Charles Hermite | |
|---|---|
 Charles Hermite | |
| Born | 24 December 1822 |
| Died | 14 January 1901 (aged 78) |
| Alma mater | Collège Henri IV, Sorbonne Collège Louis-le-Grand, Sorbonne |
| Known for | Proof that e is transcendental Hermitian adjoint Hermitian form Hermitian function Hermitian matrix Hermitian metric Hermitian operator Hermite polynomials Hermitian transpose Hermitian wavelet |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | |
| Doctoral advisor | Eugène Charles Catalan |
| Doctoral students | Léon Charve Henri Padé Mihailo Petrović Henri Poincaré Thomas Stieltjes Jules Tannery |
Charles Hermite (French pronunciation: [ʃaʁl ɛʁˈmit]) FRS FRSE MIAS (24 December 1822 – 14 January 1901) was a French mathematician who did research concerning number theory, quadratic forms, invariant theory, orthogonal polynomials, elliptic functions, and algebra.
Hermite polynomials, Hermite interpolation, Hermite normal form, Hermitian operators, and cubic Hermite splines are named in his honor. One of his students was Henri Poincaré.
He was the first to prove that e, the base of natural logarithms, is a transcendental number. His methods were used later by Ferdinand von Lindemann to prove that π is transcendental.