14 Facts About Laurent Schwartz

Laurent Schwartz pioneered the theory of distributions, which gives a well-defined meaning to objects such as the Dirac delta function.

Laurent Schwartz was awarded the Fields Medal in 1950 for his work on the theory of distributions.

Laurent Schwartz came from a Jewish family of Alsatian origin, with a strong scientific background: his father was a well-known surgeon, his uncle Robert Debre was a famous pediatrician, and his great-uncle-in-law, Jacques Hadamard, was a famous mathematician.

Laurent Schwartz was particularly gifted in Latin, Greek and mathematics.

Laurent Schwartz had to hide and change his identity to avoid being deported after Nazi Germany overran France.

Laurent Schwartz worked for the University of Strasbourg under the name of Laurent-Marie Selimartin, while Marie-Helene used the name Lenge instead of Levy.

Laurent Schwartz taught mainly at Ecole Polytechnique, from 1958 to 1980.

Laurent Schwartz was both an influential researcher and teacher, with students such as Bernard Malgrange, Jacques-Louis Lions, Francois Bruhat and Alexander Grothendieck.

Laurent Schwartz joined the science faculty of the University of Paris in 1952.

However, Laurent Schwartz had a lasting influence on mathematics at the Ecole polytechnique, having reorganized both teaching and research there.

In 1950 at the International Congress of Mathematicians, Laurent Schwartz was a plenary speaker and was awarded the Fields Medal for his work on distributions.

Laurent Schwartz was the first French mathematician to receive the Fields medal.

Apart from his scientific work, Laurent Schwartz was a well-known outspoken intellectual.

Laurent Schwartz broke with Trotskyism in 1947 and wrote that his "political culture comes almost entirely from that Trotskyist period".