Johan Jensen (mathematician)
Danish mathematician and engineer (1859–1925)

Johan Ludwig William Valdemar Jensen (8 May 1859 – 5 March 1925), mostly known as Johan Jensen, was a Danish mathematician and engineer. He was the president of the Danish Mathematical Society from 1892 to 1903.
Biography
Jensen was born in Nakskov, Denmark, but spent much of his childhood in northern Sweden, because his father obtained a job there as the manager of an estate. Their family returned to Denmark before 1876, when Jensen enrolled to the College of Advanced Technology. Although he studied mathematics among various subjects at college, and even published a research paper in mathematics, he learned advanced maths topics later by himself and never held any academic position. Instead, he was a successful engineer for the Copenhagen Telephone Company between 1881 and 1924, and became head of the technical department in 1890. All his mathematics research was carried out in his spare time. Jensen is mostly renowned for his famous inequality, Jensen's inequality. In 1915, Jensen also proved Jensen's formula in complex analysis.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Johan Jensen (mathematician)” as danish mathematician and engineer (1859–1925). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as danish mathematician and engineer (1859–1925). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q434385. VIAF identifies the subject as 50842871. The Library of Congress control number is n90623931. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1859, 1925, 1892 and 1903.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Johan Jensen (mathematician)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Johan Jensen (mathematician) primary sources, Johan Jensen (mathematician) archive and Johan research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Johan Jensen (mathematician)”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Johan Jensen (mathematician)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.