René Schoof

Who is René Schoof?

René Schoof is a mathematician from the Netherlands who works in algebraic number theory, arithmetic algebraic geometry, computational number theory and coding theory.

He received his Ph.D. in 1985 from the University of Amsterdam with Hendrik Lenstra. He is now a professor at the University Tor Vergata in Rome.

In 1985, Schoof discovered an algorithm which enabled him to count points on elliptic curves over finite fields in polynomial time. This was important for the use of elliptic curves in cryptography. The algorithms known before were of exponential running time. His algorithm was improved by A. O. L. Atkin and Noam Elkies.

He also wrote a book on Catalan's conjecture.