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Introduction

The title of this chapter was inspired by Ian Stewart’s Significant Figures: The Lives and Work of Great Mathematicians (2017), whose title makes a clever literary use of the mathematical term significant figure. I encountered Stewart’s book while sorting through my father’s belongings shortly after his passing in the summer of 2026, and its title struck me as a perfect match for the title of this chapter.

Here, significant figures refers to influential mathematicians and scientists who built the historical narrative of scientific discovery and curiosity. I retain the title with gratitude to Stewart for the inspiration, and to my Dad for leaving the book where I could find it.

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