45 Historical Figures Who Were Misunderstood During Their Lifetime

Georg Cantor, the great mathematician of the late 19th century, embarked on a revolutionary journey into the realm of infinite numbers. His pioneering work on set theory and transfinite numbers challenged centuries of mathematical orthodoxy. Cantor’s assertion that there were different sizes of infinity, some larger than others, was met with outright mockery from prominent mathematicians of his time, including Henri Poincaré and Leopold Kronecker.

They viewed his ideas as absurd and even heretical, dismissing Cantor as a “corrupter of youth.” However, Cantor persevered, developing a rigorous mathematical framework that laid the foundation for modern set theory and profoundly influenced the understanding of mathematics.