Joseph Alfred Serret

Joseph Alfred Serret ( born August 30, 1819 in Paris, † March 2, 1885 in Versailles) was a French mathematician.

Life and work

Joseph Serret studied at the École Polytechnique in Paris, where in 1840 he graduated. In 1848 he became examiner in the approval tests. In 1861 he became professor of celestial mechanics at the Collège de France in 1863 and Professor of Analysis at the Sorbonne. In 1873 he was in the Bureau des Longitudes. In 1871 he went into retirement.

Serret is today for his work on differential geometry known, in particular, the Frenet - Serret formulas for space curves with Jean Frédéric Frenet ( 1816-1900 ). He also worked in number theory, calculus and mechanics. Serret was editor of the works of Joseph -Louis Lagrange.

In the 19th century, he was also responsible for his algebra textbook Cours d' algèbre supérieure ( 2 volumes, Gauthier Villars 1877, 1879 ) are known.