MATHEMATICIANS from Norway

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Norwegian Mathematicians of all time. This list of famous Norwegian Mathematicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Norwegian Mathematicians.

1. Niels Henrik Abel (1802 - 1829)

With an HPI of 77.87, Niels Henrik Abel is the most famous Norwegian Mathematician.  His biography has been translated into 86 different languages on wikipedia.

Niels Henrik Abel ( AH-bəl, Norwegian: [ˌnɪls ˈhɛ̀nːɾɪk ˈɑ̀ːbl̩]; 5 August 1802 – 6 April 1829) was a Norwegian mathematician who made pioneering contributions in a variety of fields. His most famous single result is the first complete proof demonstrating the impossibility of solving the general quintic equation in radicals. This question was one of the outstanding open problems of his day, and had been unresolved for over 250 years. He was also an innovator in the field of elliptic functions and the discoverer of Abelian functions. He made his discoveries while living in poverty and died at the age of 26 from tuberculosis. Most of his work was done in six or seven years of his working life. Regarding Abel, the French mathematician Charles Hermite said: "Abel has left mathematicians enough to keep them busy for five hundred years." Another French mathematician, Adrien-Marie Legendre, said: "What a head the young Norwegian has!" The Abel Prize in mathematics, originally proposed in 1899 to complement the Nobel Prizes (but first awarded in 2003), is named in his honour.

2. Sophus Lie (1842 - 1899)

With an HPI of 62.72, Sophus Lie is the 2nd most famous Norwegian Mathematician.  His biography has been translated into 47 different languages.

Marius Sophus Lie ( LEE; Norwegian: [liː]; 17 December 1842 – 18 February 1899) was a Norwegian mathematician. He largely created the theory of continuous symmetry and applied it to the study of geometry and differential equations. He also made substantial contributions to the development of algebra.

3. Atle Selberg (1917 - 2007)

With an HPI of 57.37, Atle Selberg is the 3rd most famous Norwegian Mathematician.  His biography has been translated into 42 different languages.

Atle Selberg (14 June 1917 – 6 August 2007) was a Norwegian mathematician known for his work in analytic number theory and the theory of automorphic forms, and in particular for bringing them into relation with spectral theory. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1950 and an honorary Abel Prize in 2002.

4. Peter Ludwig Mejdell Sylow (1832 - 1918)

With an HPI of 56.76, Peter Ludwig Mejdell Sylow is the 4th most famous Norwegian Mathematician.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Peter Ludvig Meidell Sylow (IPA: [ˈsyːlɔv]) (12 December 1832 – 7 September 1918) was a Norwegian mathematician who proved foundational results in group theory. Sylow processed and further developed the innovative works of mathematicians Niels Henrik Abel and Évariste Galois in algebra. Sylow theorems and p-groups, known as Sylow subgroups, are fundamental in finite groups. By profession, Sylow was a teacher at the Frederiksborg Latin School for 40 years from 1858 to 1898, and then a professor at the University of Oslo for 20 years from 1898 to 1918. Despite the isolation in Frederiksborg, Sylow was an active member of the mathematical world. He wrote a total of approximately 25 mathematical and biographical works, corresponded with many of the leading mathematicians of the time, and was an able co-editor of Acta Mathematica from the journal's start in 1882. He was also elected into the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in 1868, a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen and the University of Copenhagen awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1894.

5. Caspar Wessel (1745 - 1818)

With an HPI of 55.06, Caspar Wessel is the 5th most famous Norwegian Mathematician.  His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Caspar Wessel (8 June 1745 – 25 March 1818) was a Danish–Norwegian mathematician and cartographer. In 1799, Wessel was the first person to describe the geometrical interpretation of complex numbers as points in the complex plane and vectors.

6. Viggo Brun (1885 - 1978)

With an HPI of 54.93, Viggo Brun is the 6th most famous Norwegian Mathematician.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Viggo Brun (13 October 1885 – 15 August 1978) was a Norwegian professor, mathematician and number theorist.

7. Cato Maximilian Guldberg (1836 - 1902)

With an HPI of 53.28, Cato Maximilian Guldberg is the 7th most famous Norwegian Mathematician.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Cato Maximilian Guldberg (11 August 1836 – 14 January 1902) was a Norwegian mathematician and chemist. Guldberg is best known as a pioneer in physical chemistry.

8. Thoralf Skolem (1887 - 1963)

With an HPI of 51.27, Thoralf Skolem is the 8th most famous Norwegian Mathematician.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Thoralf Albert Skolem (Norwegian: [ˈtûːrɑɫf ˈskûːlɛm]; 23 May 1887 – 23 March 1963) was a Norwegian mathematician who worked in mathematical logic and set theory.

9. Bernt Michael Holmboe (1795 - 1850)

With an HPI of 49.15, Bernt Michael Holmboe is the 9th most famous Norwegian Mathematician.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Bernt Michael Holmboe (23 March 1795 – 28 March 1850) was a Norwegian mathematician. He was home-tutored from an early age, and was not enrolled in school until 1810. Following a short period at the Royal Frederick University, which included a stint as assistant to Christopher Hansteen, Holmboe was hired as a mathematics teacher at the Christiania Cathedral School in 1818, where he met the future renowned mathematician Niels Henrik Abel. Holmboe's lasting impact on mathematics worldwide has been said to be his tutoring of Abel, both in school and privately. The two became friends and remained so until Abel's early death. Holmboe moved to the Royal Frederick University in 1826, where he worked until his own death in 1850. Holmboe's significant impact on mathematics in the fledgling Norway was his textbook in two volumes for secondary schools. It was widely used, but faced competition from Christopher Hansteen's alternative offering, sparking what may have been Norway's first debate about school textbooks.

10. Axel Thue (1863 - 1922)

With an HPI of 48.30, Axel Thue is the 10th most famous Norwegian Mathematician.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Axel Thue (Norwegian: [tʉː]; 19 February 1863 – 7 March 1922) was a Norwegian mathematician, known for his original work in diophantine approximation and combinatorics.