Germinal Pierre Dandelin (12 April 1794 – 15 February 1847) was a French
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
,
soldier
A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer.
Etymology
The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...
, and
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...
of
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...
.
Life
He was born near
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
to a
French father and
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
mother, studying first at
Ghent
Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...
then returning to Paris to study at the
École Polytechnique
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
. He was wounded fighting under
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
. He worked for the Ministry of the Interior under
Lazare Carnot. Later he became a citizen of the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, a professor of
mining engineering
Mining in the engineering discipline is the extraction of minerals from underneath, open pit, above or on the ground. Mining engineering is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, and ...
in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, and then a member of the Belgian army.
Work
He is the eponym of the
Dandelin spheres, of Dandelin's theorem in
geometry
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ...
(for an account of that theorem, see
Dandelin spheres), and of the
Dandelin–Gräffe numerical method of solution of algebraic equations. He also published on the
stereographic projection,
algebra
Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics.
Elementary ...
, and
probability theory
Probability theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with probability. Although there are several different probability interpretations, probability theory treats the concept in a rigorous mathematical manner by expressing it through a set ...
.
References
* Biography in ''Dictionary of Scientific Biography'' (New York 1970–1990).
*
Florian Cajori
Florian Cajori (February 28, 1859 – August 14 or 15, 1930) was a Swiss-American historian of mathematics.
Biography
Florian Cajori was born in Zillis, Switzerland, as the son of Georg Cajori and Catherine Camenisch. He attended schools first ...
, ''The Dandelin–Gräffe method'', in ''A history of Mathematics'' (New York, 1938), 364.
* A. S. Householder, Dandelin, Lobachevskii, or Gräffe?, ''
American Mathematical Monthly'' 66 (1959), 464–466.
* A. Quetelet, G P Dandelin, ''Biographie nationale XIV'' (Brussels,1873), 663–668.
* C. Runge, ''The Dandelin–Gräffe method'', in ''Praxis der Gleichungen'' (Berlin-Leipzig, 1921), 136–158.
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dandelin, Germinal Pierre
1794 births
1847 deaths
19th-century French mathematicians
19th-century Belgian mathematicians
Belgian mining engineers
19th-century Dutch mathematicians
Dutch mining engineers
People from Seine-Saint-Denis
19th-century Dutch engineers
19th-century Belgian engineers