Legendre refers to Adrien-Marie Legendre, a French mathematician known for his contributions to number theory and statistics. He is best known for the Legendre polynomials, which are solutions to Legendre's differential equation and have applications in physics and engineering, particularly in solving problems involving spherical coordinates. In addition to his work on polynomials, Legendre developed the Legendre symbol, a notation used in number theory to determine whether a number is a quadratic residue modulo a prime. His work laid the foundation for many modern mathematical concepts and has influenced various fields, including algebra and calculus.