Mathematician:Joseph Liouville

Active in the fields of number theory, complex analysis, differential geometry, topology, mathematical physics and astronomy.

Proved the existence of transcendental numbers.

Contributed the Sturm-Liouville theory to the field of mathematical physics, in collaboration with Charles Sturm.

Pioneered the study of fractional calculus.

There are several theorems named after him, all in different areas of mathematics and physics.

Nationality
French.

History

 * Born: 24 March 1809, Saint-Omer, France
 * Died: 8 September 1882, Paris, France

Theorems and Definitions

 * Liouville Number
 * Liouville's Constant
 * Liouville's Lemma, concerning diophantine approximations;
 * Liouville's Theorem (Complex Analysis)
 * Liouville's Theorem (Conformal Mappings)
 * Liouville's Theorem (Hamiltonian Mechanics)
 * Liouville's Theorem (Number Theory), the fact that any Liouville number is transcendental
 * Liouville's Theorem (Differential Algebra)
 * Liouville-Roth Constant (with Klaus Friedrich Roth)
 * Liouville-Green Method of Approximations (with George Green), also known as the LG Method, or the WKB Method (after Gregor Wentzel, Hendrik Anthony Kramers and Léon Nicolas Brillouin)

Books and Papers

 * 1836: Founded the mathematics journal Journal de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées (also known as Journal de Liouville)
 * 1846: Published the works of Évariste Galois.

Also see

 * : Chapter $\text {A}.29$