stoutfellow

"he also devised the system of sluices by means of which the Dutch, in times of dire need, were able to breach the dikes, bringing in the North Sea as a weapon against invading armies (and, not incidentally, allowing the powerful Dutch navy to take a hand). He was a skilled engineer; he designed and built a functioning sail-cart - a wind-propelled land vehicle. But, to the mathematician, he is most noteworthy for another achievement. He did not invent, but he popularized, the decimal point."

Thus illustrating my point made many times before that there are *never* parades for engineers and inventors. I'm sure the general involved got a lot of nice trinkets as a reward. Where are Stevin's publicly acknowledged laurels (outside of military buffs' websites and mathematicians' texts)? His Rose Parade? Is there a day in his honor in Holland? Or here, in Dutch Town, U.S.A.? Ahem, HornedHopper is now stepping off of the soap box she apparently climbed upon, unbeknownst to her. (g)

Thanks for an interesting post