Which Mathematician Was Born on Your Birthday?

Looking for a fun extra credit math project? This website tells you which mathematician was born on your birthday! Makes a fun link between math and history and a fun way for students to gain some extra credit in math.

When I first started teaching and was more willing to grant extra credit assignments to students who asked for them, one of my favorite go-to sites was Mathematician's birthdays throughout the year from the University of St Andrews in Scotland.


Students click on their birthday and up comes a mathematician who was born on the same day! There's often more than one. 


The assignment I'd give students was to research and write a 1-page paper on a mathematician born on their birthday. Because not all mathematicians are as well known as Pythagoras, researching their birthday twin was a fun way to bring a little history into math.


More mathematician reading:

> Over the past few months, math teacher Megan McLean has been collecting stories on her Instagram account of mathematicians who we may not yet know about and who are no less important that Euler, Newton, Pythagoras or Gauss. 

Mathematicians look like all of us project

In her guest post. Mathematicians Look Like All of Us, Megan links us to where we can all learn more about mathematicians from all over the world. 


Find a mathematician who was born on your birthday here.

11 comments:

  1. Do they reference women mathematicians?

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    1. That's a good question. I am not sure.

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    2. AnonymousJuly 10, 2021

      I found a few.

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  2. I also wonder if it references Black Mathematicians and other Mathematicians of color.

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    1. Good question. I am not sure. I would hope so.

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  3. If you go to the site, there is a special tab for female and black mathematicians.

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  4. Check out www.musicnotesonline.com to see a music video about Black Mathematicians! My 8th graders really enjoyed it!

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    1. I love their stuff, especially their multiplication raps!

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  5. What about 2 / 2 ? Anyone know who ?

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  6. Based on a comment above, I checked other links on the mathematicians born on your birthday. Here’s a link with several female mathematicians.
    https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/category-women/

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  7. AnonymousMay 09, 2023

    my date of birth is 08th September...

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