Rolin-Louis Wavre (25 March 1896 in

Neuchâtel Neuchâtel (, , ; german: Neuenburg) is the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel, situated on the shoreline of Lake Neuchâtel. Since the fusion in 2021 of the municipalities of Neuchâtel, Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Peseux, and Valangin, ...

– 9 December 1949 in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situ ...

) was a Swiss mathematician. Wavre studied at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

and received his Ph.D. in 1921 from the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...

, where he became a professor extraordinarius in 1922, and a professor ordinarius in 1934 (as successor to Charles Cailler). Wavre did research on, among other subjects, logic and the philosophy of mathematics, in which he was an adherent of

Brouwer Brouwer (also Brouwers and de Brouwer) is a Dutch and Flemish surname. The word ''brouwer'' means 'beer brewer'. Brouwer * Adriaen Brouwer (1605–1638), Flemish painter * Alexander Brouwer (b. 1989), Dutch beach volleyball player * Andries Bro ...

's intuitionism. Independently of, and almost simultaneously with,

Leon Lichtenstein Leon Lichtenstein (16 May 1878 – 21 August 1933) was a Polish-German mathematician, who made contributions to the areas of differential equations, conformal mapping, and potential theory. He was also interested in theoretical physics, publishin ...

, he dealt with equilibrium figures of a heterogeneous fluid mass, with a view to applications to planetary systems in astrophysics. In 1932, in Zürich, he was a plenary speaker at the

ICM ICM may refer to: Organizations * Irish Church Missions * Institut du cerveau et de la moelle épinière, a research center * Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modelling, University of Warsaw * International Confederatio ...

with talk ''L'aspect analytique du problème des figures planétaires''. He was an invited speaker at the ICM in 1920 in Strasbourg, in 1928 in Bologna, and in 1936 in Oslo. For the two years 1936 and 1937, he was the president of the

Swiss Mathematical Society The Swiss Mathematical Society (german: Schweizerische Mathematische Gesellschaft; french: Société Mathématique Suisse), founded in Basel on September 4, 1910, is the national mathematical society of Switzerland and a member society of the Euro ...

. As an adolescent, Wavre attended Neuchâtel's gymnasium and was a close friend of

Jean Piaget Jean William Fritz Piaget (, , ; 9 August 1896 – 16 September 1980) was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology ...

(who became a famous psychologist) and

Gustave Juvet Gustave Juvet (born 25 September 1896, La Côte-aux-Fées, Neuchâtel – 2 April 1936, Valais) was a Swiss mathematician. Biography Juvet received his ''licence'' in mathematical sciences from the University of Neuchâtel in 1917 and then the ...

(who became a prominent mathematician).

Selected publications

* * * *

References

External links

Wavre, Rolin Louis (1896–....) - Notice documentaire IdRef
SUDOC {{DEFAULTSORT:Wavre, Rolin University of Geneva alumni Academic staff of the University of Geneva 20th-century Swiss mathematicians 1896 births 1949 deaths University of Paris alumni Swiss expatriates in France