Fredholm, Ivar

Ivar Fredholm, in full Erik Ivar Fredholm, (born April 7, 1866, Stockholm, Sweden—died August 17, 1927, Stockholm), Swedish mathematician who founded modern integral equation theory.

Fredholm entered the University of Uppsala in 1886. There, and later at the University of Stockholm (1888–93), he was mainly interested in mathematical physics. After receiving his Ph.D. from Uppsala in 1898, he turned to integral equations. He also worked as an actuary until 1906, when he was appointed professor of theoretical physics at the University of Stockholm.

In a paper that appeared in 1900 entitled “Sur une nouvelle méthode pour la résolution du problème de Dirichlet” (“On a New Method for the Resolution of Dirichlet’s Problem”), Fredholm developed the essential parts of what is now known as Fredholm integral equations.

Although he published only a few papers, Fredholm quickly gained a reputation throughout Europe for his comprehensive work. His efforts in large part inspired the later investigations of the German mathematician David Hilbert.