Mathematician:Charles Hermite

Mathematician

French mathematician who did research mainly in the fields of number theory and analysis.

The first to prove that e is transcendental.

Showed that a quintic can be solved by means of elliptic functions.

Certain of his discoveries in pure mathematics unexpectedly have applications in mathematical physics.

He was an inspiring teacher, notably having Thomas Stieltjes as a pupil.

Brother-in-law of Joseph Bertrand, and father-in-law of Charles Émile Picard.

Most notable for sharing a birthday with Matt Westwood, Carol Vorderman and Lemmy.

Nationality

French

History

• Born: 24 December 1822 in Dieuze, Lorraine, France
• 1842: Entered École Polytechnique but left soon after
• 1848: Married Louise Bertrand
• 1870: Appointed to a Professorship at Sorbonne
• Died: 14 January 1901 in Paris, France

Theorems and Definitions

• Hermitian Conjugate
• Hermite Constant
• Hermitian Form
• Hermite Interpolation
• Hermitian Manifold

• Hermitian Matrix
  • Anti-Hermitian Matrix, also known as a Skew-Hermitian Matrix

• Hermitian Operator
• Hermite Polynomial

• Hermite Normal Form
• Cubic Hermite Spline

• Hermite's Cotangent Identity
• Hermite's Formula for Hurwitz Zeta Function
• Hermite's Identity
• Hermite's Law of Reciprocity

• Hermite-Lindemann-Weierstrass Theorem (with Carl Louis Ferdinand von Lindemann and Karl Theodor Wilhelm Weierstrass)

Results named for Charles Hermite can be found here.

Definitions of concepts named for Charles Hermite can be found here.

Publications

• 1854: Sur la theorie des fonctions homogenes à deux indéterminées (Cambridge and Dublin Mathematical Journal Vol. 9: pp. 172 – 217)
• 1855: Sur quelques applications des fonctions elliptiques
• 1873: Sur la fonction exponentielle (C.R. Acad. Sci. Vol. 77: pp. 18 – 24)
• 1873: Cours d'Analyse de l'École Polytechnique. Première Partie
• 1884: Sur quelques conséquences arithmétiques des Formules de la théorie des fonctions elliptiques (Acta Math. Vol. 5: pp. 297 – 330)
• 1891: Cours professé à la Faculté des Sciences

Critical View

Talk with M. Hermite. He never evokes a concrete image, yet you soon perceive that the most abstract entities are to him like living creatures.

-- Henri Poincaré

Sources

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Charles Hermite": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive

• 1937: Eric Temple Bell: Men of Mathematics: Chapter $\text{XXIV}$
• 1986: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers ... (previous) ... (next): A List of Mathematicians in Chronological Sequence
• 1989: Ephraim J. Borowski and Jonathan M. Borwein: Dictionary of Mathematics ... (previous) ... (next): Hermite, Charles (1822-1901)
• 1992: George F. Simmons: Calculus Gems ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {A}.30$: Hermite ($\text {1822}$ – $\text {1901}$)
• 1997: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): A List of Mathematicians in Chronological Sequence
• 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Hermite, Charles (1822-1901)
• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Hermite, Charles (1822-1901)
• 2014: Christopher Clapham and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Hermite, Charles (1822-1901)