- French mathematical
prodigy who originated some innovatory concepts in the field of mathematical
logic. He formulated the Herbrand theorem, which established a link
between quantification theory and sentential logic.
Herbrand was born in Paris, where he was educated at the Ecole Normale
Supérieure. At the age of 20 he published his first paper on
mathematical logic for the Paris Academy of Sciences, and in the following
year - 1929 - for his doctorate, he produced the paper containing the
Herbrand theorem. This has since found many applications in such fields
as decision and reduction problems.
Herbrand was also fascinated by modern algebra and wrote a number of
papers on class-field theory.
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