Erdős, Paul << AYR dohsh, powl >> (1913-1996), was a Hungarian mathematician who ranked as one of the greatest mathematicians of the 1900’s. He was well known for his work in number theory, a branch of mathematics concerned with the properties of integers—that is, whole numbers and their negatives. Erdős was also a pioneer in a branch of mathematics called combinatorics. Combinatorics deals with permutations, different arrangements of the numbers or other members in a group, and with combinations, groups that include the same members regardless of how they are arranged. See Permutations and combinations.
Erdős was born on March 26, 1913, in Budapest, Hungary. His parents were both mathematics teachers. Erdős’s parents and a tutor taught him at home, and then he attended public school for a few years. He entered Peter Pazmany University, now known as Eotvos Lorand University, in Budapest in 1930.
While Erdős was a university student, he discovered a proof for Chebyshev’s theorem and became a well-known mathematician. The theorem states that there is at least one prime number between any number greater than 1 and its double. A prime number is a whole number greater than 1 that cannot be divided without a remainder by any whole number except itself and 1. For example, 2, 3, 5, and 7 are prime numbers.
Erdős received his doctor’s degree from Peter Pazmany University in 1934. Later that year, he went to England for a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Manchester. In 1938 and 1939, he held a fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.
In 1949, Erdős and the Norwegian-born mathematician Atle Selberg jointly discovered an elementary proof for the prime number theorem. This theorem describes the way in which prime numbers are distributed among all whole numbers. Mathematicians had believed that an elementary proof could not be given.
Erdős was one of the most prolific mathematicians. He published about 1,500 mathematical papers.
Erdős had no permanent home. He traveled to math conferences and universities all over the world. He often stayed with colleagues wherever he went and collaborated on mathematical problems with fellow mathematicians and students. Erdős was a member of the Royal Society, one of the world’s leading scientific organizations; and of the national scientific academies of Hungary, India, and the United States. He died on Sept. 20, 1996.
