Miklós Laczkovich (born 21 February 1948) is a Hungarian mathematician mainly noted for his work on

real analysis In mathematics, the branch of real analysis studies the behavior of real numbers, sequences and series of real numbers, and real functions. Some particular properties of real-valued sequences and functions that real analysis studies include converg ...

and geometric

measure theory In mathematics, the concept of a measure is a generalization and formalization of geometrical measures ( length, area, volume) and other common notions, such as mass and probability of events. These seemingly distinct concepts have many simil ...

. His most famous result is the solution of

Tarski's circle-squaring problem Tarski's circle-squaring problem is the challenge, posed by Alfred Tarski in 1925, to take a disc in the plane, cut it into finitely many pieces, and reassemble the pieces so as to get a square of equal area. This was proven to be possible by Mikl ...

in 1989.Ruthen, R. (1989) ''Squaring the Circle'',

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...

261(1), 22-24.

Career

Laczkovich received his degree in mathematics in 1971 at

Eötvös Loránd University Eötvös Loránd University ( hu, Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, ELTE) is a Hungarian public research university based in Budapest. Founded in 1635, ELTE is one of the largest and most prestigious public higher education institutions in Hung ...

, where he has been teaching ever since, currently leading the Department of Analysis. He was also a professor at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, where he is now a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

. He became corresponding member (1993), then member (1998) of the

Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( hu, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. Its ma ...

. He has held several guest professor positions in the UK, Canada, Italy and the United States. Also being a prolific author, he published over 100 papers and two books, one of which, ''Conjecture and Proof'', was an international success. One of his results is the solution of the Kemperman problem: if ''f'' is a real function which satisfies 2''f''(''x'') ≤ f(''x'' + ''h'') + ''f''(''x'' + 2''h'') for every ''h'' > 0, then ''f'' is monotonically increasing.

Books

Honours

Ostrowski Prize The Ostrowski Prize is a mathematics award given every odd year for outstanding mathematical achievement judged by an international jury from the universities of Basel, Jerusalem, Waterloo and the academies of Denmark and the Netherlands. Alexand ...

(1993) * Member of the

(corresponding: 1993, full: 1998) *

Széchenyi Prize The Széchenyi Prize ( hu, Széchenyi-díj), named after István Széchenyi, is a prize given in Hungary by the state, replacing the former State Prize in 1990 in recognition of those who have made an outstanding contribution to academic life in Hu ...

(1998)

Trivium

Laczkovich enjoys and performs classical music; he has been active in various choirs in the past decades.

References

External links

Homepage at Eötvös Loránd University

an ensemble focused on 15th-century

polyphonic music Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

, of which he is a member 1948 births Living people 20th-century Hungarian mathematicians 21st-century Hungarian mathematicians Members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Academics of University College London {{Europe-mathematician-stub