- French
mathematician who was a principal contributor to the development of
the theory of algebraic forms, the arithmetical theory of quadratic
forms, and the theories of elliptic and Abelian functions. Much of his
work was highly innovative, especially his solution of the quintic equation
through elliptic modular functions, and his proof of the transcendence
of e.
Hermite was born in Dieuze, Lorraine, and studied at the Lycée
Louis le Grand and the Ecole Polytechnique, Paris. He became professor
at the Ecole Normale 1869, moving to the Sorbonne 1870.
Between 1847 and 1851 he worked on the arithmetical theory of quadratic
forms and the use of continuous variables. Then for he worked on the
theory of invariants 1854-64.
In 1873 he worked out Hermitian forms (a complex generalization of quadratic
forms) and Hermitian polynomials. In the same year, he showed that e,
the base of natural logarithms, is transcendental. (Transcendental numbers
are real or complex numbers that are not algebraic.)
In 1872 and 1877 Hermite solved the Lamé differential equation,
and in 1878 he solved the fifth-degree (quintic) equation of elliptic
functions.
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