Books Famous Scientists Studied From

[Humanlimits]

Hey, I haven't seen a thread on this topic, so I figured I should start it. Hopefully others can contribute!

Srinivasa Ramanujan - SL Loney, Trigonometry & GS Carr, A Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics
SS Chern - Hall & Knight, Higher Algebra
Bernard Riemann - Legendre's Number Theory Treatise

Freeman Dyson - Georg Joos, Theoretical Physics
Richard Feynman - S Thompson, Calculus Made Easy & Woods, Advanced Calculus

 

[jedishrfu]

A popular book was Men of Mathematics by ET Bell that influenced Freeman Dyson and John Forbes Nash as children.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_of_Mathematics

 

[jasonRF]

Lars Onsager - Whittaker and Watson, A Course of Modern Analysis

 

[Humanlimits]

Richard Feynman - S Thompson, Calculus Made Easy & Woods, Advanced Calculus

In my original post, I made a mistake. I believe Feynman first learned calculus from J E Thompson, Calculus For The Practical Man, not S Thompson, Calculus Made Easy. He then moved onto Woods, Advanced Calculus.

 

[jedishrfu]

Many folks were influenced by Lancelot Hogben's Mathematics for the Million: How to Master the Magic of Numbers (1936) book.

and some future mathematicians by Jan Gullberg's book: Mathematics from the Birth of Numbers

and when I was a kid the Instant Math book by the Cutler's on Trachtenberg Math system really got me fascinated with numbers. It was just magic.