Weierstrass, the German professor who banished infinitesimals

Speranza

The position on the infinity caused Russell to settle for the idea that Zeno's arrow is truly at rest at

every moment of its flight.

Russell writes:

 

"After two thousand years of continual refutation, these sophisms were reinstated, and

made the foundation of a mathematical renaissance, by a German professor, who
probably never dreamed of any connection between himself and Zeno. Weierstrass, by
 

strictly banishing all infinitesimals, has at last shown that we live in an unchanging

world, and that the arrow, at every moment of its flight, is truly at rest (Russell,

1956:347).