. | |
| Nov 23, 2023 at 2:31 | answer | added | Daniel Asimov | timeline score: 0 | |
| Sep 26, 2023 at 14:48 | answer | added | Abhiram Natarajan | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jun 25, 2023 at 6:26 | answer | added | Maddy | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jun 21, 2023 at 15:34 | answer | added | Konstantinos Gaitanas | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jun 20, 2023 at 22:57 | review | Close votes | |||
| Jun 21, 2023 at 13:15 | |||||
| Jun 20, 2023 at 16:53 | answer | added | Michael Hardy | timeline score: 1 | |
| Apr 22, 2023 at 3:51 | answer | added | Gerry Myerson | timeline score: 3 | |
| Apr 21, 2023 at 17:34 | answer | added | user234212323 | timeline score: 4 | |
| Apr 21, 2023 at 9:39 | answer | added | Hollis Williams | timeline score: 1 | |
| Oct 24, 2022 at 3:47 | answer | added | Michael Hardy | timeline score: 1 | |
| Aug 20, 2022 at 16:32 | answer | added | Mozibur Ullah | timeline score: 1 | |
| Aug 20, 2022 at 16:04 | history | reopened |
Joel David Hamkins Alexey Ustinov Friedrich Knop Guntram M.G. |
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| Aug 14, 2022 at 8:41 | history | edited | Martin Sleziak | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
http -> https (the question was bumped anyway)
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| Aug 12, 2022 at 21:17 | review | Reopen votes | |||
| Aug 20, 2022 at 16:07 | |||||
| Aug 12, 2022 at 20:26 | comment | added | Denis Serre | Often, this French rule is at work: "On ne prête qu'aux riches." | |
| Oct 17, 2013 at 17:48 | comment | added | Andrés E. Caicedo | Here is another example. I'm quoting from page 204 of Arnie Miller's Special subsets of the real line, Chapter 5 of the Handbook of set-theoretic topology: "In 1914 Luzin constructed, using the continuum hypothesis, an uncountable set of reals having countable intersection with every meager set. The same construction had been published in 1913 by Mahlo. But (as is not unusual in mathematics) such a set has become universally known as a Luzin set." | |
| Sep 11, 2013 at 13:04 | review | Reopen votes | |||
| Sep 11, 2013 at 13:06 | |||||
| Jul 9, 2011 at 3:12 | history | closed |
Kevin H. Lin user9072 Qiaochu Yuan Zev Chonoles Gjergji Zaimi |
no longer relevant | |
| Jul 9, 2011 at 2:21 | answer | added | Adam Azzam | timeline score: 4 | |
| Jul 8, 2011 at 21:08 | answer | added | Yougeeaw | timeline score: -1 | |
| May 7, 2011 at 20:49 | comment | added | Ignas | The Arnold Principle. If a notion bears a personal name, then this name is not the name of the discoverer. The Berry Principle. The Arnold Principle is applicable to itself. pauli.uni-muenster.de/~munsteg/arnold.html | |
| Jan 19, 2011 at 7:04 | answer | added | T.B. | timeline score: 5 | |
| Jan 18, 2011 at 22:35 | answer | added | Mark Bennet | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jan 18, 2011 at 21:36 | answer | added | AppliedSide | timeline score: 3 | |
| Jan 18, 2011 at 20:06 | answer | added | smci | timeline score: 1 | |
| Nov 8, 2010 at 2:19 | answer | added | Steven Landsburg | timeline score: 15 | |
| Nov 8, 2010 at 1:57 | answer | added | Jeffrey Shallit | timeline score: 4 | |
| Oct 19, 2010 at 0:24 | answer | added | Richard Stanley | timeline score: 17 | |
| Oct 18, 2010 at 23:09 | answer | added | Stines | timeline score: 24 | |
| Oct 18, 2010 at 21:43 | answer | added | gowers | timeline score: 9 | |
| Oct 15, 2010 at 0:33 | answer | added | Jeff Norden | timeline score: 5 | |
| Oct 14, 2010 at 18:14 | answer | added | Barry | timeline score: 4 | |
| Oct 14, 2010 at 16:18 | answer | added | Bernikov | timeline score: 1 | |
| Oct 14, 2010 at 15:49 | answer | added | RJK | timeline score: 14 | |
| Oct 13, 2010 at 21:00 | comment | added | The Mathemagician | Very good historical notes,KC. | |
| Oct 13, 2010 at 20:54 | answer | added | gowers | timeline score: 1 | |
| Oct 13, 2010 at 20:35 | answer | added | Andrew D. King | timeline score: 9 | |
| Oct 13, 2010 at 20:05 | answer | added | Nate Eldredge | timeline score: 12 | |
| Sep 8, 2010 at 17:12 | comment | added | KConrad | Stigler's law is called Boyer's Law by H.C. Kennedy in "Who Discovered Boyer's Law?" (Amer. Math. Monthly vol. 79 1972, 66--67). It says that "Mathematical formulas and theorems are usually not named after their original discoverers." The label Boyer's law was chosen because Boyer gave many examples of this phenomenon in his book A History of Mathematics. | |
