1781-1848

Czech philosopher, mathematician, and theologian who worked to develop theories of mathematical infinities. Bolzano was an ordained Roman Catholic priest as well as a mathematician. In addition to his work in mathematics, he taught and wrote philosophical and political works, many of them banned by his government. He independently defined what is now called the Cauchy sequence, while his other work anticipated Georg Cantor's theory of infinite sets. Unfortunately, much of his work remained unpublished until after his death and went unrecognized during his lifetime.