Person: Lehto, Olli Erkki
Olli Lehto was a Finnish mathematician who worked in in geometric function theory.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- Despite not having taken the matriculation examinations, Lehto was able to enter the University of Helsinki in 1943.
- Lehto was a soldier in the Finnish army training at the Riihimäki Artillery Training Academy in Riihimäki, about 70 km north of Helsinki.
- Nevanlinna played an important role in Lehto's career beginning from the time that he was an examiner of Lehto's Master's thesis.
- Lehto had been awarded his Master's degree in 1947, and he received his doctorate from the University of Helsinki two years later for his thesis Anwendung orthogonaler Systeme auf gewisse funktionentheoretische Extremal- und Abbildungsprobleme Ⓣ(Application of orthogonal systems on certain functional theory and extremal and Imaging problems).
- Lehto published many works in the years following the award of his doctorate.
- During the early part of his career, Lehto had two jobs, one as a mathematician at the cable company Suomen Kaapelitehdas Oy, a predecessor of Nokia, where he worked from 1947 to 1962.
- There are a number of different aspects of Lehto's career that we must emphasise.
- Perhaps at this point we should also look at Lehto's monograph Univalent functions and Teichmüller spaces (1987).
- The writing is a model of clarity - we have come to expect no less from Lehto.
- Although Lehto had permanent positions in Helsinki, from 1948 to 1983 he spent a total of ten years as a visiting professor abroad at institutions in the United States, India, Israel, and Japan.
- There are other important contributions that Lehto has made to mathematics.
- Yet throughout, the International Mathematical Union has sponsored international congresses around the world, and Professor Lehto's gripping story is one of individuals, among them many of the great mathematicians of our century, united in the common purpose of advancing their science, told against the backdrop of world events.
- Lehto served as Chairman of the Finnish Mathematical Society from 1962 to 1985.
- Throughout his career, Lehto has received honours and prizes which recognise his outstanding contributions.
- Lehto is one of the most internationally renowned mathematicians in Finland and an active writer on the topic of the history of science.
- Finally, let us return to something we mentioned near the beginning of this biography, namely Lehto's love of butterflies.
Born 30 May 1925, Helsinki, Finland. Died 31 December 2020, Helsinki, Finland.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Origin Finland
Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
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- @J-J-O'Connor
- @E-F-Robertson
References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
