Adrien-Marie Legendre
Adrien-Marie Legendre | |
|---|---|
Watercolor caricature by Julien-Léopold Boilly (see § Mistaken portrait), the only Authenticated portrait of Legendre | |
| Born | 18 September 1752 |
| Died | 9 January 1833 (aged 80) Paris, France |
| Alma mater | Collège Mazarin |
| Known for | Associated Legendre polynomials Legendre transformation Legendre polynomials Elliptic functions Introducing the character ∂ |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematician |
| Institutions | École Militaire École Normale École Polytechnique |
Adrien-Marie Legendre (/ləˈʒɑːndər, -ˈʒɑːnd/; French: [adʁiɛ̃ maʁi ləʒɑ̃dʁ]; 18 September 1752 – 9 January 1833) was a French mathematician who made numerous contributions to mathematics. Well-known and important concepts such as the Legendre polynomials and Legendre transformation are named after him. He is also known for his contributions to the method of least squares, and was the first to officially publish on it, though Carl Friedrich Gauss had discovered it before him.