Pierre Alphonse Laurent facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Pierre Alphonse Laurent
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| Born | 18 July 1813 Paris, France
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| Died | 2 September 1854 (aged 41) Paris, France
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| Alma mater | École Polytechnique |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
Pierre Alphonse Laurent (born July 18, 1813 – died September 2, 1854) was a very smart French mathematician and engineer. He was also a military officer. He is best known for discovering the Laurent series. This is a special way to break down complex math problems. It helps mathematicians understand how certain functions behave. His work built on the ideas of the Taylor series, making it even more general.
Contents
A Bright Start
Pierre Laurent was born in Paris, France. His father was French, and his mother was English. From a young age, he showed great promise.
Education and Early Career
In 1830, Pierre started studying at the famous École Polytechnique in Paris. This was a top school for science and engineering. He graduated in 1832 as one of the best students in his class.
After finishing school, he joined the engineering corps as a second lieutenant. He then went to another special school, the École d'Application at Metz. Later, he was sent to Algeria for his military duties.
Building Big Things
Around 1840, Laurent returned to France from Algeria. He then spent six years working on a huge project. He was in charge of making the port of Le Havre much bigger. Le Havre is on the English Channel coast.
Le Havre's Transformation
Before this project, Rouen was the main port in France. But Laurent's work changed everything. He used his deep knowledge of engineering to improve Le Havre. His projects helped turn it into France's most important seaport. This showed that Laurent was not just good at math, but also a skilled engineer. He could use his theories to solve real-world problems.
His Big Math Idea
While working on the port in Le Havre, Laurent also started writing about mathematics. He submitted a paper for a big prize from the Académie des Sciences in 1842.
The Laurent Series Discovery
His most important discovery, the Laurent series, was in a paper he submitted in 1843. However, he sent it in after the deadline. Because of this, his paper was not published at the time. It was also not considered for the prize.
Sadly, Pierre Laurent died at the young age of 41 in Paris. His important mathematical work was not published until after his death. Some people think another mathematician, Karl Weierstrass, might have found a similar idea earlier in 1841. But Weierstrass also did not publish his work at that time.
See also
In Spanish: Pierre Alphonse Laurent para niños
