Mathematician:Frank Nelson Cole

Mathematician

American mathematician famous for finding the factors of the Mersenne number $M_{67}$. (It had already been demonstrated by Édouard Lucas in $1876$ that it is not prime, but till this time the factors had not been found.)

Cole's demonstration of this in $1903$ took the form of a now famous lecture On The Factorization of Large Numbers in which he performed the necessary arithmetic on a blackboard, delivering the only totally wordless lecture in recorded history.

The American Mathematical Society's Cole Prize was named in his honor.

Nationality

American

History

• Born: September 20, 1861
• Died: May 26, 1926

Theorems and Definitions

• Factors of Mersenne Number M67

Publications

• 1890: The linear functions of a complex variable
• 1892: The Diurnal Variation of Barometric Pressure
• 1892: The theory of substitutions and its applications to algebra
• 1903: On The Factorization of Large Numbers (lecture)
• 1913: The triad systems of thirteen letters

Notable Quotes

Three years of Sundays.

Sources

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Frank Nelson Cole": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive

• 1992: George F. Simmons: Calculus Gems ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {A}.12$: Mersenne ($\text {1588}$ – $\text {1648}$)