Ernst Leonard Lindelöf


Ernst Leonard Lindelöf was a Finnish mathematician, who made contributions in real analysis, complex analysis and topology. Lindelöf spaces are named after him. He was the son of Lorenz Leonard Lindelöf and brother of the philologist Uno Lorenz Lindelöf.

Biography

Lindelöf studied at the University of Helsinki, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1893, became a docent in 1895 and professor of Mathematics in 1903. He was a member of the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters.
In addition to working in a number of different mathematical domains including complex analysis, conformal mappings, topology, ordinary differential equations and the gamma function, Lindelöf promoted the study of the history of Finnish mathematics. He is known for the Picard–Lindelöf theorem on differential equations and the Phragmén–Lindelöf principle, one of several refinements of the maximum modulus principle that he proved in complex function theory. He was the PhD supervisor for Lars Ahlfors at the University of Helsinki.

Selected bibliography