Gabriel Lamé

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Gabriel Lamé

Gabriel Lamé (born July 22, 1795 in Tours , † May 1, 1870 in Paris ) was a French mathematician and physicist .

After working with Émile Clapeyron in Saint Petersburg , Lamé was professor at the École polytechnique in Paris from 1832 .

Services

He became famous for his work on differential geometry and contributions to mathematical physics , especially solving the heat conduction equation , in which he first worked with a curved coordinate system .

Lamé curves (super ellipses)

After Lamé, elliptical curves that he examined and described were named ( Lamé curves ):

with n : any positive real number . It is a generalization of the mathematical description of the conic sections circle and ellipse . The Danish scientist Piet Hein (1905–1996) introduced the term superellipse for the Lamé curves .

The so-called Lamé number series is used in typography . The sequence of 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 etc. described in it is used there in the form of division ratios such as 5: 8 or 8:13 etc. ( golden ratio) in type area constructions, since these ratios are perceived as particularly harmonious.

The Lamé constants describe two material constants that are used in particular in elasticity theory and fluid dynamics .

In 1847 he presented an attempt to prove the Fermat conjecture , which turned out to be flawed, but after the criticism by Joseph Liouville , who pointed to the necessity of proving the uniqueness of the prime factorization for the arithmetic in the spheres of division considered in the proof, too fruitful new Research in algebraic number theory led ( Ernst Eduard Kummer et al.). In the end, however, Lamé proved the case n = 7.

Memberships

On December 16, 1829, Lamé was accepted as a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg . In 1838 he was elected a corresponding member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences . In 1843 he became a member of the Académie des Sciences in Paris.

Honors

Lamé was immortalized by name as one of 72 scientists and engineers on the Eiffel Tower . The lunar crater Lamé is named after him.

literature

  • J. Allard: Notes on squares and cubes. In: Mathematical Magazine. 37/1964, pp. 210-214
  • NT Gridgeman: Lamé Ovals. In: The Mathematical Gazette. 54/1970, pp. 31-37
  • Karl-Eugen Kurrer : The History of the Theory of Structures. Searching for Equilibrium , Ernst & Sohn 2018, p. 437ff and p. 1021 (biography), ISBN 978-3-433-03229-9

Web links

Commons : Gabriel Lamé  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1724: Lamé, Gabriel. Russian Academy of Sciences, accessed January 8, 2020 (Russian).
  2. ^ Historical academy members: Gabriel Lamé. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, accessed on January 8, 2020 .
  3. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter L. Académie des sciences, accessed on January 8, 2020 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Lamé, Gabriel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French mathematician and physicist
DATE OF BIRTH July 22, 1795
PLACE OF BIRTH Tours , France
DATE OF DEATH May 1, 1870
Place of death Paris , France