Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat
|
|
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg)
Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat in 1974
|
|
| Born |
Yvonne Bruhat
29 December 1923 |
| Died | 11 February 2025 (aged 101) |
| Alma mater |
|
| Known for |
|
| Spouse(s) |
|
| Children | 3, including Daniel |
| Awards |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | Pierre and Marie Curie University |
| Thesis | Théorème d'existence pour certains systèmes d'équations aux dérivées partielles non linéaires (1951) |
| Doctoral advisor | André Lichnerowicz |
Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat (born 29 December 1923 – died 11 February 2025) was a famous French mathematician and physicist. She made very important discoveries in the study of general relativity. This is a theory by Albert Einstein about how gravity works.
Yvonne showed that Einstein's equations could be solved in a way that made sense. This means her work helped scientists understand how the universe changes over time. In 2015, a science journal called her work one of the most important discoveries in general relativity in 100 years.
She was also the first woman ever chosen to be a member of the French Academy of Sciences. This is a very high honor for scientists in France. She also received the Grand Officer award of the Legion of Honour, another top French award.
Early Life and Education
Yvonne Bruhat was born in Lille, France, on 29 December 1923. Her mother, Berthe Hubert, was a philosophy professor. Her father, Georges Bruhat, was a physicist who sadly died in a concentration camp in 1945. Her brother, François Bruhat, also became a mathematician.
Yvonne went to high school in Paris and finished in 1941. She won a silver medal for physics in a big national competition called the Concours général. From 1943 to 1946, she studied at a top school in Paris, the École normale supérieure. After that, she worked there as a teaching assistant and did research with her advisor, André Lichnerowicz.
A Career in Science
From 1949 to 1951, Yvonne worked as a research assistant at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). This work helped her earn her doctorate degree.
In 1951, she went to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, USA. Her supervisor, Jean Leray, suggested she study the Einstein field equations. These equations describe how gravity works in Einstein's theory of general relativity. She even met Albert Einstein himself and talked with him a few times about her work!
In 1952, Yvonne and her husband were offered jobs in Marseille, France. So, she left the institute early. That same year, she published her most famous work. She showed that solutions to Einstein's equations could exist and be unique. This was a huge step forward in understanding how the universe behaves. Her work helped start the study of how things change over time in general relativity.
In 1958, she received the CNRS Silver Medal for her achievements. She taught at the University of Reims from 1958 to 1959. In 1960, she became a professor at the Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie (UPMC) in Paris. She stayed there as a professor until she retired in 1992.
At UPMC, she kept making important contributions to mathematical physics. This included work on general relativity and other complex theories like supergravity. In 1981, she worked with Demetrios Christodoulou. They showed that certain important equations in physics had solutions that worked globally.
Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat was elected to the French Academy of Sciences in 1978. On May 14, 1979, she became the first woman to be a full member of this important academy. From 1980 to 1983, she was the President of the "International committee on general relativity and gravitation." In 1985, she was also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1986, she was chosen to give the special Noether Lecture by the Association for Women in Mathematics.
Personal Life
In 1947, Yvonne married another mathematician, Léonce Fourès. Their daughter, Michelle, became an ecologist. Yvonne's early research papers were published under the name Yvonne Fourès-Bruhat.
In 1960, she and Léonce Fourès divorced. Later, she married another mathematician named Gustave Choquet. She then changed her last name to Choquet-Bruhat. She and Gustave had two children. Their son, Daniel Choquet, is a neuroscientist, and their daughter, Geneviève, is a doctor.
Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat passed away on 11 February 2025, at the age of 101.
Awards and Honors
Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat received many awards for her amazing work:
- Médaille d'Argent du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1958
- Prix Henri de Parville of the Académie des Sciences, 1963
- Member, Comite International de Relativite Generale et Gravitation (President 1980–1983)
- Member, Académie des Sciences, Paris (elected 1979)
- Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1985
- Association for Women in Mathematics Noether Lecturer, 1986
- Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur, 1997
- Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics, 2003
- Elevated to the 'Grand Officier' and 'Grand Croix' dignities in the Légion d'Honneur, 2008
See also
In Spanish: Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat para niños
