Lucien Godeaux was a prolific Belgian 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....

. His total of more than 1000 papers and books, 669 of which are found in Mathematical Reviews

Mathematical Reviews

Mathematical Reviews is a journal and online database published by the American Mathematical Society that contains brief synopses of many articles in mathematics, statistics and theoretical computer science.- Reviews :...

, made him one of the most published mathematicians. He was the sole author of all but one of his papers, and his Erdős number

Erdos number

The Erdős number describes the "collaborative distance" between a person and mathematician Paul Erdős, as measured by authorship of mathematical papers.The same principle has been proposed for other eminent persons in other fields.- Overview :...

 is undefined.

He is best remembered for work in algebraic geometry

Algebraic geometry

Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics which combines techniques of abstract algebra, especially commutative algebra, with the language and the problems of geometry. It occupies a central place in modern mathematics and has multiple conceptual connections with such diverse fields as complex...

. From Liège

Liège

Liège is a major city and municipality of Belgium located in the province of Liège, of which it is the economic capital, in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium....

, he was attracted to the work of the Italian school of algebraic geometry

Italian school of algebraic geometry

In relation with the history of mathematics, the Italian school of algebraic geometry refers to the work over half a century or more done internationally in birational geometry, particularly on algebraic surfaces. There were in the region of 30 to 40 leading mathematicians who made major...

 by the work of one of its masters, Federigo Enriques

Federigo Enriques

Federigo Enriques was an Italian mathematician, now known principally as the first to give a classification of algebraic surfaces in birational geometry, and other contributions in algebraic geometry....

. Godeaux went to Bologna

Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

 to study with him. The Godeaux surface

Godeaux surface

In mathematics, a Godeaux surface is one of the surfaces of general type introduced by Lucien Godeaux.Other surfaces constructed in a similar way with the same Hodge numbers are also sometimes called Godeaux surfaces...

is a construction of a special type, which has subsequently been much studied.

Works