About Jan Denef
Born 1951. Jan Denef is a Belgian mathematician and university teacher.
Jan Denef (born 4 September 1951) is a Belgian mathematician. He is an Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven).
Denef obtained his PhD from KU Leuven in 1975 with a thesis on Hilbert's tenth problem; his advisors were Louis Philippe Bouckaert and Willem Kuijk.
He is a specialist of model theory, number theory and algebraic geometry. He is well known for his early work on Hilbert's tenth problem and for developing the theory of motivic integration in a series of papers with François Loeser. He has also worked on computational number theory.
Recently he proved a conjecture of Jean-Louis Colliot-Thélène which generalizes the Ax–Kochen theorem.
In 2002 Denef was an Invited Speaker at the International Congresses of Mathematicians in Beijing. His Hirsch-index is 24.
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Important facts
People in Jan Denef's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Jan Denef's
Frequently asked questions
Who is Jan Denef?
Belgian mathematician
When was Jan Denef born?
Jan Denef was born on 4 September 1951 in Mechelen.
What is Jan Denef's occupation?
Jan Denef is a mathematician and university teacher.
What nationality is Jan Denef?
Jan Denef is Belgian.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Jan Denef. https://biography.guide/jan-denef/
MLA: "Jan Denef." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/jan-denef/.
Chicago: "Jan Denef." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/jan-denef/.
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