In 1742, Edmond Halley died at age 85.
Using Isaac Newton’s new Laws of Motion, Edmond Halley made a prediction in 1705 that a comet which had appeared in 1531, 1607 and 1682 would reappear in 1758. He didn’t live to see its return. The comet was later named for him.
Learn more at http://space.about.com/od/comets/a/halleyscomet.htm
In 1901, Charles Hermite, a French mathematician, died at age 78.
In 1873, Hermite published the first proof that e is a transcendental number. A transcendental number is a real number that is not the solution of any single-variable polynomial equation whose coefficients are all integers. Another example of a transcendental number is pi.
Learn more at http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/263303/Charles-Hermite
