MATHEMATICIAN

Pierre Wantzel

1814 - 1848

Photo of Pierre Wantzel

Icon of person Pierre Wantzel

Pierre Laurent Wantzel (5 June 1814 – 21 May 1848) was a French mathematician who proved that several ancient geometric problems were impossible to solve using only compass and straightedge. In a paper from 1837, Wantzel proved that the problems of doubling the cube, and trisecting the angle are impossible to solve if one uses only a compass and straightedge. In the same paper he also solved the problem of determining which regular polygons are constructible: a regular polygon is constructible if and only if the number of its sides is the product of a power of two and any number of distinct Fermat primes (i.e. that the sufficient conditions given by Carl Friedrich Gauss are also necessary) The solution to these problems had been sought for thousands of years, particularly by the ancient Greeks. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Pierre Wantzel is the 497th most popular mathematician (down from 441st in 2019), the 3,088th most popular biography from France (down from 3,035th in 2019) and the 78th most popular French Mathematician.

Memorability Metrics

Loading...

Page views of Pierre Wantzel by language

Loading...

Among MATHEMATICIANS

Among mathematicians, Pierre Wantzel ranks 497 out of 1,004. Before him are Otto Hölder, Auguste Kerckhoffs, Lazarus Fuchs, Simon von Stampfer, Friedrich Hirzebruch, and Stephen Cole Kleene. After him are Aleksandr Khinchin, Friedrich Robert Helmert, Issai Schur, Paul Halmos, Ian Stewart, and William Kingdon Clifford.

Most Popular Mathematicians in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1814, Pierre Wantzel ranks 46. Before him are Gustav Hartlaub, Bhanubhakta Acharya, Jules Simon, Daniel Kirkwood, Miklós Ybl, and John Hughes. After him are Hervé Faye, Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Auguste Clésinger, Claude Thomas Alexis Jordan, Felix Lichnowsky, and Johann Georg Halske. Among people deceased in 1848, Pierre Wantzel ranks 38. Before him are Christen Købke, Jean-Baptiste Debret, Duchess Amelia of Württemberg, Keisai Eisen, Branwell Brontë, and Mastoureh Ardalan. After him are Takizawa Bakin, Gabriel Bibron, Ludwig Leichhardt, Robert Blum, Manto Mavrogenous, and Pellegrino Rossi.

Others Born in 1814

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Others Deceased in 1848

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

In France

Among people born in France, Pierre Wantzel ranks 3,088 out of 6,770. Before him are Lucien Gaudin (1886), Peter Fourier (1565), Bernard Werber (1961), Aemilia Hilaria (300), William of Conches (1080), and Robert Garnier (1534). After him are Jean-François de La Harpe (1739), Rudolph, Duke of Lorraine (1320), Laurent Cassegrain (1629), Othon Friesz (1879), Louise Julie de Mailly-Nesle (1710), and Lucien Tesnière (1893).

Others born in France

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Among MATHEMATICIANS In France

Among mathematicians born in France, Pierre Wantzel ranks 78. Before him are Pierre Alphonse Laurent (1813), Yves Meyer (1939), Ismaël Bullialdus (1605), Charles Julien Brianchon (1783), Albert Girard (1595), and Pierre Vernier (1580). After him are Henri Brocard (1845), Arnaud Denjoy (1884), Jean Leray (1906), Jean-Baptiste-Charles-Joseph Bélanger (1790), Jean-Étienne Montucla (1725), and Johannes de Muris (1290).

French born Mathematicians

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous