MOTM - Ludolph Van Ceulen

Ludolph Van Ceulen , born January 28, 1540, was a German mathematician who is famed for his calculation of π to 35 places. In Germany π used to be called the Ludolphine number.

While 35 places seems very commonplace and elementary now (one of our students once memorized 100 places in a day as a Pi Day contest), in 1540, that would be ground-breaking!

His full bio can be found here: https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Van_Ceulen/