Charles Hermite (French pronunciation: [ʃaʁl ɛʁˈmit]) FRS FRSE MIAS (24 December 1822 – 14 January 1901) was a French mathematician who did research concerning number theory, quadratic forms, invariant theory, orthogonal polynomials, elliptic functions, and algebra.

[1] He read some of Joseph-Louis Lagrange's writings on the solution of numerical equations and Carl Friedrich Gauss's publications on number theory.

Hermite wanted to take his higher education at École Polytechnique, a military academy renowned for excellence in mathematics, science, and engineering.

Tutored by mathematician Eugène Charles Catalan, Hermite devoted a year to preparing for the notoriously difficult entrance examination.

[2] In 1842, Nouvelles Annales de Mathématiques published Hermite's first original contribution to mathematics, a simple proof of Niels Abel's proposition concerning the impossibility of an algebraic solution to equations of the fifth degree.

An inspiring teacher, Hermite strove to cultivate admiration for simple beauty and discourage rigorous minutiae.

[2] Techniques similar to those used in Hermite's proof of e's transcendence were used by Ferdinand von Lindemann in 1882 to show that π is transcendental.

But believe me, it will not fail to cost them some effort.While speaking, M. Bertrand is always in motion; now he seems in combat with some outside enemy, now he outlines with a gesture of the hand the figures he studies.

With M. Hermite, it is just the opposite, his eyes seem to shun contact with the world; it is not without, it is within he seeks the vision of truth.Reading one of [Poincare's] great discoveries, I should fancy (evidently a delusion) that, however magnificent, one ought to have found it long before, while such memoirs of Hermite as the one referred to in the text arouse in me the idea: “What magnificent results!