Elwin Bruno Christoffel
Elwin Bruno Christoffel (born November 10, 1829 in Montjoie , † March 15, 1900 in Strasbourg ) was a German mathematician .
Life
Elwin Bruno Christoffel attended the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium in Cologne , studied at the University of Berlin - among others with Peter Gustav Dirichlet - and received his doctorate in 1856 with a thesis on the movement of electricity in homogeneous bodies . Then he returned to Montjoie, today Monschau, and lived there in academic seclusion for three years. In 1859 Christoffel became a private lecturer at the University of Berlin . The Zurich Polytechnic took him three years later as a successor to Richard Dedekind in Switzerland . He was instrumental in establishing the mathematical school at the Polytechnic. After another job in Berlin at the trade academy , Christoffel became a professor at the University of Strasbourg in 1872 . In 1894 he retired.
From 1868 he was a corresponding member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences . In 1869 he was elected a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences .
plant
Christoffel dealt with conformal mapping and potential theory , the Riemann θ function , with the theory of invariants , with tensor analysis , areas of mathematical physics and geodesy as well as with sound waves ( shock waves ).
His reduction theorem solves the local equivalence problem for quadratic differential forms .
effect
The Christoffel symbols are named after Elwin Bruno Christoffel, which provided a clear representation in tensor analysis and are still used today. He also developed the Schwarz-Christoffel transformation for mapping complicated mathematical areas onto circles.
Others
The Elwin-Christoffel-Realschule in Monschau was named after him.
literature
- Max-Albert Knus: Christoffel, Elwin Bruno. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Carl Friedrich Geiser , Ludwig Maurer : Elwin Bruno Christoffel , Mathematische Annalen 54, 1901, pp. 329–341 (obituary)
- Wilhelm Windelband : On the memory of Elwin Bruno Christoffel’s , Mathematische Annalen 54, 1901, pp. 341–344 (obituary)
- Wilhelm Suess : Christoffel, Elwin Bruno. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1957, ISBN 3-428-00184-2 , p. 241 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Paul Butzer , F. Féher (editor) EB Christoffel, the influence of his work on mathematics and the physical sciences , Birkhäuser 1981
Individual evidence
- ^ Members of the previous academies. Elwin Bruno Christoffel. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities , accessed on March 9, 2015 .
- ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 59.
Web links
- John J. O'Connor, Edmund F. Robertson : Elwin Bruno Christoffel. In: MacTutor History of Mathematics archive .
- Directory of the book collection left behind by Dr. Elwin Bruno Christoffel (Service Commun de Documentation de l'Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg)
- Collected Mathematical papers : Volume One , Second volume . (Service Commun de Documentation de l'Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg)
- Elwin Bruno Christoffel (1829 to 1900) - Brief portrait at the ETH Library
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Christoffel, Elwin Bruno |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German mathematician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 10, 1829 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Monschau |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 15, 1900 |
| Place of death | Strasbourg |