Pierre de Fermat

About Pierre de Fermat

Pierre de Fermat (1601–1665) was a highly influential French mathematician, lawyer, and statesman known as a key figure in the development of modern mathematics. Working largely in isolation, he made seminal contributions to number theory, including his famous 'Last Theorem,' which remained unproven for centuries until Andrew Wiles solved it. He is also recognized as one of the principal founders of modern probability theory, alongside Blaise Pascal, and his work on tangents and maxima/minima was foundational to the later development of calculus. Due to this profound and wide-ranging historical impact across mathematics, he is ranked #615 globally by the Historical Popularity Index.

Despite this high historical standing, Fermat's modern internet attention is notably low. In 2025, his Wikipedia page garnered only 127K annualized views, placing him in a clear 'underattention' category with an Attention Gap of -3x compared to his importance rank. For context, this is significantly less visibility than many contemporaries, such as Bertrand Russell (ranked #741, but receiving 961K views), showing a stark disconnect between historical significance and current digital engagement for this foundational mathematician.

Furthermore, the data suggests his profile is actively receding from current interest, with a Year-over-Year Change of -15.8% and a -8% drop in momentum between the first and third quarters of 2025, indicating a continued erosion of his niche online presence.