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Henri Poincaré (1854-1912) was a French "mathematician, geometer, philosopher, and man of letters, who was a kind of poet of the infinite, a kind of bard of science."<ref>This quote is from his funeral.  See http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Poincare.html</ref> Today he is best known for being one of the first to propose the special theory of relativity.

'''Henri Poincaré''' (1854-1912) was a French "mathematician, geometer, philosopher, and man of letters, who was a kind of poet of the infinite, a kind of bard of science."<ref>This quote is from his funeral.  See http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Poincare.html</ref> Today he is best known for being one of the first to propose the special theory of relativity.

Poincaré was a brilliant student, excelling in nearly every subject in the Lycée (now renamed after him) and winning first prizes in a competition among the top students from all the Lycées across France. He did not learn by rote memorization, however, but by linking ideas in a visual manner, an approach attributed to his poor eyesight that prevented him from seeing what was on the blackboard. He received a doctoral degree in mathematics based on a thesis in differential mathematics that some of his reviewers criticized. He then taught in a university, where he also had critics of his disorganized style, but in 1886 gained an appointment to a prestigious chair of mathematical physics and probability at the Sorbonne. He taught there until his death at age 58.  

Poincaré was a brilliant student, excelling in nearly every subject in the Lycée (now renamed after him) and winning first prizes in a competition among the top students from all the Lycées across France. He did not learn by rote memorization, however, but by linking ideas in a visual manner, an approach attributed to his poor eyesight that prevented him from seeing what was on the blackboard. He received a doctoral degree in mathematics based on a thesis in differential mathematics that some of his reviewers criticized. He then taught in a university, where he also had critics of his disorganized style, but in 1886 gained an appointment to a prestigious chair of mathematical physics and probability at the Sorbonne. He taught there until his death at age 58.  

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[[Category:Biographies]]

[[Category:Scientists]]

[[Category:Mathematics]]

[[Category:Mathematics]]