Michel Waldschmidt (born June 17, 1946 at

Nancy, France Nancy ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Nanzisch'' is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the northeastern Departments of France, French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. It was the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, which was Lorraine and Barrois, an ...

) is 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 ...

, specializing in

number theory Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic function, integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777� ...

, especially

transcendental number In mathematics, a transcendental number is a number that is not algebraic—that is, not the root of a non-zero polynomial of finite degree with rational coefficients. The best known transcendental numbers are and . Though only a few classes ...

Biography

Waldschmidt was educated at Lycée Henri Poincaré and the

University of Nancy A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

until 1968. In 1972 he defended his thesis, titled ''Indépendance algébrique de nombres transcendants'' (Algebraic independence of transcendental numbers) and directed by Jean Fresnel, the

University of Bordeaux The University of Bordeaux (French: ''Université de Bordeaux'') is a public university based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It has several campuses in the cities and towns of Bordeaux, Dax, Gradignan, Périgueux, Pessac, and Ta ...

, where he was research associate of

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...

in 1971–2. He was then a lecturer at

Paris-Sud 11 University Paris-Sud University (French: ''Université Paris-Sud''), also known as University of Paris — XI (or as Université d'Orsay before 1971), was a French research university distributed among several campuses in the southern suburbs of Paris, in ...

in 1972–3, then a lecturer at the

University of Paris VI Pierre and Marie Curie University (french: link=no, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, UPMC), also known as Paris 6, was a public research university in Paris, France, from 1971 to 2017. The university was located on the Jussieu Campus in the L ...

(Pierre et Marie Curie), where he is Professor since 1973. Waldschmidt was also a visiting professor at places including the

École normale supérieure 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 is a member of the . Today, Michel Waldschmidt is an expert in the theory of transcendental numbers and

diophantine approximation In number theory, the study of Diophantine approximation deals with the approximation of real numbers by rational numbers. It is named after Diophantus of Alexandria. The first problem was to know how well a real number can be approximated by r ...

s. He was awarded the

Albert Châtelet Albert Châtelet (24 October 1883 – 30 June 1960) was a French politician and mathematician. Biography Châtelet was a student at the École normale supérieure (Paris) from 1905 to 1908, succeeding to the Agrégation (a highly selective compe ...

Prize in 1974, the

CNRS Silver Medal The CNRS Silver Medal is a scientific award given every year to about fifteen researchers by the French National Centre for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherch ...

in 1978, the Marquet Prize of

Academy of Sciences An academy of sciences is a type of learned society or academy (as special scientific institution) dedicated to sciences that may or may not be state funded. Some state funded academies are tuned into national or royal (in case of the Unite ...

in 1980 and the Special Award of the Hardy– Ramanujan Society in 1986. From 2001 to 2004 he was president of the

Mathematical Society of France Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

. He is a member of several mathematical societies, including the EMS, the

AMS AMS or Ams may refer to: Organizations Companies * Alenia Marconi Systems * American Management Systems * AMS (Advanced Music Systems) * ams AG, semiconductor manufacturer * AMS Pictures * Auxiliary Medical Services Educational institutions * A ...

and

Ramanujan Mathematical Society Ramanujan Mathematical Society is an Indian organisation of persons formed with the aim of "promoting mathematics at all levels". The Society was founded in 1985 and registered in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India. Professor G. Shankaranarayan ...

. He is interested in exchange programs for researchers and students and was, from 2005 to 2009, Vice President CIMPA (International Centre for Pure and Applied Mathematics), formed in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

for promote international cooperation. He participated in the coordination of cooperation in mathematics of France with many countries, including

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. In 2021 he was awarded the Bertrand Russell Prize by the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

Selected publications

*''Diophantine approximation on linear algebraic groups.'' Springer, 2000 *''Nombres transcendants'', Lecture Notes in Mathematics, vol. 402, 1974, Springer *''Nombres transcendants et groupes algébriques'', Astérisque, vol. 69/70, 1979, 2^e tirage 1987 *''Transcendence Methods'', Queens Papers in Pure and Applied Mathematics, 1979 *With J.-M. Luck, P. Moussa, C. Itzykson (eds.), ''From Number Theory to Physics'', 1995

References

External links

*
Homepage to Jussieu
* * on frenchsciencetoday.org
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Waldschmidt, Michel French mathematicians 1946 births Living people Number theorists Academic staff of the University of Paris Nancy-Université alumni