Charles Hermite - Definition and Overview

Charles Hermite (pronounced "air meet") (December 24, 1822 - January 14, 1901) was a French mathematician who did research on number theory, quadratic forms, invariant theory, orthogonal polynomials, elliptic functions, and algebra. Hermite polynomials, Hermite normal form, Hermitian operators, and cubic Hermite splines are named in his honor.

He was the first to prove that e, the base of natural logarithms, is a transcendental number. His methods were later used by Ferdinand von Lindemann for the proof of his celebrated theorem that π is transcendental.