Biographical Memoirs Volume 82 (2003) / Chapter Skim
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Maxime Bôcher
Maxime Bôcher
Pages 18-39
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From page 19... ...
after his cleath, former! the nucleus of the library of the French Department and yielded, furthermore, a welcome accession to the library of the Cercle Fran~cais, but its most important part, the valuable Moliere en cl Montaigne collections, passed intact to the library of Harvard College.
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two courses in chemistry, en c! courses in philosophy under Professor Palmer, in zoology under Professor Mark, and in physical geography and meteorology uncler Professor Davis, en c!
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prize for an essay on "The meteorological labors of Dove, RecIfielcI, en cl Espy." At graduation he received the bachelor's degree summa cum laucle, with highest honors in mathematics, his thesis being "On three systems of parabolic coordinates." A travelling fellowship was granted him, en cl it was twice renewocI. Bocher's education was not confiner!
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He made inquiries one day regarding a young practitioner of rising fame, with whom Professor Birkoff had recently had some experience. The latter said in closing, "I must add, however, that Dr.
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With the enormous expansion of the subject matter, or cletailecl theories, which grew up en cl flourished with amazing virility in an age characterized by its struggle for intellectual freedom, a point hac! been reacher!
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Klein's first great contribution towarc! unifying apparently unrelated disciplines was the ErIanger Programm of 1872 mentioned above, on a Comparative Consideration of Recent Advances in Geometry.
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wouic! lack important mathematical content en cl because he instinctively sought the specific interrelations of seemingly distinct branches of mathematics, in order that one might yielc!
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From the formal solution of the first boundary value problem for Laplace's equation by means of series to the stucly of boundary value problems for the partial clifferential equations of physics of other than the elliptic type en cl the treatment of these problems by the more recently developed methods of integral equations, was a natural course. Throughout all his work, the total linear homogeneous clifferential equations of the seconc!
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From page 27... ...
science, Bocher macle his own, not by a conscious effort, but through an inner driving force which macle it a part of his very nature to final suitable expression for his icleas. "He never trier!
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From page 28... ...
J Bocher's advanced course in the first year of his professional life took the form of a seminary, the subject being curvilinear coordinates en cl functions clefinecl by clifferential equations. A part of the instruction consisted of formal lectures on the latter topic, and he thus began, even at that early date, to treat topics in a field of analysis in which he was to become eminent.
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From page 29... ...
an open ear en cl a really response when he came with a contribution of real scientific merit, be that contribution in itself large or small. The awakening in the science of mathematics in this country was followocl at once by the springing up of the New York Mathematical Society, which shortly after became the American Mathematical Society.
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He was president of the Society from 1908 to 1910. For his presidential address he took as the subject: "The published and unpublished works of Charles Sturm on algebraic and differential equations.
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The early meetings of the Society were prizecl by those who attenclecl them less for the formal papers presented than for the informal gatherings in the evening or about the breakfast table. It was here that the real mathematical discussions took place, en cl who of those who hacl the rare goocl fortune to be associates!
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From page 32... ...
Hitherto, books on algebra in the English language had been of the Todhunter type, or they had followed the lead of Salmon, through whom "Higher Algebra" came to mean specifically the study of the algebraic invariants of a linear transformation. What the mathematician neeclecl to know of linear clepenclence and the theory of linear equations, of polynomials (factor~zation, resultants, en cl cliscriminants)
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These books present elementary subjects in a form accessible for elementary students, en cl treat them with a degree of accuracy, elegance, en cl perspective seldom attained by writers of text-books. I have spoken of Klein's efforts to unify mathematics.
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34 B I O G RA P H I C A L EMOIRS linear clifferential equations or their resolvents, notably, the P-function en cl the automorphic functions. In IS93-94 Bocher gave for the first time in his career the introductory course on the theory of functions of a complex variable, en cl in the same year he repeated his course on functions clefinecl by clifferential equations, laying stress on the complex theory.
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From page 35... ...
In fact, for each of us the theory of functions was applied mathematics, en cl in presenting its subject matter en cl its methods to our students, our aim was to show them great problems of analysis, of geometry, en c! of mathematical physics which can be solved by the aid of that theory.
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From page 36... ...
Affine Transformations; the use of Imaginaries in Geometry; Abridged Notation; Homogeneous Coordinates; Intersection and Contact of Conics; Envelopes; Reciprocal Polars; The Parametric Representation of Straight Lines and Conics; Cross-Ratio; Project and Collineation; Inversion (b) Complex Quantities; The Elements of the Theory of Equations; Determinants; The fundamental Conceptions in the Theory of Invariants.
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From page 37... ...
2:139-49. 1902 On the real solutions of systems of two homogeneous linear differential equations of the first order.
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Cambridge, England. 1911 The published and unpublished work of Charles Sturm on algebraic and differential equations.
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From page 39... ...
144:41-47. 1917 39 Lepons sur les Me'thodes de Sturm dans la The'orie de Equations Diffe'rentielles Line'aires et leurs De'veloppements Mod ernes, professe'es a la Sorbonne en 1913-1914.
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