Louis François Antoine Arbogast

Louis François Antoine Arbogast (born October 4, 1759 in Mutzig , Alsace , † April 8, 1803 in Strasbourg ) was a French mathematician .

Live and act

Little is known about Arbogast's childhood and youth. In 1787 he became a professor of mathematics at the College in Colmar . In 1789 he went to the École d'Artillerie in Strasbourg. A little later he also became professor of physics at the Collège Royal , where he was rector from April to October 1791. He was then appointed rector of the University of Strasbourg . From 1794 he was a professor at the École centrale , which was renamed in 1795 in École polytechnique . He taught at the École preparatoire this Grande école .

Arbogast became known for his work on calculus . During his time in Colmar, he submitted a mathematical treatise to the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg for a prize task set by this academy, which dealt with a special problem of solving differential equations . He won the first prize and was elected an external corresponding member of the Petersburg Academy in October 1791.

Arbogast was the first mathematician to recognize the relationship between algebra and analysis and presented it in his book Du calcul des derivations , published in 1800 . He thus created the basis of operator calculation, which is based on the fact that the mathematical operation to be carried out is represented by a symbol and formally separated from the object on which the operation is to be applied. He interpreted this symbol as an independent quantity, which enables common algebraic calculations. He generalized the chain rule for higher derivatives and formulated its formula five decades before Francesco Faà di Bruno .

Since 1792 Arbogast was a member of the Académie des sciences . He was friends with the mathematician François Français , with whom he worked on differential calculus. After Arbogast's death, François Français inherited his notes and mathematical manuscripts.

From August 31, 1791 to September 20, 1792 he was a member of the Bas-Rhin Department in the Legislative National Assembly and from September 6, 1792 to October 26, 1795 a member of the National Convention . In his capacity as a member of parliament, he was responsible for introducing the metric system of units in France in 1793 .

He died in Strasbourg on April 8, 1803. Some sources cite April 18th as the date of death.

Fonts

Louis François Antoine Arbogast: Du calcul des dérivations . Levrault, Strasbourg 1800, p. 436 .

Individual evidence

^ Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1724. Louis François Antoine Arbogast. Russian Academy of Sciences, accessed July 4, 2017 (Russian).
^ Mandates à l'Assemblée nationale or à la Chambre des députés: Louis, François, Antoine Arbogast. Assemblée Nationale, accessed July 4, 2017 (French, MPs - historical).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Arbogast, Louis François Antoine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH	October 4, 1759
PLACE OF BIRTH	Dirty
DATE OF DEATH	April 8, 1803
Place of death	Strasbourg

[1] Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1724. Louis François Antoine Arbogast. Russian Academy of Sciences, accessed July 4, 2017 (Russian).

[2] Mandates à l'Assemblée nationale or à la Chambre des députés: Louis, François, Antoine Arbogast. Assemblée Nationale, accessed July 4, 2017 (French, MPs - historical).