André Bloch (20 November 1893 – 11 October 1948) was a French mathematician who is best remembered for his fundamental contribution to complex analysis.
Bloch killed three of his family members, for which he was institutionalized in a mental asylum for 31 years, during which all of his mathematical output was produced.
Valiron believed Georges to have the better talent, and due to lack of preparation, André finished last in the class.
[4] Both Bloch brothers were injured: André suffered a fall from an observation post, while Georges sustained a head wound which cost him an eye.
On 17 November 1917, while on convalescent leave from service in World War I, Bloch killed his brother Georges and his aunt and uncle.
Bloch told Baruk that the murders were a eugenic act, in order to eliminate branches of his family affected by mental illness.
[4] During the German occupation of France, Bloch (who was Jewish) wrote under aliases, in order to avoid advertising his presence to Nazi occupiers.
[6] In Bloch's own words it is formulated (in Latin) as follows: "Nihil est in infinito quod non prius fuerit in finito", translated as "There is nothing in the infinite that did not exist before in the finite".
Bloch was the first (jointly with Pólya) to consider the distribution of roots of random polynomials,[9] which is another area of research which is intensively developing since the middle of 20th century.