Carl Ludwig Siegel
Carl Ludwig Siegel | |
|---|---|
Carl Ludwig Siegel in 1975 | |
| Born | 31 December 1896 |
| Died | 4 April 1981 (aged 84) |
| Alma mater | University of Göttingen |
| Known for | E-function Siegel disk Siegel domain Siegel G-function Siegel modular form Siegel modular variety Siegel parabolic subgroup Siegel zero Siegel upper half-space Siegel's conjecture Siegel's lemma Siegel's identity Siegel's number Siegel's theorem Siegel's theorem on integral points Siegel–Shidlovsky theorem Siegel–Walfisz theorem Siegel–Weil formula Brauer–Siegel theorem Riemann–Siegel formula Riemann–Siegel theta function Thue–Siegel–Roth theorem Smith–Minkowski–Siegel mass formula |
| Awards | Wolf Prize (1978) ICM Speaker (1936) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Institute for Advanced Study |
| Doctoral advisor | Edmund Landau |
| Doctoral students | |
Carl Ludwig Siegel (31 December 1896 – 4 April 1981) was a German mathematician specialising in analytic number theory. He is known for, amongst other things, his contributions to the Thue–Siegel–Roth theorem in Diophantine approximation, Siegel's method, Siegel's lemma and the Siegel mass formula for quadratic forms. He has been named one of the most important mathematicians of the 20th century.
André Weil, without hesitation, named Siegel as the greatest mathematician of the first half of the 20th century. Atle Selberg said of Siegel and his work:
He was in some ways, perhaps, the most impressive mathematician I have met. I would say, in a way, devastatingly so. The things that Siegel tended to do were usually things that seemed impossible. Also after they were done, they still seemed almost impossible.