Starting in the late 1600s and  ending  (at least for now!) in 1868, Rafe traces two branches of a mathematical genealogy.  This list of some of the great minds of the history of mathematics includes two Bernoullis, Euler, Poisson, Gauss, and many others, people who developed tools that today we take for granted.

All this work, of course, was done before computers or calculators, using arcane notation, quill pens, and a desire to pull back the curtain and look inside the magic world of math.

Part 2 will take up where we left off with one Felix Klein, who did some really wacky stuff...

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