The Most Famous
MATHEMATICIANS from South Africa
This page contains a list of the greatest South African Mathematicians. The pantheon dataset contains 1,004 Mathematicians, 4 of which were born in South Africa. This makes South Africa the birth place of the 32nd most number of Mathematicians behind Iraq, and Croatia.
Top 5
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary South African Mathematicians of all time. This list of famous South African Mathematicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Seymour Papert (1928 - 2016)
With an HPI of 58.94, Seymour Papert is the most famous South African Mathematician. His biography has been translated into 35 different languages on wikipedia.
Seymour Aubrey Papert (; 29 February 1928 – 31 July 2016) was a South African-born American mathematician, computer scientist, and educator, who spent most of his career teaching and researching at MIT. He was one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence, and of the constructionist movement in education. He was co-inventor, with Wally Feurzeig and Cynthia Solomon, of the Logo programming language.
2. Claude Chevalley (1909 - 1984)
With an HPI of 49.78, Claude Chevalley is the 2nd most famous South African Mathematician. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Claude Chevalley (French: [ʃəvalɛ]; 11 February 1909 – 28 June 1984) was a French mathematician who made important contributions to number theory, algebraic geometry, class field theory, finite group theory and the theory of algebraic groups. He was a founding member of the Bourbaki group.
3. Richard Borcherds (b. 1959)
With an HPI of 43.36, Richard Borcherds is the 3rd most famous South African Mathematician. His biography has been translated into 32 different languages.
Richard Ewen Borcherds (; born 29 November 1959) is a British mathematician currently working in quantum field theory. He is known for his work in lattices, group theory, and infinite-dimensional algebras, for which he was awarded the Fields Medal in 1998.
4. Peter Sarnak (b. 1953)
With an HPI of 39.74, Peter Sarnak is the 4th most famous South African Mathematician. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.
Peter Clive Sarnak (born 18 December 1953) is a South African-born mathematician with dual South-African and American nationalities. Sarnak has been a member of the permanent faculty of the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study since 2007. He is also Eugene Higgins Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University since 2002, succeeding Sir Andrew Wiles, and is an editor of the Annals of Mathematics. He is known for his work in analytic number theory. He also sits on the Board of Adjudicators and the selection committee for the Mathematics award, given under the auspices of the Shaw Prize.
5. Stanley Skewes (1899 - 1988)
With an HPI of 38.31, Stanley Skewes is the 5th most famous South African Mathematician. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
Stanley Skewes (; 1899–1988) was a South African mathematician, best known for his discovery of the Skewes's number in 1933. He was one of John Edensor Littlewood's students at Cambridge University. Skewes's numbers contributed to the refinement of the theory of prime numbers.
People
Pantheon has 5 people classified as South African mathematicians born between 1899 and 1959. Of these 5, 2 (40.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living South African mathematicians include Richard Borcherds, and Peter Sarnak. The most famous deceased South African mathematicians include Seymour Papert, Claude Chevalley, and Stanley Skewes. As of April 2024, 1 new South African mathematicians have been added to Pantheon including Stanley Skewes.
Living South African Mathematicians
Go to all RankingsDeceased South African Mathematicians
Go to all Rankings
Seymour Papert
1928 - 2016
HPI: 58.94
Claude Chevalley
1909 - 1984
HPI: 49.78
Stanley Skewes
1899 - 1988
HPI: 38.31
Newly Added South African Mathematicians (2024)
Go to all RankingsOverlapping Lives
Which Mathematicians were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 3 most globally memorable Mathematicians since 1700.
