Mathematicians who died extraordinary deaths

Question

Évariste Galois, the pioneer of Galois theory, died at the age of twenty from wounds sustained in a duel; the duel was apparently over a woman Galois was interested in.

Oswald Teichmüller, a brilliant mathematician who made contributions to complex analysis and invented the theory of Teichmuller spaces, was in fact a fanatical Nazi who died fighting for Hitler on the Eastern Front in $1943$.

What are some other examples of mathematicians whose lives ended in bizarre ways?

Hypatia was a mathematician from the Alexandrian school and she was slain by Christians in 415. — Bernard, Oct 11 '16 at 17:40
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Gödel "Later in his life, Gödel suffered periods of mental instability and illness. He had an obsessive fear of being poisoned; he would eat only food that his wife, Adele, prepared for him. Late in 1977, she was hospitalized for six months and could no longer prepare her husband's food. In her absence, he refused to eat, eventually starving to death. He weighed 65 pounds (approximately 30 kg) when he died. His death certificate reported that he died of "malnutrition and inanition caused by personality disturbance" in Princeton Hospital on January 14, 1978." — Count Iblis, Oct 11 '16 at 18:03
Evariste Galois pioneered group theory, actually (which is much broader than Galois theory). I wonder what more cool stuff he could have done. Really sad they didn't develop better methods to try and tame him. — mathreadler, May 23 '18 at 18:35
Witold Hurewicz. Quote from here: He died after participating in the International Symposium on Algebraic Topology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City. He tripped and fell off the top of a Mayan step pyramid during an outing in Uxmal, Mexico. In the Dictionary of Scientific Biography it is suggested that he was "...a paragon of absentmindedness, a failing that probably led to his death." — Paul Frost, Jul 26 '20 at 15:02

adjan · Answer 1 · 2016-10-11T17:46:33.450

3

Noli turbare circulos meos*

... said Archimedes before he was killed by a roman soldier with his sword, back in 212 BC during the capture of the city of Syracuse.

*) "Don't disturb my circles" (Latin)

edited Oct 11 '16 at 17:46

answered Oct 11 '16 at 17:33

adjan

5,741

"Don't disturb my circles" ? – N.S.JOHN Oct 11 '16 at 17:40
Yes. He obviously did not say that in English. – adjan Oct 11 '16 at 17:43
Obviously most users here only understand English – N.S.JOHN Oct 11 '16 at 17:44
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Obviously it's one of the most known Latin quotes. Not as popular as veni vidi vici though. – adjan Oct 11 '16 at 17:47
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Actually that line is taken from a text written in latin that talks about Archimedes, he most certainly said it in ancient Greek – PunkZebra Oct 11 '16 at 17:51
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@Peterix To a Roman soldier? – adjan Oct 11 '16 at 17:53
@N.S.JOHN I would bet that a large majority of users here understand at least one language besides English. However, English is likely the only language spoken by a large majority of users here. – Erick Wong Oct 11 '16 at 17:53
@Peterix - μὴ μου τοὺς κύκλους τάραττε unless you want to tell me he spoke in capital letters – Henry Oct 11 '16 at 17:54
Wow @Henry do you know Greek or just googled it? – PunkZebra Oct 11 '16 at 17:55
@EricWong of course! I meant to say most users won't understand Latin – N.S.JOHN Oct 11 '16 at 18:10
@Peterix I did (just) pass an exam in Ancient Greek over 35 years ago but, as you guessed, I Googled it. Learning Greek did me no good in Mathematics as I wrote gamma as $\gamma$ and was then told to write it with a loop – Henry Oct 11 '16 at 19:51

Mathematicians who died extraordinary deaths

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