Jewry's Role in Human Affairs MATHEMATICS: A JEWISH LEGACY d sin (x-1-0 — cos (x+0 The influence of Jewish mathematicians on scientific progress has been long standing. As early as about 150 C.E., Rabbi Nehemiah was believed to have written The Treatise of Measures, an enduring work whose mathematical theories and systems helped in stimulating scientific speculations and gains until Medieval times. But it was the remarkable 12th Century achievement of the almost legendary Abraham ibn Ezra to whom a singular honor goes. He led several Spanish Jewish colleagues in bringing Arabic numerals, the decimal system and the use of the zero (all originating in India) to Christian culture. The event was a milestone in the history of Western civilization. More recently, the mantle of mathematical distinction has been passed on to those like Nikolay Ivanovich Lobachevsky (1792-1856), the Russian-born founder of non-Euclidean geometry. He was said to be the most outstanding mathematician his country ever produced. And within a short lifespan, the German professor Karl Gustav Jacobi (1804-51) proposed a wealth of significant mathematical theories filling seven volumes published by the Prussian Academy of Science. In addition, the British professor of mathematics James Joseph Sylvester (1814-97) did brilliant work on the theory of numbers and created a powerful and inventive theory of algebraic forms before his appointment to Johns Hopkins University in the U.S. (1876). While there, he spoke out eloquently for higher mathematics education in colleges and universities, and founded and edited the American Journal of Mathematics. Equally notable was F.G.M. Eisenstein (1823-54) whose work in algebra and in the theory of numbers was hailed by fellow German Carl Gauss, considered by many as among the greatest modern mathematicians who ever lived. "He belongs to those talents who are born but once in a century," Gauss wrote of Eisenstein. What's more, Albert Einstein owes a debt of gratitude to several pre-eminent contemporaries: to Russian Hermann Minkowski (1864-1909), his former teacher and developer of the space-time description Einstein applied to his theory of relativity, and to Italian Tullio Levi-Civita (1873-1941) whose tensor analysis was a master key to formulating the theory. Although it may sound abstruse, the revolutionary theory of sets and concepts of the infinite advanced by Georg Cantor (1845-1918) brought a new mode of thinking and reasoning into the discipline. A leading mathematical philosopher of his day, Bertrand Russell, wrote of the German professor: "In mathematics, my chief obligations, as is indeed evident, are to Georg Cantor..." - Saul Stadtmauer COMMISSION FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF JEWISH HISTORY Walter & Lea Field, Founders/Sponsors Irwin S. Field & Harriet F. Siden, Chairpersons Visit many more notable Jews at our website: www.dorledor.org BUY DIRECT & SA E. ..EVERYDAY! 40-60%0 F F EYEGLASSES THOUSANDS OF FRAMES TO CHOOSE FROM EYEGLASSES WITH NO-LINE PROGRESSIVE BIFOCALS _ COMPLETE - INCLUDES FRAME & SCRATCH RESISTANT, UV PROTECTED LENSES FARMINGTON HILLS 29401 ORCHARD LAKE RD. (SOUTHWEST CORNER OF 13 MILE & ORCHARD LAKE RD. BETWEEN BUGGY WORKS RESTAURANT & BRUEGGER'S BAGELS ) 1/19 2001 = (248) S 53-8270 Visit our website at: www.directoptical.com T DISPOSABLE CONTACT LENSES BAUSCH 8: LOMB J &J ACLTUE I13 FRESHLOOKS COMMIT - INCLUDES EYE EXAM, 3 MONTHS TO I YR. SUPPLY OF LENSES, CARE KIT WITH SOLUTIONS & ALL FOLLOW UP APPOINTMENTS $ 1 1 If you have ANY questions regarding your optical needs call Dennis toll free at.... c I –877-9–EYE BUY e-mail us at: directopt@earthlink.net No games....simply the best value in eyeglasses & contact lenses today!! Death By Dictate Palestinian executions of "collaborators" put spotlight on Israeli assassination policy. LARRY DERFNER Israel Correspondent Jerusalem he condemnations came in fast, chiefly from Israeli officials and international human rights organizations, after two Palestinian collaborators were killed over the weekend by Palestinian firing squads. The instant trials and executions that followed were "remis- cent of darker periods in history," said Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Yet there was another side to the executions — the collaborators were killed for aiding Israel in its assassina- tions of Palestinian guerrillas. Palestinian Justice Minister Freih Abu Medein was quoted as saying, "The one who executed the collabora- tors is Israel. It forced us to take this step because of the assassinations ordered by Barak and [Israeli Army commander Gen. Shaul] Mofaz." These were the Palestinian Authority's first two executions of col- laborators, although two more were sentenced to death on Saturday. Israel has assassinated "at least 15 Palestinians," said Tomer Feffer, spokesman for the Israeli human rights organization B'tselem. Of these 15, Feffer said nine were military targets while six were innocent bystanders — known in the war trade as "collateral damage." Barak, Mofaz and other political and military leaders have defended the assassinations as a legitimate tactic in the face of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, which effectively is a guerrilla war. The assas- sinations, which began on Nov. 9, were adopted when the Israeli response up to then- — shooting at Arab rioters and gunmen — was proving ineffec- tive and also getting Israel awful inter- national media coverage, which showed Palestinian children being car- ried dead off the battlefield.