László Fejes Tóth
Hungarian mathematician (1915–2005) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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László Fejes Tóth (Hungarian: Fejes Tóth László, pronounced [ˈfɛjɛʃ ˈtoːt ˈlaːsloː] 12 March 1915 – 17 March 2005) was a Hungarian mathematician who specialized in geometry. He proved that a lattice pattern is the most efficient way to pack centrally symmetric convex sets on the Euclidean plane (a generalization of Thue's theorem, a 2-dimensional analog of the Kepler conjecture).[1] He also investigated the sphere packing problem. He was the first to show, in 1953, that proof of the Kepler conjecture can be reduced to a finite case analysis and, later, that the problem might be solved using a computer.
László Fejes Tóth | |
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Born | László Tóth (1915-03-12)12 March 1915 Szeged, Hungary |
Died | 17 March 2005(2005-03-17) (aged 90) Budapest, Hungary |
Awards | Kossuth Prize (1957), State Award (1973), Gauss Bicentennial Medal (1977), and Gold Medal of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2002) |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Pázmány Péter University, as of 1950 Eötvös Loránd University |
Academic work | |
Main interests | Discrete and combinatorial geometry |
Notable works | Lagerungen in der Ebene, auf der Kugel und im Raum; Regular Figures |
Notable ideas | Theorems on packings and coverings of geometrical objects, including the packing of spheres |
Influenced | Thomas Hales, Károly Bezdek |
He was a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (from 1962) and a director of the Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics (1970-1983). He received both the Kossuth Prize (1957) and State Award (1973).[2][3]
Together with H.S.M. Coxeter and Paul Erdős, he laid the foundations of discrete geometry.[4][5][6]