ProofWiki:Mathematicians/Bernhard Placidus Johann Nepomuk Bolzano

Bohemian mathematician, logician, theologian and philosopher.

• Proved the Bolzano-Weierstrass Theorem, independently of (and earlier than) Karl Weierstrass.
• Gave the first analytical proof of the Intermediate Value Theorem (which is also known as Bolzano's Theorem).

Nationality

Bohemian

History

• Born: 5 Oct 1781, Prague, Bohemia, Austrian Habsburg domain (now Czech Republic)
• Died: 18 Dec 1848, Prague, Bohemia (now Czech Republic)

Theorems and Definitions

• Intermediate Value Theorem
• Bolzano-Weierstrass Theorem

Books and Papers

• 1810: Beyträge zu einer begründeteren Darstellung der Mathematik. Erste Lieferung
• 1816: Der binomische Lehrsatz ...
• 1816: On the Condition of the Two Nationalities in Bohemia
• 1817: Rein analytischer Beweis ... (Pure Analytical Proof)
• 1837: Wissenschaftslehre (Theory of Science)
• 1851: Paradoxien des Unendlichen (The Paradoxes of the Infinite) (contains the first instance in mathematical literature of the term Set)

Also see

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Bernhard Placidus Johann Nepomuk Bolzano": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive