L. E. J. Brouwer
Luitzen Egbertus Jan Brouwer (27 February 1881 – 2 December 1966), usually cited as L. E. J. Brouwer but known to his friends as Bertus, was a Dutch mathematician and philosopher who worked in topology, set theory, measure theory and complex analysis. Regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century, he is known as the founder of modern topology, particularly for establishing his fixed-point theorem and the topological invariance of dimension.
L. E. J. Brouwer | |
|---|---|
| Born | Luitzen Egbertus Jan Brouwer 27 February 1881 |
| Died | 2 December 1966 (aged 85) |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Alma mater | University of Amsterdam |
| Known for | Brouwer–Hilbert controversy Brouwer fixed-point theorem Brouwer–Heyting–Kolmogorov interpretation Jordan-Brouwer separation theorem Kleene–Brouwer order Phragmen–Brouwer theorem Tietze-Urysohn-Brouwer extension theorem Simplicial approximation theorem Bar induction Degree of a continuous mapping Indecomposability Indecomposable continuum Invariance of domain Spread Proving hairy ball theorem Intuitionism |
| Awards | Foreign Member of the Royal Society |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | University of Amsterdam |
| Doctoral advisor | Diederik Korteweg |
| Doctoral students | Arend Heyting |
Brouwer also became a major figure in the philosophy of intuitionism, a constructivist school of mathematics which argues that math is a cognitive construct rather than a type of objective truth. This position led to the Brouwer–Hilbert controversy, in which Brouwer sparred with his formalist colleague David Hilbert. Brouwer's ideas were subsequently taken up by his student Arend Heyting and Hilbert's former student Hermann Weyl. In addition to his mathematical work, Brouwer also published the short philosophical tract Life, Art, and Mysticism (1905).