mathematics

Jean-Pierre Bourguignon

Jean-Pierre Bourguignon is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Jean-Pierre Bourguignon rather than just read about it. In short: Jean-Pierre Bourguignon (born 21 July 1947) is a French mathematician, working in the field of differential geometry. Biography Born in Lyon, France, he studied at École Polytechnique in Palaiseau, graduating in 1969.

Key takeaways

Jean-Pierre Bourguignon belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Jean-Pierre Bourguignon to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Jean-Pierre Bourguignon from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Jean-Pierre Bourguignon (born 21 July 1947) is a French mathematician, working in the field of differential geometry.

Biography Born in Lyon, France, he studied at École Polytechnique in Palaiseau, graduating in 1969. For his graduate studies he went to Paris Diderot University, where he obtained his PhD in 1974 under the direction of Marcel Berger. He was president of the Société Mathématique de France from 1990 to 1992. From 1995 to 1998, he was president of the European Mathematical Society. He was director of the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques near Paris from 1994 to 2013. Between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2019 he was the President of the European Research Council.

Prof. Bourguignon received the Prix Paul Langevin in 1987 and the Prix du Rayonnement Français in Mathematical Sciences and Physics from the Académie des Sciences de Paris in 1997. He is a foreign member of the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences. In 2005, he was elected honorary member of the London Mathematical Society and has been the secretary of the mathematics section of the Academia Europaea.He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2026.

Selected publications

Articles Bourguignon, Jean-Pierre; Brezis, Haïm (1974). "Remarks on the Euler equation". Journal of Functional Analysis. 15 (4): 341–363. doi:10.1016/0022-1236(74)90027-5. MR 0344713. with H. Blaine Lawson and James Simons: Bourguignon, J.-P.; Lawson, H. B.; Simons, J. (1979). "Stability and gap phenomena for Yang-Mills fields". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 76 (4): 1550–1553. Bibcode:1979PNAS...76.1550B. doi:10.1073/pnas.76.4.1550. PMC 383426. PMID 16592637. with H. Blaine Lawson: Bourguignon, Jean-Pierre; Lawson, H. Blaine (1981). "Stability and isolation phenomena for Yang-Mills fields". Communications in Mathematical Physics. 79 (2): 189–230. Bibcode:1981CMaPh..79..189B. doi:10.1007/BF01942061. S2CID 121935427. with Jean-Pierre Ezin: Bourguignon, Jean-Pierre; Ezin, Jean-Pierre (1987). "Scalar curvature functions in a conformal class of metrics and conformal transformations". Transactions of the American Mathematical Society. 301 (2): 723–736. doi:10.1090/S0002-9947-1987-0882712-7.

Books Bourguignon, Jean-Pierre (2007). Calcul variationnel (in French). Palaiseau: Éditions de l'École Polytechnique. 328 pages. ISBN 978-2-7302-1415-5. MR 2490159. with Oussama Hijazi, Jean-Louis Milhorat, Andrei Moroianu and Sergiu Moroianu: A Spinorial Approach to Riemannian and Conformal Geometry. European Mathematical Society. 2015. ISBN 978-3-03719-136-1. as editor with Rolf Jeltsch, Alberto Adrego Pinto, and Marcelo Viana: Dynamics, Games and Science: International Conference and Advanced School Planet Earth, DGS II, Portugal, August 28–September 6, 2013. Springer. 24 July 2015. ISBN 978-3-319-16118-1.

References

External links "Jean-Pierre Bourguignon". Academia Europaea. Retrieved July 31, 2020. An Interview with Jean-Pierre Bourguignon

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jean-Pierre Bourguignon

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jean-Pierre Bourguignon claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jean-Pierre Bourguignon before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jean-Pierre Bourguignon ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jean-Pierre Bourguignon

In research: Jean-Pierre Bourguignon appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jean-Pierre Bourguignon in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jean-Pierre Bourguignon is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1947 births, 20th-century French mathematicians, 21st-century French mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jean-Pierre Bourguignon outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Jean-Pierre Bourguignon in 20 minutes

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Frequently asked questions

What is Jean-Pierre Bourguignon in simple terms?

Jean-Pierre Bourguignon (born 21 July 1947) is a French mathematician, working in the field of differential geometry. Biography Born in Lyon, France, he studied at École Polytechnique in Palaiseau, graduating in 1969.

Why does Jean-Pierre Bourguignon matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jean-Pierre Bourguignon?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jean-Pierre Bourguignon.