460 JOSEPH LIOUVILLE. 



JOSEPH LIOUVILLE. 



Joseph Liouvillb came into the world of science from a liig'ily 

 esteemed family of Lorraine. lie was born on Friday, March 24, 

 1809. In 1827 he was graduated, with marked distinction, at the 

 Ecole Polytechnique, behng classed in the service of the Pants et 

 Chaussees. But he renou.iced the career thus opened to him, and 

 determined to devote his life to the advance of science and to the 

 work of education. In 1831 he became instructor (repetitenr), and 

 in 1838 professor, at the Ecole Polytechnique. He was called later 

 to professorships at the College de France and at the Sorbonne ; and 

 in the active discharge of his duties at the College de France he 

 remained up to his death. He became a member of the Academy of 

 Sciences in 1839, and of the Bureau of Longitudes in 1841. In the 

 revolutionary year 1848 he was elected to the Constituent Assembly 

 as a representative of Moselle, and was distinguished there, accord- 

 ing to M. Laboulaye, for his clearness and fluency of speech ; but, on 

 the expiration of his official term, he gladly withdrew from a life 

 which only unusual emergencies had induced him to enter. In 1836 

 M. Liouville founded the Joarmd de Mathhnatiques Pares et Appli- 

 quees, which he edited, with distinguished ability, for a period of thirty- 

 nine years, down to 1875. This |)ublication, which is still everywhere 

 known by his name, is a lasting monument of his industry and scien- 

 tific power, and has contributed greatly to the influence and reputa- 

 tion of French geometers. The later years of Liouville's life were 

 saddened by severe domestic griefs and by failing health. But his 

 mind remained unclouded and active. He undertook, but was unable 

 to finish, his course at the College de France in the last year of his 

 life. He was present at a meeting of the Bureau of Longitudes two 

 days before his death ; which took place, suddenly at the last, on 

 Friday, September 8, 1882. 



M, Liouville has been an eminent figure among the mathematicians 

 of his day, an able, vigorous, and original worker in the field of 

 science, an example of simple self-devotion, and the centre of an 

 important influence. The titles of his memoirs occupy very nearly 

 twelve pages in the Royal Society Catalogue of Scientific Papers to 

 1873 inclusive. These writings, treating chiefly of subjects in pure 

 analysis, contain many valuable contributions to mathematical science, 

 and are marked by a beauty of form which is itself a mathematical 

 excellence. They have helped to give a shape to the scientific thought 

 of our time. As an editor and a professor also M. Liouville has 



