7, Apr 2021
Within the HEALPS2 project, we are applying math to data on alpine destinations. In the next four weeks we will drive you through the story of four famous mathematicians that loved to go to the mountains.
Today we’ll talk about Georges de Rham (1903-1990).
He was a Swiss mathematician, whose research focused on differential topology, and also a great mountaineer, indeed he opened several difficult routes, some of them in the Valais Alps and Vaud Alps. In August 1920 de Rham climbed the Grand Combin Associazione Pro Loco Grand Combin, one of the highest peaks in the Alps. He also wrote a complete climbing guidebook of the Miroir d'Argentine, where he climbed routes until 1980. For his research in mathematics he received the Prize of the Marcel Benoist Foundation (1965) and of the City of Lausanne (1979).
Photo credits 2008-2028 Mathematics department - University of Turin
#mathandnature #mathandmountains #climbingmath