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[[Image:GeorgCantor.png|thumb|right|200px]]

[[Image:GeorgCantor.png|thumb|right|200px]]

'''Georg Cantor''' (1845-1918) was a [[German]] [[mathematician]] who created the field of [[Set theory|Set Theory]] in several papers written between 1874 and 1897.  His motivation was to understand the [[Christian]] concept of eternity.  He dedicated his last publication to a passage from [[1 Corinthians (Translated)|1 Corinthians]]:  "The time will come when these things which are now hidden from you will be brought into the light."<ref>http://www.acmsonline.org/Dauben-Cantor.pdf</ref>  Cantor was vilified by several leading mathematicians of his time, such as [[Henri Poincare]], but Cantor's revolutionary work proved to be the most influential of all of them.

'''Georg Cantor''' (1845-1918) was a [[German]] [[mathematician]] who created the field of [[Set theory|Set Theory]] in several papers written between 1874 and 1897.  His motivation was to understand the [[Christian]] concept of eternity.  He dedicated his last publication to a passage from [[1 Corinthians (Translated)|1 Corinthians]]:  "The time will come when these things which are now hidden from you will be brought into the light."<ref>http://www.acmsonline.org/Dauben-Cantor.pdf</ref>   

David Hilbert praised Cantor as the greatest mathematician since before [[Leonard Euler]].  Hilbert declared, "No one shall expel us from the paradise that Cantor has created for us." Yet Cantor never lectured at a university about his breakthrough, and his work is an example of the [[best of the public]].

Cantor's work is an example of the [[best of the public]], as he never lectured at a university and was even vilified by several leading mathematicians of his time, such as [[Henri Poincare]].  Yet Cantor's revolutionary work proved to be the most influential of all, and David Hilbert praised Cantor as the greatest mathematician since before [[Leonard Euler]].  Hilbert declared, "No one shall expel us from the paradise that Cantor has created for us."

Cantor was the first to "put [[infinity]] on a firm logical foundation."<ref name="Cantor bio">http://scidiv.bellevuecollege.edu/Math/infinity.html</ref>  His invention of set theory helped him achieve this extraordinary goal.<ref>http://www.engr.iupui.edu/~orr/webpages/cpt120/mathbios/gcant.htm</ref>  He "described a way to do arithmetic with infinite quantities useful to mathematics."<ref name="Cantor bio"/>

Cantor was the first to "put [[infinity]] on a firm logical foundation."<ref name="Cantor bio">http://scidiv.bellevuecollege.edu/Math/infinity.html</ref>  His invention of set theory helped him achieve this extraordinary goal.<ref>http://www.engr.iupui.edu/~orr/webpages/cpt120/mathbios/gcant.htm</ref>  He "described a way to do arithmetic with infinite quantities useful to mathematics."<ref name="Cantor bio"/>