Hermann Kortum

Hermann Kortum

obituary

Hermann Kortum (born September 29, 1836 in Muffendorf , † September 24, 1904 in Hamburg ) was a German mathematician .

Life

Hermann Kortum was born on September 29, 1836 as the son of Karl Leonard Kortum and Josephine Gossen in Muffendorf .

His mother (February 11, 1806– June 12, 1899) was the sister of Hermann Heinrich Gossen .

The father (1803–1836) was a district physician in Düren and committed suicide before Hermann was born. Although living in a wealthy situation, he feared that he would not be able to support his family. He was the son of the important physician Carl Georg Theodor Kortum (1765–1847).

After graduating from the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium (Cologne) in 1855 , Kortum studied mathematics at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn . In 1861 he was in Bonn with the thesis "De proprietatibus curvarum tertii ordinis synthetica methodo deductis" for Philosophiae Doctor PhD.

In 1865 he completed his habilitation as a private lecturer at the University of Bonn . In 1868 Kortum received for his under the title "About geometrical tasks III. and IV. degree “published solution of a price problem the Steiner Prize. In this work, Kortum was able to show for the first time how one can solve those geometrical tasks which, in algebraic terms, lead to equations of the third and fourth degree, with the aids of elementary geometry .

In 1869 Kortum was appointed associate professor and, alongside Rudolf Lipschitz, director of the mathematics seminar at the University of Bonn. In 1892 he was appointed full professor .

Kortum also became known for the role he played in clarifying the life story of his uncle Hermann Heinrich Gossen . The vita written by Kortum was reprinted unchanged in 1885 in the first publication on Gossen by Léon Walras and is an important source to this day. The correspondence between Kortum and Walras was published by William Jaffé (1898–1980).

Kortum died in Hamburg on September 24, 1904 .

Fonts

• De proprietatibus curvarum tertii ordinis synthetica methodo deductis (1861)
• About geometric problems III. and IVth degree (1869)
• Obituary for Rudolf Lipschitz in the annual report of the German Mathematicians Association (1903)

Web links

• Hermann Kortum. Anschütz; Study in: Annual Report of the German Mathematicians Association 1906
• Carte de visite of the National Museums in Berlin

literature

• Léon Walras , Un économiste inconnu: Hermann-Henri Gossen , in: Journal des économistes, Vol. 30 (1885), pp. 60–90
• Karl Robert Blum: Hermann Heinrich Gossen - An investigation into the origin of his teaching, Gießen 1931
• William Jaffé (Ed.): Correspondence of Léon Walras and related papers . 3 volumes. North-Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam 1965 (publication of Walras' autobiography and correspondence).