James P. Pierpont (June 16, 1866 – December 9, 1938) was an
American mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
born in Connecticut.
Life
His father
Cornelius Pierpont was a wealthy
New Haven
New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...
businessman. He did undergraduate studies at
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, initially in mechanical engineering, but turned to mathematics. He went to Europe after graduating in 1886. He studied in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and later in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
. He prepared his Ph.D. at the
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...
under
Leopold Gegenbauer and
Gustav Ritter von Escherich. His thesis, defended in 1894, was entitled ''Zur Geschichte der Gleichung fünften Grades bis zum Jahre 1858''. After his defense, he returned to New Haven and was appointed as a lecturer at
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
, where he would spend most of his career. In 1898, he became professor.
Research
Initially, his research dealt with the
Galois theory
In mathematics, Galois theory, originally introduced by Évariste Galois, provides a connection between field (mathematics), field theory and group theory. This connection, the fundamental theorem of Galois theory, allows reducing certain problems ...
of equations. The
Pierpont prime
In number theory, a Pierpont prime is a prime number of the form
2^u\cdot 3^v + 1\,
for some nonnegative integers and . That is, they are the prime numbers for which is 3-smooth. They are named after the mathematician James Pierpont, who us ...
s are named after him, as he introduced them in 1895 in connection with a problem of constructing
regular polygon
In Euclidean geometry, a regular polygon is a polygon that is Equiangular polygon, direct equiangular (all angles are equal in measure) and Equilateral polygon, equilateral (all sides have the same length). Regular polygons may be either ''convex ...
s using
conic section
A conic section, conic or a quadratic curve is a curve obtained from a cone's surface intersecting a plane. The three types of conic section are the hyperbola, the parabola, and the ellipse; the circle is a special case of the ellipse, tho ...
s.
After 1900, he worked in real and complex analysis.
In his textbooks of
real analysis
In mathematics, the branch of real analysis studies the behavior of real numbers, sequences and series of real numbers, and real functions. Some particular properties of real-valued sequences and functions that real analysis studies include co ...
, he introduced a definition of the integral analogous to
Lebesgue integration
In mathematics, the integral of a non-negative function of a single variable can be regarded, in the simplest case, as the area between the graph of that function and the axis. The Lebesgue integral, named after French mathematician Henri L ...
. His definition was later criticized by
Maurice Fréchet
Maurice may refer to:
*Maurice (name), a given name and surname, including a list of people with the name
Places
* or Mauritius, an island country in the Indian Ocean
* Maurice, Iowa, a city
* Maurice, Louisiana, a village
* Maurice River, a t ...
. In the 1920s, he finally turned his interest to
non-Euclidean geometry
In mathematics, non-Euclidean geometry consists of two geometries based on axioms closely related to those that specify Euclidean geometry. As Euclidean geometry lies at the intersection of metric geometry and affine geometry, non-Euclidean ge ...
.
Publications
Articles
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Books
* 1905
Lectures On The Theory Of Functions Of Real Variables Vol. I Ginn and Company
* 1912
Lectures On The Theory Of Functions Of Real Variables Vol. II Ginn and Company
* 1914
Functions of a complex variable Ginn and Company
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pierpont, James P.
1866 births
1938 deaths
19th-century American mathematicians
20th-century American mathematicians
Yale University faculty
Worcester Polytechnic Institute alumni