Lars Ahlfors facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lars Ahlfors
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Lars Ahlfors
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| Born | 18 April 1907 |
| Died | 11 October 1996 (aged 89) |
| Nationality | Finnish |
| Alma mater | University of Helsinki |
| Known for | Analytic capacity Riemann surfaces Quasiconformal mappings Denjoy-Carleman-Ahlfors theorem Ahlfors finiteness theorem for Kleinian groups Ahlfors theory Conformal geometry Geometric function theory |
| Awards | Fields Medal (1936) Wihuri Prize (1968) Wolf Prize (1981) Leroy P. Steele Prize (1982) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | University of Helsinki ETH Zurich Harvard University |
| Doctoral advisor | Ernst Lindelöf Rolf Nevanlinna |
| Doctoral students | Paul Garabedian Dale Husemoller James A. Jenkins Albert Marden Robert Osserman Henry Pollak Halsey Royden George Springer |
Lars Valerian Ahlfors (born April 18, 1907 – died October 11, 1996) was a famous Finnish mathematician. He is best known for his important work on Riemann surfaces and for writing a classic textbook on complex analysis.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Lars Ahlfors was born in Helsinki, Finland. Sadly, his mother passed away when he was born. His father, Axel Ahlfors, was a professor of engineering.
Lars's family spoke Swedish. Because of this, he went to a private school where all the lessons were taught in Swedish. Later, he studied at the University of Helsinki starting in 1924. He finished his studies in 1928.
While at the university, he learned from famous mathematicians like Ernst Lindelöf and Rolf Nevanlinna. In 1929, he helped Nevanlinna with a difficult math problem. Lars Ahlfors then published his own solution to this problem. It is now called the Denjoy–Carleman–Ahlfors theorem. He earned his doctorate degree from the University of Helsinki in 1930.
A Brilliant Career in Mathematics
Ahlfors worked as a professor at the University of Helsinki from 1933 to 1936. In 1936, he received a very special award called the Fields Medal. This medal is like the Nobel Prize for mathematics. He was one of the very first people to ever win it!
In 1935, Ahlfors visited Harvard University in the United States. He returned to Finland in 1938 to become a professor at the University of Helsinki again.
During World War II, it was hard for him to stay in Finland. In 1944, he was offered a job at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Switzerland. He moved there in 1945. However, he did not enjoy his time in Switzerland.
So, in 1946, he gladly accepted an offer to return to Harvard University. He stayed at Harvard until he retired in 1977. He became a very respected professor there.
Lars Ahlfors received more awards for his work. He won the Wihuri Prize in 1968 and the Wolf Prize in Mathematics in 1981. In 1986, he was honored at a big meeting of mathematicians in California. This celebrated 50 years since he won his Fields Medal.
Important Books and Contributions
Ahlfors wrote several very important books on mathematics. His book Complex Analysis (published in 1953) is a classic. Many other math books still refer to it today.
He also wrote Riemann surfaces (1960) and Conformal invariants (1973). His work greatly helped our understanding of many areas of mathematics. These include Riemann surfaces, conformal geometry, and quasiconformal mappings.
Personal Life
In 1933, Lars Ahlfors married Erna Lehnert. She was from Austria. Erna and her family had first lived in Sweden before moving to Finland. Lars and Erna had three daughters.
Lars Ahlfors passed away in 1996 from pneumonia. He was at a nursing home in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
See also
In Spanish: Lars Ahlfors para niños
- Ahlfors finiteness theorem
- Ahlfors function
- Ahlfors measure conjecture
- Beurling–Ahlfors transform
- Schwarz–Ahlfors–Pick theorem
- Measurable Riemann mapping theorem
