Goursat, Édouard-Jean-Baptiste

Édouard-Jean-Baptiste Goursat, (born May 21, 1858, Lanzac, Fr.—died Nov. 25, 1936, Paris), French mathematician and theorist whose contribution to the theory of functions, pseudo- and hyperelliptic integrals, and differential equations influenced the French school of mathematics.

Goursat was educated at the École Normale Supérieure, receiving his doctorate in 1881. In that same year he accepted a position on the faculty of science in Toulouse. Four years later he returned to the École Normale Supérieure, where he remained until 1897, when he left to teach mathematical analysis at the University of Paris until his retirement.

Goursat was one of the leading analysts of his time, and his detailed analysis of Augustin Cauchy’s work led to the Cauchy-Goursat theorem, which eliminated the redundant requirement of the derivative’s continuity in Cauchy’s integral theorem. Goursat became a member of the French Academy of Science in 1919 and was the author of Leçons sur l’intégration des équations aux dérivées partielles du premier ordre (1891) and Cours d’analyse mathématique (1900–10), his best-known work, which introduced many new concepts to the field of analysis.