| Aug 7, 2010 at 14:45 | answer | added | Carl Mummert | timeline score: 8 | |
| Aug 7, 2010 at 14:29 | answer | added | Jim Humphreys | timeline score: 5 | |
| Aug 7, 2010 at 14:25 | comment | added | Richard Borcherds | According to Wikipedia' s article on Stigler's law, "Stigler attributes its discovery to sociologist Robert K. Merton" | |
| Aug 7, 2010 at 13:40 | answer | added | Thierry Zell | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jun 29, 2010 at 2:25 | answer | added | Faisal | timeline score: 9 | |
| Jun 29, 2010 at 1:19 | answer | added | David Nacin | timeline score: 9 | |
| Jun 28, 2010 at 14:52 | answer | added | Péter Komjáth | timeline score: 11 | |
| May 23, 2010 at 17:53 | answer | added | Scott Guthery | timeline score: 14 | |
| May 21, 2010 at 4:42 | answer | added | Pierre-Yves Gaillard | timeline score: 1 | |
| May 16, 2010 at 18:53 | answer | added | Scott Guthery | timeline score: 9 | |
| May 15, 2010 at 14:58 | answer | added | Unknown | timeline score: 6 | |
| May 13, 2010 at 1:43 | answer | added | David Hansen | timeline score: -1 | |
| May 12, 2010 at 21:01 | answer | added | José Hdz. Stgo. | timeline score: 3 | |
| May 11, 2010 at 22:00 | answer | added | Kevin O'Bryant | timeline score: 5 | |
| May 11, 2010 at 10:25 | answer | added | the L | timeline score: 6 | |
| May 11, 2010 at 9:55 | answer | added | KP Hart | timeline score: 23 | |
| May 11, 2010 at 4:14 | answer | added | Michael Thaddeus | timeline score: 26 | |
| May 11, 2010 at 2:02 | answer | added | Ilya Grigoriev | timeline score: 6 | |
| May 11, 2010 at 1:16 | answer | added | Martina Balagovic | timeline score: 20 | |
| May 11, 2010 at 1:10 | comment | added | Cam McLeman | Not that I have a problem with the question per se, but "the wrong people" is pretty ambiguous. The first person to study something might not be the most deserving -- often a crucial application or popularizations trumps the actual innovation. Nor is it necessarily the case that the intent of the naming was to honor the inventor -- frequently the naming is done for reasons of analogy ("Euler systems" come to mind). | |
| May 10, 2010 at 23:09 | comment | added | Martin Brandenburg | Oh gosh, I could not imagine that there are SO many wrong names. Perhaps some day there will be a big important Brandenburg theorem, of course just because another one has proven it. ;-) | |
| May 10, 2010 at 23:00 | answer | added | Martin Brandenburg | timeline score: 15 | |
| May 10, 2010 at 22:19 | answer | added | Dave | timeline score: 29 | |
| May 10, 2010 at 21:52 | answer | added | bhwang | timeline score: 10 | |
| May 10, 2010 at 21:38 | comment | added | bhwang | To further complicate things, there is also Whitehead's law: "Everything of importance has been said before by someone who did not discover it." | |
| May 10, 2010 at 21:31 | answer | added | J.C. Ottem | timeline score: 21 | |
| May 10, 2010 at 21:31 | answer | added | KConrad | timeline score: 22 | |
| May 10, 2010 at 21:29 | answer | added | bhwang | timeline score: 23 | |
| May 10, 2010 at 21:27 | answer | added | Konrad Waldorf | timeline score: 5 | |
| May 10, 2010 at 21:16 | answer | added | Igor Pak | timeline score: 22 | |
| May 10, 2010 at 21:03 | answer | added | Matthew Daws | timeline score: 8 | |
| May 10, 2010 at 21:01 | answer | added | Nurdin Takenov | timeline score: 8 | |
| May 10, 2010 at 20:43 | answer | added | Jonathan Sparling | timeline score: 6 | |
| May 10, 2010 at 20:29 | answer | added | Thomas Sauvaget | timeline score: 5 | |
| May 10, 2010 at 20:24 | comment | added | pasquale zito | By the way, in the mathematical community "Stiegler's law" is often referred to as "Arnol'd's law", inclusive of the corollary "Arnol'd's law applies to Arnol'd's law as well". | |
| May 10, 2010 at 20:14 | answer | added | James | timeline score: 9 | |
| May 10, 2010 at 20:11 | answer | added | Nate Eldredge | timeline score: 31 | |
| May 10, 2010 at 20:08 | answer | added | Harrison Brown | timeline score: 1 | |
| May 10, 2010 at 20:06 | answer | added | Tom Smith | timeline score: 3 | |
| May 10, 2010 at 19:52 | answer | added | Ed Gorcenski | timeline score: 12 | |
| May 10, 2010 at 19:42 | answer | added | VA. | timeline score: 13 | |
| May 10, 2010 at 19:18 | answer | added | Andrea Ferretti | timeline score: 8 | |
| May 10, 2010 at 19:15 | history | edited | Qiaochu Yuan | CC BY-SA 2.5 |
added 42 characters in body
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| May 10, 2010 at 19:08 | history | asked | Qiaochu Yuan | CC BY-SA 2.5 |