- André Lichnerowicz
André Lichnerowicz (
January 21 ,1915 –December 11 ,1998 ) was a noted French differential geometer and mathematical physicist of Polish descent.Biography
His father fought in Polish resistance against the Prussians. His mother was a descendant of paper makers, and one of the first women to earn the aggregation in mathematics. André attended the
École Normale Supérieure inParis , gaining aggregation in 1936. He then joined theCentre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS).Lichnerowicz studied differential geometry under
Élie Cartan . His doctoral dissertation, completed in 1939 under the supervision ofGeorges Darmois , concerned what are now called theLichnerowicz matching conditions ingeneral relativity .His academic career began under the cloud of German occupation, during
World War II . He taught at theUniversity of Strasbourg , which was moved toClermont Ferrand and only returned toStrasbourg in 1945, where he taught until 1949. From 1949-1952 he taught at theUniversity of Paris . In 1952 he was appointed to theCollège de France , where he taught until his retirement in 1986. He was made a member of the Académie des Sciences in 1963.His
Ph.D. students includedThierry Aubin ,Marcel Berger ,Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat , andThibault Damour .While pursuing an active research career, Lichnerowicz made time for
pedagogy , and is credited with carrying out various required reforms in higher education in postwar France.Works in English translation
* "Elements of Tensor Calculus" , John Wiley and Sons, 1962.
* "Relativistic Hydrodynamics and Magnetohydrodynamics", W. A. Benjamin, 1967.
* "Linear Algebra and Analysis' Holden Day, 1967.
* "Geometry of Groups of Transformations", Leyden: Noordhoff, [1958] 1976.
* "Global Theory of Connection and Holonomy Groups" Leyden: Noordhoff, [1955] 1976.
* "Magnetohydrodynamics: Waves and Shock Waves in Curved Space-Time" Kluwer, Springer 1994. ISBN 0792328051
* with Alexandre Favre, Henri Guitton, and Jean Guitton, "Chaos and Determinism", Johns Hopkins, 1995.
* with Alain Connes, and Marco Schutzenberger, "Triangle of Thoughts",American Mathematical Society , 2000.Tribute
* Cahen, M.; Lichnerowicz, André; Flato, M., eds., "Differential Geometry and Relativity: A Volume in Honour of André Lichnerowicz on His 60th Birthday", Reidel, 1976. ISBN 9027707456
References
*.
*Alain Connes , "Biographical Note: André Lichnerowicz," in "Triangle of Thoughts" (see above), 173-5.External links
*
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
