Pierre-Laurent Wantzel

Pierre-Laurent Wantzel , born with Paris in 1814 and died in Paris in 1848, is a Mathématicien French.

Wire of a former serviceman, mathematics professor applied to the Business school, Pierre Wantzel make his studies with the college of Écouen. After a one year stay to the Technical school of Châlons, it enters in 1828 to the Charlemagne college.

In 1829, it publishes in the second edition of the Traité arithmetic the proof of a method of research of square root.

Receipt with the Polytechnic school (X1832 promotion), it integrates then the École of the Highways Departments in 1834. It is interested then particularly in the Algèbre and the problems of constructibility and resolvability by radicals. Contemporary of Welsh Évariste, one can suppose that he did not know of them work which was published only in 1846. He is however largely inspired work by Viète, Descartes, Gauss and Abel.

In 1837, still student in engineering, it publishes in the Journal of the mathematics pure and applied an article entitled Recherches to the means of recognizing if a Problem of Geometry can be solved with the rule and the compass , where it finds a criterion of non-constructibility to the rule and the compass called Théorème of Wantzel, and finishes the demonstration initiated per Gauss on the constructible polygons (Théorème of Gauss-Wantzel).

Engineer of the Bridges and Chaussées in 1840, it prefers to devote himself to teaching initially as a professor of mechanics applied to the Bridge-and-Roadways, then as inspector with the entrance examination to the Polytechnic school, finally as mathematics professor and of physics in other establishments.

He continues to be interested in mathematics, publishes a clearer demonstration of the theorem of Abel on the resolvable equations by radicals, is interested in the curvilinear integrals. He dies in 1848, probably of overwork.

Sources

Chronomath (this site is not really any more accessible since March 2006)
Site of the university of St Andrews

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