List of amateur mathematicians

This is a list of amateur mathematicians—people whose primary vocation did not involve mathematics (or any similar discipline) yet made notable, and sometimes important, contributions to the field of mathematics.

• Ahmes (scribe)
• Robert Ammann (programmer and postal worker)
• John Arbuthnot (surgeon and author)
• Jean-Robert Argand (shopkeeper)
• Leon Bankoff (Beverly Hills dentist)
• Rev. Thomas Bayes (Presbyterian minister)
• Andrew Beal (businessman)
• Friedrich Bessel (accountant)
• Bernard Frénicle de Bessy (Counsellor, Cour des monnaies)
• Chester Ittner Bliss (biologist)
• Napoléon Bonaparte (general)
• George Boole (primary school teacher)
• Mary Everest Boole (homemaker, librarian)
• William Bourne (innkeeper)
• Nathaniel Bowditch (indentured bookkeeper)
• Achille Brocot (clockmaker)
• Harlan J. Brothers (teacher, inventor, and musician)
• Jost Bürgi (clockmaker)
• Marvin Ray Burns (veteran)
• Gerolamo Cardano (medical doctor)
• D. G. Champernowne (college student)
• Thomas Clausen (technical assistant)
• Sir James Cockle (judge)
• Federico Commandino (medical doctor)
• William Crabtree (merchant)
• Nathan Daboll (cooper)
• Felix Delastelle (bonded warehouseman)
• Martin Demaine (goldsmith and glass artist)
• Humphry Ditton (minister)
• K. Eric Drexler (engineer)
• Harvey Dubner (engineer)
• Henry Dudeney (civil servant)
• Albrecht Dürer (painter)
• M. C. Escher (graphic artist)
• John Ernest (painter)
• Pasquale Joseph Federico (patent attorney)
• Pierre de Fermat (lawyer)
• Sarah Flannery (high school student)
• Reo Fortune (anthropologist)
• John G.F. Francis (research assistant)
• Benjamin Franklin (printer and diplomat)
• Bernard Frénicle de Bessy (counsellor)
• Gemma Frisius (medical doctor)
• Britney Gallivan (high school student)
• James Garfield (United States President)
• Antoine Gombaud (essayist)
• Thorold Gosset (lawyer)
• Jørgen Pedersen Gram (actuary)
• Hermann Grassmann (school teacher)
• John Graunt (haberdasher)
• George Green (miller)
• André-Michel Guerry (lawyer)
• Charles James Hargreave (judge)
• Oliver Heaviside (telegraph operator)
• Kurt Heegner (private scholar)
• Anthony Hill (painter)
• Paul Jaccard (botanist)
• Alfred Bray Kempe (lawyer)
• Thomas Kirkman (church rector)
• Hedy Lamarr (actress)
• Emanuel Lasker (chess player; Ph.D. in mathematics; held short mathematical positions at two universities)
• Harry Lindgren (civil servant)
• Ada Lovelace (countess)
• Kenneth McIntyre (lawyer)
• Danica McKellar (actress)
• Anderson Gray McKendrick (medical doctor)
• Marin Mersenne (theologian)
• Florence Nightingale (nurse)
• Jacques Ozanam (tutor)
• B. Nicolò I. Paganini (schoolboy)^[1]
• Pāṇini (linguist)
• Blaise Pascal (heir, private scholar)
• Henry Perigal (stockbroker)
• Kenneth Perko (lawyer)
• Pingala (musician)
• William Playfair (draftsman)
• Henry Cabourn Pocklington (schoolmaster)
• François Proth (farmer)
• Srinivasa Ramanujan (clerk)
• Ramchundra (head master)
• Marjorie Rice (homemaker)
• Olinde Rodrigues (banker, social reformer)
• Robert Schlaifer (classics scholar)
• Robert Schneider (musician and record producer)
• William Shanks (landlord)
• Abraham Sharp (schoolmaster)
• Simon Stevin (merchants clerk)
• Alicia Boole Stott (secretary)
• Gaston Tarry (civil servant)
• Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia (bookkeeper)
• Nikola Tesla (inventor)
• Sebastien Truchet (monk)
• Franciscus Vieta (lawyer)
• Giordano Vitale (soldier)
• William Wallace (bookbinder)
• Walter Frank Raphael Weldon (evolutionary biologist)
• Johannes Werner (parish priest)
• Magnus Wenninger (monk)
• Caspar Wessel (lawyer)
• Leo Wiener (linguist)
• Frank Wilcoxon (chemist)
• Edouard Zeckendorf (medical doctor)

References

1. Sprugnoli, Renzo (27 September 2005). "Introduzione alla matematica: La matematica della scuola media" (PDF). Universita degli Studi di Firenze: Dipartimento di Sistemi e Informatica. p. 59. Retrieved 21 August 2012.