Nicolaas Govert de Bruijn | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1918-07-09)9 July 1918 The Hague, Netherlands |
| Died | 17 February 2012(2012-02-17) (aged 93) Nuenen, Netherlands |
| Citizenship | Dutch |
| Alma mater | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam |
| Known for | Automath BEST theorem De Bruijn factor De Bruijn index De Bruijn graph De Bruijn notation De Bruijn sequence De Bruijn's theorem De Bruijn torus De Bruijn–Erdős theorem De Bruijn–Erdős theorem (geometry) de Bruijn–Newman constant Dickman–de Bruijn function Moser–de Bruijn sequence |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | Eindhoven University of Technology |
| Doctoral advisor | Jurjen Ferdinand Koksma |
| Doctoral students | Johannes Runnenburg Stan Ackermans |
Nicolaas Govert "Dick"de Bruijn (Dutch:[ˈnikoːlaːsˈxoːvərdəˈbrœyn];[a] 9 July 1918 – 17 February 2012) was a Dutchmathematician, noted for his many contributions in the fields ofanalysis,number theory,combinatorics andlogic.[1]
De Bruijn was born inThe Hague where he attended elementary school between 1924 and 1930 and secondary school until 1934. He started studies in mathematics atLeiden University in 1936 but his studies were interrupted by the outbreak ofWorld War II in 1939. He became a full-time Assistant in the Department of Mathematics of theTechnological University of Delft in September 1939 while continuing his studies.[2] He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Leiden in 1941. He received his PhD in 1943 from theVrije Universiteit Amsterdam with a thesis entitled "Over modulaire vormen van meer veranderlijken" advised byJurjen Ferdinand Koksma.[3]
From June 1944 he was a Scientific Associate working inPhilips Research Laboratories inEindhoven.
He married Elizabeth de Groot on 30 August 1944. The couple had four children: Jorina Aleida (born 19 January 1947), Frans Willem (born 13 April 1948), Elisabeth (born 24 November 1950), and Judith Elizabeth (born 31 March 1963).[2]
De Bruijn started his academic career at theUniversity of Amsterdam, where he was Professor of Mathematics from 1952 to 1960. In 1960 he moved to theTechnical University Eindhoven where he was Professor of Mathematics until his retirement in 1984.[1] Among his graduate students wereJohannes Runnenburg (1960), Antonius Levelt (1961), S. Ackermans (1964), Jozef Beenakker (1966), W. van der Meiden (1967), Matheus Hautus (1970), Robert Nederpelt Lazarom (1973), Lambert van Benthem Jutting (1977), A. Janssen (1979), Diederik van Daalen (1980), and Harmannus Balsters (1986).[3]
In 1957 he was appointed member of theRoyal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.[4] He was Knighted with theOrder of the Netherlands Lion.
De Bruijn covered many areas of mathematics. He is especially noted for:
He wrote one of the standard books in advancedasymptotic analysis (De Bruijn, 1958).
In the late sixties, he designed theAutomath language for representing mathematical proofs, so that they could be verified automatically (seeautomated theorem checking). Shortly before his death, he had been working on models for thehuman brain.
Books, a selection:
Articles, a selection:
