Mathematician:Bernhard Placidus Johann Nepomuk Bolzano

Mathematician
Bohemian priest who was also a mathematician, logician, theologian and philosopher.

A major precursor of the wave of development of analysis in the late $19$th century.

Proved the Bolzano-Weierstrass Theorem, independently of (and earlier than).

Gave the first analytical proof of the Intermediate Value Theorem (which is also known as Bolzano's Theorem).

Nationality
Bohemian

History

 * Born: 5 Oct 1781 in Prague, Bohemia, Austrian Habsburg domain (now Czech Republic)
 * 1791 to 1796: Attended Piarist Gymnasium in Prague
 * 1796: Entered faculty of Philosophy at Charles University of Prague, studying philosophy, physics and mathematics
 * 1799 to 1800: undertook research in mathematics with
 * 1800: Began three years of theological study at Charles University, at the same time preparing a doctoral thesis in geometry
 * 1804: Received doctorate in mathematics and ordained as a Roman Catholic priest
 * 1807: Granted a chair at University of Prague in the philosophy of religion
 * 1815: Elected to the Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences
 * 1816: Charges brought against him at the court of Vienna
 * 1818: Elected Dean of Faculty of Philosophy at Charles University
 * December 1819: Dismissed from his position, placed under house arrest and forbidden to publish.
 * 1821 to 1825: Tried by the Church, required to recant his supposed heresies
 * 1823 to 1830: Lived during the summer near Techobuz, with his friends Josef and Anna Hoffmann; during the winter lived in Prague with his brother Johann
 * 1830 to 1841: Lived throughout the year with the Hoffmanns
 * 1841: Move with the Hoffmanns to Prague, became active in Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences
 * 1842 to 1843: President of Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences
 * Died: 18 Dec 1848 in Prague, Bohemia (now Czech Republic)

Theorems and Definitions

 * Intermediate Value Theorem, also known as Bolzano's Theorem
 * Bolzano-Weierstrass Theorem (independently of )

Books and Papers

 * 1810: Beyträge zu einer begründeteren Darstellung der Mathematik. Erste Lieferung
 * 1816: Der binomische Lehrsatz
 * 1816: On the Condition of the Two Nationalities in Bohemia
 * 1817: Rein analytischer Beweis (Pure Analytical Proof)
 * 1837: Wissenschaftslehre (Theory of Science)
 * 1851: (The Paradoxes of the Infinite) (contains the first instance in mathematical literature of the term Set)

Also known as
Some sources render his name as Bernard Bolzano.

Critical View

 * Weierstrass and Bolzano march arm-in-arm together through the history of mathematics, but not nearly enough seems to be known about Bolzano.
 * -- : ($1992$)