Hans Duistermaat

Dutch mathematician (1942–2010)

Hans Duistermaat belongs to the mathematical record as a figure whose results outlasted the problems that prompted them.

The record lists Hans Duistermaat as Dutch mathematician (1942–2010).

Hans Duistermaat was born at The Hague in 1942. His recorded nationality is Netherlands. He studied at Utrecht University.

Twentieth-century mathematics became abstract and highly specialised, and its methods reached into physics, economics and computing.

His academic posts were held at Utrecht University, Radboud University and Radboud University.

The recorded fields of work are mathematics, mathematical analysis and mathematical physics.

Mathematics is the one discipline whose results, once proved, are never overturned.

Recognition followed: Akademiehoogleraren Prize.

That the work was done from Netherlands matters: mathematical training, institutions and the language of publication have never been evenly distributed.

Hans Duistermaat died in 2010, aged 68. The proofs remain, and a proof does not decay - which is the particular permanence mathematics offers.

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