David Bierens de Haan


David Bierens de Haan was a Dutch mathematician and historian of science.

Biography

Bierens de Haan was a son of the rich merchant Abraham Pieterszoon de Haan and Catharina Jacoba Bierens. In 1843 he completed a study in the exact sciences and received his PhD from the University of Leiden in 1847 under Gideon Janus Verdam for the work De Lemniscata Bernouillana. After this he became a teacher of physics and mathematics at a gymnasium in Deventer. In 1852 he married Johanna Catharina Justina de Schepper in Deventer.
In 1856 he became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Since 1866 he was professor of mathematics at Leiden University. Since 1888 he was co-editor of the works of Christiaan Huygens and in 1892 edited the Algebra of Willem Smaasen.
He had a large library on mathematics, the history of science and pedagogy, which currently resides at the Leiden University Library.
His most important contribution to mathematics consist of the issuing of a large table of integrals tables d'intégrales définies in 1858. His doctoral students include Pieter Hendrik Schoute.

Works