1903-1996

Dutch-born mathematician best known for his classic Modern Algebra (1930), which helped disseminate the new algebra developed by David Hilbert, Emil Artin, Emmy Noether, and others. Waerden worked on abstract algebra, algebraic geometry, combinatorics, number theory, probability theory, statistics, topology, and group theory. Having become interested in physics, he wrote an influential book applying group theory to quantum mechanics (1932). Waerden also published many historical works on mathematics and science in the ancient world.