BAIRE, REN-LOUIS

(b. Jan. 21, 1874, Parisd. July 5, 1932, Chambry, Fr.) French mathematician whose study of irrational numbers and whose concept to divide the notion of continuity into upper and lower semi-continuity greatly influenced the French school of mathematics. Baire graduated from the cole Normale Suprieure with a B.S. in 1895 and a Ph.D. in 1899. His doctoral thesis led to the solution of the problem of the characteristic property of limited functions of continuous functions and helped establish the theory of functions of real variables. In 1902 Baire joined the faculty at the University of Montpellier and three years later the faculty at Dijon. Among his most important works are Thorie des nombres irrationels, des limites et de la continuit (1905) and Leons sur les thories gnrales de l'analyse, 2 vol. (190708), which gave new impetus to the teaching of analysis.