List of second-generation mathematicians

Math ability is passed from parent to child[1] with the most famous example being the Bernoulli family.[2] This second generation phenomenon also holds in physics[3] but in that field the Nobel Prize in Physics gives a tool for tracking it, since it has been given out for more than 120 years, and there are on average more than two Nobel Prizes in Physics given each year.[4] There is no comparable award in mathematics[5] but perusing (for example) the MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive[6] list of biographies enables the construction of a similar list of notable two-generation pairs of mathematicians.

The following is a list of parent-child pairs who both made contributions to mathematics significant enough to be noted in the citation for a prestigious prize, in an obituary in a major math journal, or in a similarly authoritative source. All are father-son except for Emmy Noether and Cathleen Morawetz. The list is in chronological order by birth date of the parent.

List

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ParentNotable for AwardsChildNotable for Awards
Johann BernoulliL'Hôpital's rule
catenary
brachistochrone curve
Daniel BernoulliBernoulli's principle
Gamma function
Jacopo RiccatiRiccati equation Vincenzo RiccatiIntroduction of hyperbolic functions
Giulio Carlo de' Toschi di FagnanoDiscovery of addition and multiplication formulas for arcs of lemniscate Giovanni FagnanoFagnano's problem
Farkas BolyaiWallace–Bolyai–Gerwien theorem Janos Bolyai Non-Euclidean geometry
Elie CartanStructure of Lie groups
exterior algebra
moving frame
Henri CartanCartan's theorems A and B
Projective module
Émile Picard Medal
Wolf Prize
Max NoetherBrill–Noether theory
Noether's formula
Noether inequality
Emmy NoetherNoether's theorem
Noetherian Property
Stanisław ZarembaWork in Mathematical analysis Stanisław Krystyn ZarembaWork on Low-discrepancy sequences
George David Birkhoff Ergodic Theorem Bocher Memorial Prize Garrett BirkhoffUniversal algebra George David Birkhoff Prize
J. L. SyngeSynge's theorem Cathleen Morawetz

Work on equations of mixed type, with its striking consequences for the theory of flow around airfoils, work on local energy decay for waves in the complement of an obstacle, and results concerning the existence of transonic flow with shocks. [7]

Leroy P. Steele Prize
Emil ArtinSolved Hilbert's seventeenth problem
partially solved Hilbert's ninth problem
Michael ArtinArtin approximation theorem
Algebraic spaces
Leroy P. Steele Prize
Wolf Prize
Petr NovikovWord problem for groups Sergei NovikovAdams–Novikov spectral sequence
Surgery theory
Fields Medal
David MilmanKrein–Milman theorem Vitali MilmanWork in geometric measure theory
Concentration of measure
Israel Prize in mathematics
David George Kendall

Statistical shape analysis

Fellow of the Royal Society Wilfrid Kendall

Work in Stochastic geometry
President of the Bernoulli Society (2013–2015)

Jacques-Louis Lions

Lions–Magenes lemma

John von Neumann Prize
Japan Prize
Pierre-Louis LionsViscosity solution Fields Medal
Takashi OnoWork in Number theory
Algebraic groups
Ken OnoWork in Number theory Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers
Joram Lindenstrauss

Johnson–Lindenstrauss lemma

Israel Prize
Stefan Banach Medal
Elon Lindenstraussmajor advance on Littlewood conjecture Fields Medal

See also

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References

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  1. "Parents' math skills 'rub off' on their children". Retrieved 2025-04-09.
  2. "The Bountiful Bernoullis of Basel". 6 October 2020. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
  3. "4 Father-Son Nobel Prize Winners In Physics". Retrieved 2025-04-09.
  4. "The Nobel Prize in Physics". Retrieved 2025-04-09.
  5. "No Nobel Prize for Math". 2 March 2001. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
  6. "MacTutor". Retrieved 2025-04-09.
  7. "2004 Steele Prizes" (PDF). Notices of the American Mathematical Society. 51 (4): 424. April 2004.