MATHEMATICIAN

Paul Ehrenfest

1880 - 1933

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Paul Ehrenfest (German: [ˈpaʊl ˈeːʁənˌfɛst]; 18 January 1880 – 25 September 1933) was an Austrian theoretical physicist who made major contributions to statistical mechanics and its relation to quantum mechanics, including the theory of phase transition and the Ehrenfest theorem. He befriended Albert Einstein on a visit to Prague in 1912 and became a professor in Leiden, where he frequently hosted Einstein. Suffering from depression, in 1933 Ehrenfest killed his disabled son, Wassik, and then himself. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Paul Ehrenfest is the 127th most popular mathematician (down from 107th in 2019), the 177th most popular biography from Austria (down from 149th in 2019) and the 2nd most popular Austrian Mathematician.

Paul Ehrenfest is most famous for his work in statistical mechanics. He was the first to introduce the concept of the mean field approximation, which is a method for calculating the behavior of a system of interacting particles.

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Among MATHEMATICIANS

Among mathematicians, Paul Ehrenfest ranks 127 out of 1,004. Before him are Isaac Barrow, G. H. Hardy, Nicomachus, Brook Taylor, Jean-Victor Poncelet, and Hippocrates of Chios. After him are Jacques Hadamard, Lodovico Ferrari, Maurice René Fréchet, Charles Hermite, Émile Borel, and Theon of Alexandria.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1880, Paul Ehrenfest ranks 24. Before him are Wilhelm List, Werner von Fritsch, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Premchand, Otto Weininger, and Max Wertheimer. After him are Vajiravudh, Michel Fokine, Mohammed Alim Khan, Bruno Taut, Elton Mayo, and H. L. Mencken. Among people deceased in 1933, Paul Ehrenfest ranks 10. Before him are Li Ching-Yuen, Constantine P. Cavafy, Adolf Loos, John Galsworthy, 13th Dalai Lama, and Mohammed Nadir Shah. After him are Jimmie Rodgers, Sándor Ferenczi, Wilhelm Cuno, Nikolai Yudenich, Annie Besant, and Anatoly Lunacharsky.

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In Austria

Among people born in Austria, Paul Ehrenfest ranks 177 out of 1,424. Before him are Ernst Gombrich (1909), Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria (1751), Lothar Rendulic (1887), Maria Theresa of Austria (1816), Leopold V, Duke of Austria (1157), and Victor Weisskopf (1908). After him are Helmut Marko (1943), Karl Polanyi (1886), Anne of Austria, Queen of Poland (1573), Alfred Schütz (1899), Michael Haydn (1737), and Georg Joachim Rheticus (1514).

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Among MATHEMATICIANS In Austria

Among mathematicians born in Austria, Paul Ehrenfest ranks 2. Before him are Josef Stefan (1835). After him are Georg von Peuerbach (1423), Hans Hahn (1879), Georg Alexander Pick (1859), Emil Artin (1898), Karl Menger (1902), Hermann Bondi (1919), Philipp Frank (1884), Simon von Stampfer (1790), Hilda Geiringer (1893), and Otto E. Neugebauer (1899).

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