1822-1901

French mathematician who dealt chiefly with Abelian and elliptic functions as well as the theory of numbers. During his lifetime, he held positions at the finest schools of Paris—Ecole Polytechnique, Collège de France, Ecole Normale Supérieure, and the Sorbonne University. Of all his students, the best known is Henri Poincaré (1854-1912), a brilliant mathematician-physicist fond of the philosophy of science. Hermite is often recognized as one of the greatest mathematicians of the nineteenth century.