Charles Hermite

Charles Hermite (24 December 1822 – 14 January 1901) was a French mathematician who did research concerning number theory, quadratic forms, invariant theory, orthogonal polynomials, elliptic functions, and algebra.

Quotes

  • Hermite was born in 1822, four years before Riemann. Now in his sixties, he had become one of the standard-bearers for Cauchy and Riemann's work on functions of imaginary numbers. Cauchy's influence on Hermite went beyond mathematics. As a young man Hermite had been an agnostic, but Cauchy, a devout Roman Catholic, had caught Hermite in a weak moment during a severe illness and had converted him to Catholicism. The result was a strange mix of mathematical mysticism, akin to the cult of the Pythagoreans. Hermite believed that mathematical existence was some supernatural state which mortal mathematicians were only occasionally allowed to glimpse.
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