Heinrich-Wolfgang Leopoldt (22 August 1927 – 28 July 2011) was a German mathematician who worked on

algebraic number theory Algebraic number theory is a branch of number theory that uses the techniques of abstract algebra to study the integers, rational numbers, and their generalizations. Number-theoretic questions are expressed in terms of properties of algebraic ob ...

. Leopoldt earned his Ph.D. in 1954 at the University of Hamburg under

Helmut Hasse Helmut Hasse (; 25 August 1898 – 26 December 1979) was a German mathematician working in algebraic number theory, known for fundamental contributions to class field theory, the application of ''p''-adic numbers to local class field theory and ...

with the thesis ''Über Einheitengruppe und Klassenzahl reeller algebraischer Zahlkörper'' (''On group of unity and class number of real algebraic number fields''). As a postdoc, he was from 1956 to 1958 at the Institute for Advanced Study. In 1959, he obtained his habilitation degree at the University of Erlangen and was then at the University of Tübingen. From 1964, he was ordentlicher Professor at the University of Karlsruhe, where he was also Director of the Mathematics Institute. Leopoldt and Tomio Kubota introduced and investigated

p-adic L-function In mathematics, a ''p''-adic zeta function, or more generally a ''p''-adic ''L''-function, is a function analogous to the Riemann zeta function, or more general ''L''-functions, but whose domain and target are ''p-adic'' (where ''p'' is a prime nu ...

s (now named after them). These functions are a component of Iwasawa theory and are a p-adic version of the Dirichlet L-functions. With

Hans Zassenhaus Hans Julius Zassenhaus (28 May 1912 – 21 November 1991) was a German mathematician, known for work in many parts of abstract algebra, and as a pioneer of computer algebra. Biography He was born in Koblenz in 1912. His father was a historian and ...

he also worked on computer algebra and its applications in number theory. Leopoldt and

Peter Roquette Peter Roquette (born 8 October 1927) is a German mathematician working in algebraic geometry, algebra, and number theory. He was born in Königsberg. Roquette studied in Erlangen, Berlin, and Hamburg. In 1951 he defended a dissertation at the Univ ...

edited the collected works of Hasse. ''(3 vols.)'' In 1979, Leopoldt became a member of the

Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften The Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (German: ''Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften''), established in 1909 in Heidelberg, Germany, is an assembly of scholars and scientists in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. The Academ ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leopoldt, Heinrich Wolfgang 20th-century German mathematicians 1927 births 2011 deaths University of Hamburg alumni Academic staff of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Academic staff of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

See also

References