Jacob Bernoulli

Hello! My name is Jacob Bernoulli. I was born a very long time ago, on January 6th, 1655, in a beautiful city called Basel in Switzerland. My father hoped I would study religion, but I had a secret love: numbers and stars! I thought of math as a giant, fun puzzle, and I couldn't wait to solve it.

Even though I studied what my father wanted, I always made time for math. After I finished school around 1676, I traveled to different countries to learn from other great thinkers. In 1687, I got my dream job: I became a professor of mathematics at the University of Basel! I even got to work with my younger brother, Johann. We both loved math, and we would challenge each other to solve tricky problems.

I was very curious about chance. Have you ever flipped a coin and guessed if it would be heads or tails? I studied this idea, which is called probability. I discovered something amazing called the Law of Large Numbers. It means that the more times you flip a coin, the closer you'll get to having half heads and half tails. I also loved a beautiful swirling shape called a logarithmic spiral, which always stays the same shape as it grows.

I lived to be 50 years old, and my most famous book about probability was published in 1713, after I was gone. Today, my ideas help people understand everything from the weather to fun games. People still use the special 'Bernoulli numbers' I discovered. I'm so happy that my love for puzzles helps people solve new problems even today.