List of second-generation mathematicians
Math ability is passed from parent to child [1] with the most famous example being the Bernoulli family.[2] This second generation phenomenon also holds in physics [3] but in that field the Nobel prize gives a tool for tracking it, since it has been given out for more than 120 years, and there are on average more than two Nobel prizes in physics given each year.[4] There is no comparable award in mathematics [5] but perusing (for example) the MacTutor [6] list of biographies enables the construction of a similar list of notable two-generation pairs of mathematicians.
The following is a list of parent-child pairs who both made contributions to mathematics signficiant enough to be noted in the citation for a prestigious prize, in an obituary in a major math journal, or in a similarly authoritative source. All are father-son except for Emmy Noether and Cathleen Morawetz. The list is in chronological order by birth date of the parent.
List
[edit]| Parent | Notable for | Awards | Child | Notable for | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johann Bernoulli | L'Hôpital's rule catenary brachistochrone curve | Daniel Bernoulli | Bernoulli's principle Gamma function | ||
| Farkas Bolyai | Wallace–Bolyai–Gerwien theorem | Janos Bolyai | Non-Euclidean geometry | ||
| Elie Cartan | Structure of Lie groups exterior algebra moving frame | Henri Cartan | Cartan's theorems A and B Projective module | Émile Picard Medal Wolf Prize | |
| Max Noether | Brill–Noether theory Noether's formula Noether inequality | Emmy Noether | Noether's theorem Noetherian Property | ||
| George David Birkhoff | Ergodic Theorem | Bocher Memorial Prize | Garrett Birkhoff | Universal algebra | George David Birkhoff Prize |
| J. L. Synge | Synge's theorem | Cathleen Morawetz | Work on equations of mixed type, with its striking consequences for the theory of flow around airfoils, work on local energy decay for waves in the complement of an obstacle, and results concerning the existence of transonic flow with shocks. [7] | Leroy P. Steele Prize | |
| Emil Artin | Solved Hilbert's seventeenth problem partially solved Hilbert's ninth problem | Michael Artin | Artin approximation theorem Algebraic spaces | Leroy P. Steele Prize Wolf Prize | |
| Petr Novikov | Word problem for groups | Sergei Novikov | Adams–Novikov spectral sequence Surgery theory | Fields Medal | |
| Jacques-Louis Lions | With Giovanni Prodi independently proved the uniqueness of weak solutions in dimension two of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. With 0. A. Ladyzhenskaya, ]. Serrin, and others, contributed to the beginning of the modern theory of mathematical fluid dynamics. Work with Emico Magenes on nonhomogeneous boundary value problems, which led eventually to the publication of a three-volume book in 1968. [8] | John von Neumann Prize Japan Prize | Pierre-Louis Lions | Breakthrough 1983 paper with M.G. Crandall, which introduced "viscosity solutions" for Hamilton-Jacobi equations. Extraordinary 1989 paper with R. J. DiPerna, the first mathematical work to show rigorously the existence of solutions to Boltzmann's equation for the density of colliding hard spheres, with general initial data. [9] | Fields Medal |
| Joram Lindenstrauss | Characterization (joint with L. Tzafriri) of the Hilbert space as the unique Banach space all of whose closed subspaces are complemented (solution of a 1930 Banach and Mazur's problem). [10] | Israel Prize Stefan Banach Medal | Elon Lindenstrauss | major advance on Littlewood conjecture | Fields Medal |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Parents' math skills 'rub off' on their children". Retrieved 2025-04-09.
- ^ "The Bountiful Bernoullis of Basel". 6 October 2020. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
- ^ "4 Father-Son Nobel Prize Winners In Physics". Retrieved 2025-04-09.
- ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physics". Retrieved 2025-04-09.
- ^ "No Nobel Prize for Math". 2 March 2001. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
- ^ "MacTutor". Retrieved 2025-04-09.
- ^ "2004 Steele Prizes" (PDF). Notices of the American Mathematical Society. 51 (4): 424. April 2004.
- ^ Teman, Roger (December 2001). "Jacques-Louis Lions (1928-2001)" (PDF). Notices of the American Mathematical Society. 48 (11): 1315--1321.
- ^ Evans, Lawrence (Nov 1994). "Fields Medals and Nevanlinna Prize Presented at ICM-94 in Zurich" (PDF). Notices of the American Mathematical Society. 41 (9): 1105.
- ^ "JORAM LINDENSTRAUSS (1936-2012)" (PDF). Studia Mathematica. 209 (2): 101. 2012.