Jacques Herbrand | |
|---|---|
 Herbrand in summer 1931, as photographed by Natascha Artin Brunswick | |
| Born | 12 February 1908 Paris, France |
| Died | 27 July 1931 (aged 23) La Bérarde, Isère, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Alma mater | École Normale Supérieure University of Paris (PhD, 1930) |
| Known for | Herbrand's theorem Herbrand–Ribet theorem Herbrand quotient |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematical logic, class field theory |
| Thesis | Recherches sur la théorie de la démonstration (Investigations on Proof Theory) (1930) |
| Doctoral advisor | Ernest Vessiot |
Jacques Herbrand (12 February 1908 – 27 July 1931) was a French mathematician. Although he died at age 23, he was already considered one of "the greatest mathematicians of the younger generation" by his professors Helmut Hasse and Richard Courant.[1]
He worked in mathematical logic and class field theory. He introduced recursive functions. Herbrand's theorem refers to either of two completely different theorems. One is a result from his doctoral thesis in proof theory, and the other one half of the Herbrand–Ribet theorem. The Herbrand quotient is a type of Euler characteristic, used in homological algebra. He contributed to Hilbert's program in the foundations of mathematics by providing a constructive consistency proof for a weak system of arithmetic. The proof uses the above-mentioned, proof-theoretic Herbrand's theorem.
- ^ Chevalley, Claude; Lautman, Albert (1971). "Biographical Note on Jacques Herbrand". In Goldfarb, Warren D.; Van Heijenoort, Jean (eds.). Logical Writings. Berlin: Springer. pp. 21–23. ISBN 90-277-0176-8.