Fatou, Julia, Montel : the great prize of mathematical sciences of 1918, and beyond / Michèle Audin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Audin, Michèle.

Series:

Lecture notes in mathematics (Springer-Verlag) ; 2014.

Lecture notes in mathematics, 1617-9692 ; 2014

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Julia, Gaston, 1893-1978.

Julia, Gaston.

Fatou, Pierre, 1878-1929.

Fatou, Pierre.

Montel, Paul, 1876-1975.

Montel, Paul.

Mathematics--History--20th century.

Mathematics.

History.

Mathematicians--France--Biography.

Mathematicians.

France.

Mathematics--Awards.

Iterative methods (Mathematics).

Mappings (Mathematics).

Académie des sciences (France).

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

viii, 332 pages : illustrations, facsimile (some in color) ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

[Berlin; Heidelberg] : Springer-Verlag, 2011.

Summary:

How did Pierre Fatou and Gaston Julia create what we now call Complex Dynamics, in the context of the early twentieth century and especially of the First World War? The book is based partly on new, unpublished sources. Who were Pierre Fatou, Gaston Julia, Paul Montel? New biographical information is given on the little known mathematician that was Pierre Fatou. How did the serious injury of Julia during WWI influence mathematical life in France?

From the reviews of the French edition:

Audin's book is indeed filled with marvelous biographical information and analysis, dealing not just with the men mentioned in the book's title but a large number of other players, too ... . the book under review addresses itself to scholars for whom the history of mathematics has a particular resonance and especially to mathematicians active, or even with merely an interest in, complex dynamics. ... presents it all to the reader in a very appealing form.

Michael Berg, The Mathematical Association of America, October, 2009 Book jacket.

Contents:

I The Great Prize, the framework 13

I.1 The iteration problem in 1915 13

I.2 The protagonists around 1917-1918 22

I.3 The war 24

I.4 Iteration, a few definitions and notation 44

I.5 Normal families 50

I.6 Relation to functional equations 54

II The Great Prize of Mathematical Sciences 59

II.1 Year 1917 60

II.2 Year 1918 72

III The memoirs 91

III.1 Julia's memoir 94

III.2 The (three) memoir(s) of Fatou 101

III.3 Comments (in the first person) 111

III.4 To summarise 112

IV After Fatou and Julia 115

IV.1 Stop 115

IV.2 Hausdorff distance (1914) and dimension (1919) 117

IV.3 Irregular points, J-points, O-points (1925-1927) 120

IV.4 The centre problem (1927-1942) 123

IV.5 Holomorphic dynamics 126

V On Pierre Fatou 135

V.1 Childhood and youth of Fatou 136

V.2 What do we know of Pierre Fatou? 139

V.3 Continuation of Fatou's career 152

V.4 Fatou's thesis 160

V.5 Fatou as a mathematician 164

V.6 Fatou as an astronomer 172

V.7 Teaching and candidatures of Fatou 176

V.8 Fatou and other mathematicians 182

V.9 Death of Fatou 186

VI History's scars-a scientific controversy in 1965 193

VI.1 The protagonists, from 1918 to 1965 194

VI.2 Relations between Julia and Montel, in the 1930's 201

VI.3 The third centenary of the Institut de France 214

VI.4 As a conclusion: O for a biography of Gaston Julia 233.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9783642178535

3642178537

9783642178542

3642178545

OCLC:

706817469