Bouckaert, Louis (1909-1988)

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Mathematician and physicist born in Ostend on 2 January 1909 and died in Gistel on 27 January 1988.

Biography

The son of a doctor, Louis Bouckaert was born in Ostend on 2 January 1909. He went to the secondary school in his home town. After a preparatory year in Ghent, he began studying mining engineering in Leuven. He graduated in 1932. In 1934, he was promoted to a doctorate in mathematics and physics. He prepared a thesis under the supervision of Georges Lemaître. The subject of this work is the latitude effect of cosmic rays.
Bouckaert was a student of the theoretical physicist Charles Manneback.
On the recommendation of Lemaître he went on several research stays abroad. His first stay took place from 1935 to 1936 in the state of Masschusetts at the M.I.T. where he studied cosmic rays. This trip was made possible thanks to a travel grant obtained from the University Foundation. During the academic years 1936-1937 and 1937-1938, he stayed at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton thanks to a grant from the Commission for the Relief of Belgium. There he met the French mathematician André Weil (1906-1998). There Bouckaert worked under the direction of future Nobel Prize winner (1963) Eugene Wigner. In the early months of 1939 he was once again abroad, this time in Bristol.
Bouckaert was appointed lecturer in 1937 and in 1941, ordinary professor (full professor) at the University of Leuven. After the separation of the KULeuven and the UCLouvain in 1968, he remained a professor at both institutions. He taught mathematics, mechanics and mathematical physics.
He was the winner of a travel grant issued by the Royal Academy of Belgium in 1934. On 8 October 1949 he became a corresponding member of the KVAB, and an effective member on 12 June 1954. He was president of the science class in 1960 and an honorary member in 1987. In addition, he sat on the committees responsible for evaluating responses to the Academy's competitions and on the evaluation committees for studies submitted prior to publication.
In 1981 he became a member of the Bestendige commissie voor de geschiedenis der wetenschappen. He was also a member of the commissions of the NFWO (FWO-Flanders, F.R.S – FNRS) and of four committees, the National Committee of Mathematics, the National Committee of Space Research, the National Committee of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics and the National Committee for Logic, History and Philosophy of Science.

Bouckaert was a member or founding member of various scholarly societies, among others, he was co-founder and later president of the Belgian Centre for Mathematical Research. In 1958, he contributed to the creation of the Belgian Centre for Algebra and Topology and was a member of its board of directors. In 1953, he was elected vice-president of the Belgian Mathematical Society and was president from 1955 to 1957.
In 1979 he became an emeritus.
He died in Gistel on 27 January 1988.

Works

Bouckaert was mainly active in the field of theoretical physics, in particular solid state physics. In Leuven, he was introduced to group theory by Gustaaf Verriest. During his stay at Princeton in 1936, Bouckaert published a paper with Wigner and Schmoluchowski on the theory of Brillouin zones and the symmetry of wave functions in crystals. The mathematical importance of this work is that it offerd the first construction of infinite representations of infinite groups. In this article, the group representations were used to show how the energy bands of electrons in metals could be determined from the symmetry properties of the atoms. This was a continuation of the work of Wigner himself who had already used group representations to explain the rules of atomic spectroscopy. The article had an enormous resonance and was quoted many times.

History of science
Bouckaert was involved in the publication of the Works of Daniel Bernoulli. He wrote a commentary in the second volume Analysis-Wahrscheinlichkeitsrechnung, published in 1982.

Educational publications
Bouckaert had a strong interest in education and didactics. Since 1961 he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Belgisch Centrum voor Methodiek van de Wiskunde. He took great care in drafting textbooks and course notes.

Publications

• With SMOLUCHOWSKI, "Theory of Brillouin Zones and Symmetry Properties of Wave Functions in Crystals,", in Phys Rev., (2), t. 49, 1936, p. 875.
• With WIGNER, E., "Theory of Brillouin Zones and Symmetry Properties of Wave Functions in Crystals,", in Phys Rev. (2), t. 50, 1936, p. 58-67.
• With VAN DER WAERDEN, B.L., (Eds.), Die Werke von Daniel Bernoulli, Bd. 2 Analysis und Wahrscheinlichkeitsrechnung, Basel : Birkhäuser, 1982.
• List of publications in the catalogue of the royal library, consuled on 12/05/2010 10h.
  

Textbooks

• Klassieke wiskundige natuurkunde, 1965
• Éléments de physique mathématique et théorique, 1966, 224 p.
• Inleiding tot de algebraische analyse, 1954
• Algebra, 1972, 372 p.
• De ionisatie der Protëinen‎, 1954, 17 p.
  

Bibliography

• "Bouckaert Louis", in: De Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor wetenschappen en kunsten en haar leden, Bruxelles : Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor wetenschappen en kunsten, 2010, p. 24
• HIRSCH, G., "In memoriam Louis Bouckaert ", in Jaarboek 1988, Bruxelles: Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor wetenschappen en kunsten, p. 285-289.
• MAWHIN, Jean, De wiskunde, in Robert Halleux, Geert Vanpaemel, Jan Vandersmissen en Andrée Despy-Meyer (red.), Geschiedenis van de wetenschappen in België 1815-2000, Brussel: Dexia, 2001, vol. 2, p.79.