Borel - Félix Edouard Emil Borel

A French mathematician. He is famous for the Borel set in measure theory, the Heine-Borel theorem in topological spaces, and the Borel-Cantelli theorem in probability theory, but his series of books, commonly known as the Borel Collection, contributed greatly to the popularization of set theory. In terms of thought, he was a leading figure in the so-called French empiricist school, but looking back now, his research on infinite sequences and quasi-analytic functions did not become as mainstream as initially expected, and it seems that they have been forgotten. He is also famous for his books on probability theory. His statement that "10 ^-6 , 10 ^-15 , and 10 ^-50 are the limits of probability that can be ignored on a personal, social, and cosmic scale, respectively" is a standard that is often quoted. He was also a politician. However, compared to his teacher and senior, Painlevé, who also became prime minister, he was very conservative and did not seem to have the same ability as Painlevé, despite being said to be his successor.

[Shin Ichimatsu]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

フランスの数学者。測度論のボレル集合、位相空間のハイネ‐ボレルの定理、確率論のボレル‐カンテリの定理などで有名であるが、俗にボレル叢書(そうしょ)とよばれる一連の書物で、結果的に集合論の普及に大きく貢献した。思想的にはいわゆるフランス経験主義学派の有力者であったが、彼の無限の階列の研究も、準解析関数も、現在顧みると当初の期待ほど主流にならず、むしろ忘れられた感がある。確率論の著書も有名である。「10^－6，10^－15，10^－50がそれぞれ個人的、社会的、宇宙的尺度で無視してよい確率の限界」という語は、よく引用される一つの標準である。彼は政治家でもあった。しかし彼の師であり先輩であり首相にもなったパンルベと比べると、その後継者といわれながら、たいへん保守的であり、力量も及ばなかった感じである。

［一松　信］

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