Max Simon

Born in 1844, Maximilian Simon was a German mathematician, teacher, and historian of mathematics. He taught at gymnasiums in Germany and became known less for original mathematical research than for the way he explored and explained the history of the subject.

Simon wrote extensively on the development of elementary mathematics and on the history of geometry, arithmetic, and famous mathematical problems. His books and articles were valued for gathering older sources and tracing how mathematical ideas changed over time, which made them useful to both teachers and historians.

He died in 1918. Today he is remembered as part of the early generation of scholars who treated the history of mathematics as a serious field of study and helped keep many classical traditions and texts in view for later readers.