Carl Ludwig Siegel

Carl Ludwig Siegel
Carl Ludwig Siegel in 1975
Born(1896-12-31)31 December 1896
Died4 April 1981(1981-04-04) (aged 84)
Alma materUniversity of Göttingen
Known forBrauer–Siegel theorem
Siegel modular form
Siegel modular variety
Siegel zero
Smith–Minkowski–Siegel mass formula
Thue–Siegel–Roth theorem
Siegel's theorem on integral points
Siegel domain
AwardsWolf Prize (1978)
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
InstitutionsJohann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität
Institute for Advanced Study
Doctoral advisorEdmund Landau
Doctoral students

Carl Ludwig Siegel (31 December 1896 – 4 April 1981) was a German mathematician specialising in analytic number theory. He is known for, amongst other things, his contributions to the Thue–Siegel–Roth theorem in Diophantine approximation, Siegel's method,[1] Siegel's lemma and the Siegel mass formula for quadratic forms. He has been named one of the most important mathematicians of the 20th century.[2][3]

André Weil, without hesitation, named[4] Siegel as the greatest mathematician of the first half of the 20th century. Atle Selberg said of Siegel and his work:

He was in some ways, perhaps, the most impressive mathematician I have met. I would say, in a way, devastatingly so. The things that Siegel tended to do were usually things that seemed impossible. Also after they were done, they still seemed almost impossible.

  1. ^ "Siegel Method". Encyclopedia of Mathematics.
  2. ^ Pérez, R. A. (2011) A brief but historic article of Siegel, NAMS 58(4), 558–566.
  3. ^ "Obituary: Prof. Carl L. Siegel, 84; Leading Mathematician". NY Times. April 15, 1981.
  4. ^ Krantz, Steven G. (2002). Mathematical Apocrypha. Mathematical Association of America. pp. 185–186. ISBN 0-88385-539-9.