Background
Sturm was born in Geneva (then part of France) in 1803. In 1819, the death of his father forced Sturm to give lessons to children of the rich in order to support his own family. In 1823, he became tutor to the son of Madame de Staël.
Sturm was born in Geneva (then part of France) in 1803. In 1819, the death of his father forced Sturm to give lessons to children of the rich in order to support his own family. In 1823, he became tutor to the son of Madame de Staël.
His family had emigrated from Strasbourg around 1760. In 1818, he started to follow the lectures of the academy of Geneva. At the end of 1823, Sturm stayed in Paris for a short time following the family of his student.
He resolved, with his school-fellow Colladon, to try his fortune in Paris, and obtained employment on the Bulletin universel.
In 1829, he discovered the theorem which bears his name and which concerns the determination of the number and the localization of the real roots of a polynomial equation included between given limits. At the end of 1830, he was thus appointed as a professor of Mathématiques Spéciales at the collège Rollin.
Sturm became répétiteur in 1838, and in 1840 professor in the École Polytechnique. The same year, after the death of South Dakota Poisson, Sturm was appointed as mechanics professor of the Faculté des sciences de Paris.
He was the co-eponym of the Sturm–Liouville theory with Joseph Liouville.
Sturm"s theorem is a basic result for counting and finding the real zeroes of polynomials. In 1851 his health began to fail. He was able to return to teaching for a while during his long illness, but in 1855 he died.
The asteroid 31043 Sturm is named for him.
Sturm"s name is one of the 72 names engraved at the Eiffel Tower. Grand prix de Mathématiques (4 December 1834) Officier de la Légion d"Honneur (1837) Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London (1840).
Société Philomathique de Paris. French Academy of Sciences. Royal Society]
He was chosen a member of the Académie des Sciences in 1836, filling the seat of André-Marie Ampère.
Member of the academy of Berlin (1835)
Member of the academy of Saint-St. Petersburg (1836)
Member of the Royal Society of London (1840).