Laurent Schwartz facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Laurent Schwartz
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| Born | 5 March 1915 Paris, France
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| Died | 4 July 2002 (aged 87) Paris, France
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| Nationality | French |
| Alma mater | École Normale Supérieure |
| Known for | Theory of Distributions Schwartz kernel theorem Schwartz space Schwartz–Bruhat function Radonifying operator Cylinder set measure |
| Awards | Fields Medal (1950) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | University of Strasbourg University of Nancy University of Grenoble École Polytechnique Université de Paris VII |
| Doctoral advisor | Georges Valiron |
| Doctoral students | Maurice Audin Georges Glaeser Alexander Grothendieck Jacques-Louis Lions Bernard Malgrange André Martineau Bernard Maurey Leopoldo Nachbin Henri Hogbe Nlend Gilles Pisier François Treves |
| Influenced | Per Enflo |
Laurent-Moïse Schwartz (born March 5, 1915 – died July 4, 2002) was a famous French mathematician. He created a new idea called the theory of distributions. This theory helped make sense of tricky math concepts like the Dirac delta function. In 1950, he won the Fields Medal for his amazing work on this theory. He also taught for many years at the École Polytechnique, a top French school.
Contents
About Laurent Schwartz
His Family
Laurent Schwartz came from a Jewish family in Alsace, France. Many of his family members were scientists. His father was a well-known surgeon, and his uncle, Robert Debré, was a famous children's doctor who helped create UNICEF. Even his great-uncle-in-law, Jacques Hadamard, was a famous mathematician!
In 1938, Laurent married Marie-Hélène Lévy. She was the daughter of another famous mathematician, Paul Lévy. Marie-Hélène was also very good at math. She taught at the University of Lille and helped with the geometry of complex math spaces. They had two children, Marc-André and Claudine.
Someone once said that Laurent Schwartz had "three great loves": mathematics, politics, and butterflies!
His Education
Laurent Schwartz was an amazing student. His teachers said he was especially good at languages like Latin and Greek, and of course, mathematics. One teacher even told his parents that he should definitely become a mathematician.
In 1934, he got into the École Normale Supérieure, a very selective school in France. In 1937, he passed a tough exam called the agrégation, ranking second in the country.
World War II
Life was very hard for Laurent Schwartz during World War II. He was Jewish and had political views that were against the government. To stay safe from the Nazis, he had to hide and use a different name. He worked at the University of Strasbourg (which had moved to Clermont-Ferrand during the war) under the name Laurent-Marie Sélimartin. His wife, Marie-Hélène, also used a different name. Luckily, they managed to escape the Nazis, unlike some other mathematicians.
His Career After the War
After the war, Schwartz taught at the University of Nancy for seven years, starting in 1945. He was a very important researcher and teacher there. Many of his students became famous mathematicians themselves, including Alexander Grothendieck.
In 1952, he moved to the University of Paris. Then, in 1958, he started teaching at the École Polytechnique. He even helped to change how math was taught and researched at the school. For a short time, from 1961 to 1963, he was not allowed to teach there. This was because he signed a letter called the Manifesto of the 121, which protested the Algerian war. The military leaders at the Polytechnique did not like this.
In 1965, he started the Centre de mathématiques Laurent-Schwartz (CMLS) and was its first director. In 1973, he became a member of the French Academy of Sciences.
His Math Discoveries
In 1950, Laurent Schwartz gave a big speech at the ICM. He also received the Fields Medal for his work on distributions. This medal is like the Nobel Prize for mathematics. He was the first French mathematician to win it.
It was difficult for Schwartz to enter the United States to get his medal because of his political beliefs. But he eventually succeeded.
His theory of distributions helped make sense of tricky math ideas like the Dirac delta function and Heaviside step function. It also helped improve the theory of Fourier transforms. Today, his work is super important for understanding partial differential equations, which are used in many areas of science and engineering.
Sharing Science with Everyone
Laurent Schwartz loved to share science with the public. He wanted to make it easier for everyone to understand. He once joked about why mathematics is helpful: "Mathematics are helpful for physics. Physics helps us make fridges. Fridges are made to contain spiny lobsters, and spiny lobsters help mathematicians who eat them and have hence better abilities to do mathematics, which are helpful for physics, which helps us make fridges which..."
His Love for Butterflies
Laurent's mother loved natural science, and she passed on her interest in entomology (the study of insects) to him. He collected over 20,000 butterfly and moth specimens during his travels! He gave his amazing collection to several museums, including the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. Some butterfly species he discovered are even named after him!
His Beliefs
Besides his scientific work, Laurent Schwartz was also known for speaking his mind. When he was young, he was a socialist and did not like the way the Soviet Union was run under Joseph Stalin. Later, he changed his views to support democratic socialism.
Laurent Schwartz also said that he was an atheist, meaning he did not believe in a god.
Books He Wrote
Laurent Schwartz wrote many important books about mathematics. Here are a few:
- A mathematician grappling with his century. This book tells his life story and his thoughts on the 20th century.
- Théorie des distributions. This is his most famous technical book, explaining his groundbreaking theory.
In Spanish: Laurent Schwartz para niños
See also
- Schwartz distribution
- Schwartz kernel theorem
- Schwartz space
- Schwartz–Bruhat function
- Nicolas Bourbaki
