Today would have been Indira Gandhi's 92nd birthday, had she not been assassinated by members of her own guard in her own backyard on October 31st, 1984 (I was there in New Delhi in a cab when the driver suggested it might be safer if he turned around and took me straight home). Often confused as a relative of the more famous Gandhi, fashionable, stylish and well groomed Indira was actually the daughter of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru and used her married name, although divorced from her Parsi exhusband. Daughter and mother of Prime Ministers of India, she herself held office with an iron fist, remembered for the "Emergency", a brief period of martial law often overlooked in the democratic vibrancy of Indian politics. Will Mrs Gandhi's legacy of dynasty be continued by her half Italian grandson?
posted by infini on Nov 19, 2009 - 27 comments

Joe Palca, a science correspondent for NPR's Morning Edition, was meditating on the best way to convey the magnitude of the world's largest known prime number, 2^43112609-1. He contacted H&FJ at Typography.com to discuss the implications of typesetting a number with more than twelve million digits. Crunching of numbers and fonts ensued.
posted by netbros on Apr 22, 2009 - 21 comments

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir became today Iceland's, and the world's, first openly lesbian prime minister.
posted by Morrigan on Feb 1, 2009 - 49 comments

Though foreign-born, he is often considered an American icon. His career may have peaked in the 80's and has certainly taken some questionable turns, but he's retained a cult following. Now he's having a true comeback, and though some may be displeased that he's "sold out", for him it's just the latest in a lifelong series of transformations.
posted by Durhey on Jul 4, 2007 - 41 comments

In September 2006 the largest known prime number, a 9.8 million digit number, was discovered. If you find one over ten million digits you can win US$100,000 (of which you get to keep $50,000). No maths is required - just download the software and you're away. Warning: it takes about a month to run one primality check so some patience is required. Look out though Cooper and Boone look like they might beat you to it.
posted by meech on Apr 12, 2007 - 35 comments

"...the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything is..." "Yes? Yes!?" "...42."
via Dyson, Montgomery, Princeton, a cup of tea - as presented by Seed Magazine.
posted by loquacious on Mar 28, 2006 - 41 comments

How not to move a satellite "As the NOAA-N Prime spacecraft was being repositioned from vertical to horizontal on the "turn over cart" at approximately 7:15 PDT today, it slipped off the fixture, causing severe damage."
posted by Mwongozi on Sep 9, 2003 - 19 comments

Got a prime number? This formula can tell you . Dr. Manindra Agrawal, a professor of mathematics at the Indian Institute of Technology, and two doctoral students have solved a problem that has been puzzling mathematitians for literally centuries: testing with absolute certainty whether a number is prime. More inside.
posted by me3dia on Nov 4, 2002 - 24 comments

Prime Time. A prime is a whole number divisible only by itself and 1. In Aesthetics of the prime sequence one can hear primes, view primes (here also) and test for primes. Quite interesting and not just for math geeks...
posted by talos on Feb 14, 2001 - 2 comments