| Erich Hecke | |
|---|---|
Photo courtesy of MFO
|
|
| Born | 20 September 1887 Buk, Posen, Germany |
| Died | 13 February 1947 (aged 59) Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Alma mater | University of Göttingen |
| Doctoral advisor | David Hilbert |
| Notable students | Kurt Reidemeister Heinrich Behnke |
| Known for | Hecke operator |
Erich Hecke (20 September 1887 – 13 February 1947) was a German mathematician. He obtained his doctorate in Göttingen under the supervision of David Hilbert. Kurt Reidemeister and Heinrich Behnke were among his students.
Hecke was born in Buk, Posen, Germany (now Poznań, Poland), and died in Copenhagen, Denmark. His early work included establishing the functional equation for the Dedekind zeta function, with a proof based on theta functions. The method extended to the L-functions associated to a class of characters now known as Hecke characters or idele class characters: such L-functions are now known as Hecke L-functions. He devoted most of his research to the theory of modular forms, creating the general theory of cusp forms (holomorphic, for GL(2)), as it is now understood in the classical setting.