Photography by Carlos Dorce

One of the most beautiful buildings which can be visited in Zaragoza is the hall  of the former Faculty of Sciences. Itwas constructed by Ricardo Magdalena in 1893 and is decorated with 72 statues and roundels designed by Dionisio Lasuén (1850-1916). These allegorical sculptures are dedicated to Medicine and Science and we find some very important mathematicians among all the scientifics represented on them. For example:

Photography by Carlos Dorce

We also fins a representation of the Theorem of Pythagoras next to these two great names:

Photography by Carlos Dorce

Other important mathematicians are:René Descartes…

Photography by Carlos Dorce

…Galileo Galilei…

Photography by Carlos Dorce

…the great Euclid…

Photography by Carlos Dorce

…Hipparchus of Rhodes…

Photography by Carlos Dorce

We also find Spanish scientific and mathematicians as the Andalusi Abû al-Qâsim al-Zahrawî (Al-Zahra, Cordova,936-Cordoba,1013), also known as Abulcasis. He was an important physician, surgeon and doctor who wrote the Kitab at-Tasrif (Arabic,كتاب التصريف لمن عجز عن التأليف)  or The Method of Medicine (compiled in 1000 AD) which had an enormous impact in all Medieval Europe and the Islamic World.

Photography by Carlos Dorce

Pedro Sanchez Ciruelo (Daroca,1470 – Salamanca, 1550) was an important Spanish mathematician of the 16th century who wrote some mathematical treatiseslike the Cursus quattuor mathematicarum artium liberalium (1516) thorugh which Bradwardine’s Arithmetic and Geometric work was taught in Spain.

Pedro Sánchez Ciruelo (1470-1550)

Jorge Juan (1713-1773) and Antonio Ulloa (1716-1795) were two Spanish scientifics who participated in the measurement of the Terrestrial Meridian organized by the Academy of Sciences of Paris:

Photography by Carlos Dorce

Gabriel Ciscar (1759-1829) wrote the Curso de Estudios Elementales de la Marina, divided in a volume dedicated to Arithmetics and another dedicated to Geometry.

Photography by Carlos Dorce

Finally, José Rodríguez González (1770-1824) and José Chaix (1765-1811) participated in the triangulations of the meridian arc from Dunkerque to Barcelona.Furthermore,Chaix wrote the Instituciones de Cálculo Diferencial e Integral and publicó the Memoria sobre un nuevo método general para transformar en serie las funciones trascendentes which were so popular in Spain because of the explanations of the differential calculus.

Photography by Carlos Dorce

So, the building is so beautiful and you can learn History of Mathematics while walking around it. Do you want anything else?

Photography by Carlos Dorce

Location: Hallof the Faculty of Science in Zaragoza (map)