Henri Cartan has made monumental contributions in essentially every field of algebraic topology, including analytical functions, the theory of sheaves, homological theory, and potential theory. His most important works include Homological Algebra (1956) and Elementary Theory of Analytic Functions of One or Several Complex Variables (1963). He also worked on a definitive convergence theorem on decreasing potentials of positive masses, which became a fundamental instrument for improving potential theory. Cartan is the recipient of the 1980 Wolf Prize in Mathematics.

Cartan was born in Nancy, France, in 1904. His father was Elie Joseph Cartan, a French mathematician who made significant contributions to the theory of subalgebras. Cartan was educated at the Ecole Normal Superieure in Paris, one of the finest schools for mathematics. Cartan attended the Ecole from 1923-1926. He was a protege of Jules Henri Poincare, who is considered the founder of algebraic topology and the theory of analytic functions of...