Who did the first original mathematical work in Europe once
that region emerged from the dark ages?  And a more precise
question: what was the first new theorem to be proved?

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Request for Question Clarification by mathtalk-ga on 16 Aug 2004 18:23 PDT

Hi, bugbear-ga:

Does the scope of your question include results by Jewish and Islamic
scholars in Moorish Spain during the 11th and 12th centuries?

I was able find a "new" theorem attributed to a mathematician in this milieu.

regards, mathtalk-ga

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Clarification of Question by bugbear-ga on 19 Aug 2004 05:50 PDT

I'm interested in christian Europe, but results by Jews who
happened to be living in christian Europe would count.

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Request for Question Clarification by mathtalk-ga on 20 Aug 2004 05:42 PDT

One more quibble -- Constantinople.  It has "one foot in Europe" and
was held by the (Eastern Orthodox/Greek) Christian Byzantine rule
until the 15th century (apart from being sacked in 1204 by the
"Catholic" Fourth Crusade).  Without minimizing the contributions of
Islamic scholars to preserving and extending the mathematics of
ancient Greece, the Greeks themselves had a hand in this.

So, are you interested in Byzantine mathematical work after 1000AD?

regards, mathtlk-ga

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Clarification of Question by bugbear-ga on 20 Aug 2004 07:37 PDT

No, I'm interested in northern Europe's recovery from the
dark ages.  Byzantium doesn't count.

Here's a sampling of mathematicians DURING the "dark ages":

http://library.thinkquest.org/27694/Darkages.htm?tqskip1=1

Adelard of Bath is responsible for translating Euclid and al-Khwarizmi
to Latin in the twelth century.  Fibonacci is the European "post dark
ages" to add new theory to math.


Here is a good timeline:
http://lahabra.seniorhigh.net/pages/teachers/pages/math/timeline/MmiddleAges.html



Bio on Fibonacci
http://viva.lib.virginia.edu/science/parshall/fibonacc.html

Another timeline here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_mathematics

confirms the early date of Fibonacci:

[Biography of Leonardo Fibonacci]
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/science/parshall/fibonacc.html

An English contemporary of Fibonacci, Robert Grosseteste, should
perhaps be accorded a competing nod:

[Bishop Robert Grosseteste - a short biography]
http://www.lincolnshire-web.co.uk/lincolnshire-illustrious/bishop_grosseteste.htm

The better known Roger Bacon was a student of Grosseteste, and it
would appear that in this case there was a great deal of influence:

[Grosseteste and Bacon]
http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1153.htm

Grosseteste was both a Catholic bishop and a magister scholarum of the
University of Oxford, and was influential both in promoting a
geometrical analysis to problems in optics and authoring Latin
translations of Greek and Arabic works.

[A brief history of optics]
http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Sciences/Physics/Optics/briefhistory/briefhistory.htm

Something of the mathematical flavor of his analysis is apparent in
this English translation of his most famous work:

[Robert Grosseteste - De Luce (On Light)]
(translated by Clare C. Riedl)
http://www.colorado.edu/StudentGroups/lcm/lunch/deluce.html

regards, mathtalk-ga