Hendrik Lenstra
Encyclopedia
Hendrik Willem Lenstra, Jr. (born 16 April 1949) is a Dutch
mathematician
.
from the University of Amsterdam in 1977 and became a professor there in 1978. In 1987 he was appointed to the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley
; starting in 1998, he divided his time between Berkeley and the University of Leiden, until 2003, when he retired from Berkeley to take a full-time position at Leiden. He was awarded the Spinozapremie
in 1998, and on 24 April 2009 he was made a Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion.
Lenstra has worked principally in computational number theory
and is well-known as the discoverer of the elliptic curve factorization method and a co-discoverer of the Lenstra–Lenstra–Lovász lattice basis reduction algorithm
.
His three brothers Arjen Lenstra
, Andries Lenstra and Jan Karel Lenstra
are also mathematicians. Jan Karel Lenstra is the present director of the Netherlands
Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI). Hendrik Lenstra was the Chairman of the Program Committee of the International Congress of Mathematicians
in 2010.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
.
Biography
Lenstra received his doctorateDoctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
from the University of Amsterdam in 1977 and became a professor there in 1978. In 1987 he was appointed to the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
; starting in 1998, he divided his time between Berkeley and the University of Leiden, until 2003, when he retired from Berkeley to take a full-time position at Leiden. He was awarded the Spinozapremie
Spinozapremie
The Spinozapremie is an annual award by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research of 2.5 million Euro, to be spent on new research. The award is the highest scientific award in the Netherlands...
in 1998, and on 24 April 2009 he was made a Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion.
Lenstra has worked principally in computational number theory
Computational number theory
In mathematics, computational number theory, also known as algorithmic number theory, is the study of algorithms for performing number theoretic computations...
and is well-known as the discoverer of the elliptic curve factorization method and a co-discoverer of the Lenstra–Lenstra–Lovász lattice basis reduction algorithm
Lenstra–Lenstra–Lovász lattice basis reduction algorithm
The LLL-reduction algorithm is a polynomial time lattice reduction algorithm invented by Arjen Lenstra, Hendrik Lenstra and László Lovász in 1982, see...
.
His three brothers Arjen Lenstra
Arjen Lenstra
Arjen Klaas Lenstra is a Dutch mathematician. He studied mathematics at the University of Amsterdam.He is currently a professor at the EPFL , in the Laboratory for Cryptologic Algorithms, and...
, Andries Lenstra and Jan Karel Lenstra
Jan Karel Lenstra
Jan Karel Lenstra is a Dutch mathematician and operations researcher, known for his work on scheduling algorithms, local search, and the travelling salesman problem....
are also mathematicians. Jan Karel Lenstra is the present director of the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI). Hendrik Lenstra was the Chairman of the Program Committee of the International Congress of Mathematicians
International Congress of Mathematicians
The International Congress of Mathematicians is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union ....
in 2010.