Henri Poincaré

29 April 1854 – 17 July 1912

Henri Poincaré (1854-1912) was a French mathematician, theoretical physicist, and philosopher of science, often described as the last universalist in mathematics. He founded algebraic topology and the qualitative theory of differential equations, made pioneering contributions to celestial mechanics and the mathematics of relativity, and posed the Poincaré conjecture, solved only in 2003.

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Life events

Born in Nancy, France
29 April 1854

Poincaré was born into an influential family; his cousin Raymond Poincaré later became President of France.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Studied at the École Polytechnique
1873 – 1875

Poincaré entered the École Polytechnique ranked first in the entrance examination and studied mathematics under Charles Hermite.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Trained as a mining engineer at the École des Mines
1875 – 1879

He continued his studies at the École des Mines and served briefly as a mining inspector in northeastern France.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Received doctorate in mathematics from the University of Paris
1879

His thesis, supervised by Hermite, concerned differential equations and introduced ideas he would develop into the qualitative theory.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Appointed to the Sorbonne
1881

Poincaré became a professor at the University of Paris in 1881, holding chairs in physical and celestial mechanics, mathematical physics, and astronomy over his career.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Married Louise Poulain d'Andecy
20 April 1881

The couple had four children.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Won King Oscar II's prize for work on the three-body problem
21 January 1889

His prize memoir on the three-body problem revealed the phenomena now known as deterministic chaos and transformed celestial mechanics.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Published Analysis Situs, founding algebraic topology
1895

His 1895 paper and its supplements created the field of algebraic topology; a 1904 supplement posed the Poincaré conjecture.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Elected to the Académie française
5 March 1908

Already a member of the Academy of Sciences (from 1887, president in 1906), Poincaré was elected to the Académie française for his philosophical writings on science.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Died in Paris following surgery
17 July 1912

Poincaré died of an embolism at age 58 after an operation, and was buried in the family vault at Montparnasse Cemetery.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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