MATHEMATICIAN

William Shanks

1812 - 1882

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William Shanks (25 January 1812 – June 1882) was an English amateur mathematician. He is famous for his calculation of π to 707 places in 1873, which was correct up to the first 527 places. The error was discovered in 1944 by D. F. Ferguson (using a mechanical desk calculator). Nevertheless, Shanks's approximation was the longest expansion of π until the advent of the digital electronic computer in the 1940s. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. William Shanks is the 842nd most popular mathematician (up from 864th in 2019), the 4,505th most popular biography from United Kingdom (up from 4,544th in 2019) and the 90th most popular British Mathematician.

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Among MATHEMATICIANS

Among mathematicians, William Shanks ranks 842 out of 1,004. Before him are Harish-Chandra, Marina Ratner, Erich Kähler, Francesco Severi, Wolfgang Krull, and Boris Galerkin. After him are Grigore Moisil, Stanislav Smirnov, Erich Hecke, Laurent Lafforgue, Nikolai Bugaev, and Dmitri Anosov.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1812, William Shanks ranks 72. Before him are Yevhen Hrebinka, Aleardo Aleardi, Nicolae Crețulescu, Bertalan Szemere, Carl Edvard Rotwitt, and Anna Louisa Geertruida Bosboom-Toussaint. After him are Dragojla Jarnević, Lady Charlotte Guest, George Grey, and John B. Weller. Among people deceased in 1882, William Shanks ranks 74. Before him are James Spriggs Payne, Charles Wyville Thomson, Theodor Ludwig Wilhelm von Bischoff, Ion Andreescu, William Harrison Ainsworth, and William Barton Rogers. After him are George Perkins Marsh, Joaquim Manuel de Macedo, Francisco Javier Zaldúa, Hablot Knight Browne, Francis Maitland Balfour, and Milton Latham.

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In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, William Shanks ranks 4,506 out of 8,785. Before him are Cynthia Erivo (1987), John Roebuck (1718), Gilbert White (1720), Nicholas Grimshaw (1939), Albert Lee (1943), and Alice Greene (1879). After him are Kelly Macdonald (1976), Alan A'Court (1934), John Gardner Wilkinson (1797), George Coulouris (1903), Nicholas Hawksmoor (1661), and Dominic Cooper (1978).

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Among MATHEMATICIANS In United Kingdom

Among mathematicians born in United Kingdom, William Shanks ranks 90. Before him are E. T. Whittaker (1873), Frank Morley (1860), David Gregory (1659), Horace Lamb (1849), Mary Everest Boole (1832), and William Henry Young (1863). After him are Joseph Wedderburn (1882), Richard Taylor (1962), Richard K. Guy (1916), I. J. Good (1916), James Whitbread Lee Glaisher (1848), and Philip Hall (1904).

British born Mathematicians

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