Louis Poinsot belongs to the mathematical record as a figure whose results outlasted the problems that prompted them.
The record lists Louis Poinsot as French mathematician and physicist (1777-1859).
Louis Poinsot was born at Paris in 1777. His recorded nationality is France. He studied at École polytechnique and École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées.
This was the age of analysis, when the calculus was pushed hard and its foundations were not yet secure.
His academic posts were held at Lycée Condorcet, École polytechnique and Bureau des Longitudes.
The recorded fields of work are theoretical mechanics.
Among his principal contributions are Kepler–Poinsot polyhedron, Poinsot's ellipsoid and tennis racket theorem. Mathematics is the one discipline whose results, once proved, are never overturned.
That the work was done from France matters: mathematical training, institutions and the language of publication have never been evenly distributed.
Louis Poinsot died in 1859, aged 82. The proofs remain, and a proof does not decay - which is the particular permanence mathematics offers.
Achievements
- Notable work: Kepler–Poinsot polyhedron
- Notable work: Poinsot's ellipsoid
- Notable work: tennis racket theorem
- Held posts at Lycée Condorcet, École polytechnique and Bureau des Longitudes
- Fields: theoretical mechanics
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