Raphaël Salem
| Raphaël Salem | |
|---|---|
Raphael Salem
|
|
| Born |
November 7, 1898 Saloniki, Ottoman Empire (now Thessaloniki, Greece) |
| Died | June 20, 1963 (aged 64) Paris, France |
| Fields | Mathematician |
| Institutions | MIT, École Centrale Paris, University of Caen |
| Alma mater |
Sorbonne University École Centrale Paris |
| Doctoral students | Stephen H. Crandall |
| Known for | Salem number |
Raphaël Salem (Greek: Ραφαέλ Σαλέμ; November 7, 1898 in Saloniki, Ottoman Empire (now Thessaloniki, Greece) – June 20, 1963 in Paris, France), was a Greek mathematician after whom are named the Salem numbers and whose widow founded the Salem Prize.
Raphaël Salem was born in Saloniki to Emmanuel and Fortunée Salem. His father was a well known lawyer who dealt with international problems. Raphaël was brought up in a Jewish family who followed the traditions of their ancestors. At age 15 the family moved to France and Salem attended the Lycée Condorcet for two years. Believing that he would follow in father's footsteps, Salem entered the Law Faculty of the University of Paris. His interests, though, were not in law but rather in mathematics and engineering. Soon there after Salem started taking mathematics courses with Hadamard all the while continuing his studies for law. In 1919 he received his law degree. He then began working for a doctorate in law but quickly decided to change direction to science, which he had been studying for years in parallel to his work in law.
After receiving his Licence ès sciences from the Sorbonne and then worked for a degree in engineering. In 1921 he received the degree of Ingénieur des Arts et Manufactures from the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures. Having completed his studies in law, science and engineering Salem then went into banking and started working for Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas in 1921. In his free time he worked on Fourier series, a topic which interested him throughout his life.
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