Dominique Foata

Dominique Foata (born October 12, 1934) is a mathematician who works in enumerative combinatorics. With Pierre Cartier and Marcel-Paul Schützenberger he pioneered the modern approach to classical combinatorics, that lead, in part, to the current blossoming of algebraic combinatorics. His pioneering work on permutation statistics, and his combinatorial approach to special functions, are especially notable.

Foata gave an invited talk at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Warsaw (1983). Among his honors are the Scientific Prize of the Union des Assurances de Paris (September 1985). With Adalbert Kerber and Volker Strehl he founded the mathematics journal Séminaire Lotharingien de Combinatoire. He is also one of the contributors of the pseudonymous collective M. Lothaire. In 1985, Foata received the Prix Paul Doistau–Émile Blutet.

He was born in Damascus while it was under French mandate.