Karl Weierstraß (1815-1897): Aspekte seines Lebens und Werkes – Aspects of his Life and Work

Description

Karl Theodor Wilhelm Weierstraß (1815–1897), perhaps the greatest German Catholic mathematician.

He taught at three different Catholic high schools (gymnasiums). (Hermann Grassman was also a gymnasium teacher.)

In a letter to Sophus Lie of 10 April 1882, Weierstrass explained his definitive decision to study mathematics:

For me this letter [from Abel to Legendre], when I became aware of it in Crelle’s Journal [6 (1830), 73–80] during my student years, was of the utmost importance. The immediate derivation of the form of representation of the function given by Abel and designated by him by λ(x), from the differential equation defining this function, was the first mathematical task I set myself; and its fortunate solution made me determined to devote myself wholly to mathematics; I made this decision in my seventh semester [winter semester 1837-1838], although originally I under took the study of public finance and administration [N. H. Abel, Mémorial (1902), 108].

Mit diesem Band würdigt das Berliner Weierstraß-Institut für Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik (WIAS) seinen Namenspatron, den berühmten Mathematiker Karl Theodor Wilhelm Weierstraß (1815–1897) aus Anlass seines 200. Geburtstags. Auf Grund der großen Bedeutung vieler seiner Ergebnisse und Neuerungen und der sprichwörtlichen „Weierstraß’schen Strenge“ hat der Name Weierstraß an vielen Stellen in der Mathematik einen festen Platz im allgemeinen mathematischen Sprachgebrauch erhalten. Im vorliegenden Band widmen sich eminente Mathematiker und Mathematikhistoriker zentralen Aspekten des Lebens und des Werks des Jubilars in neuen, hier erstmals veröffentlichten Aufsätzen für eine breite wissenschaftlich interessierte Öffentlichkeit.

With this volume, the Weierstraß Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics (WIAS) at Berlin honors the man that inspired its name, the famous mathematician Karl Theodor Wilhelm Weierstraß (1815–1897), on the occasion of his 200th birthday. Due to the importance of many of his results and innovations and the proverbial ‘Weierstrassian rigor’, the name ‘Weierstraß’ has received in many mathematical fields a firm status in the general linguistic usage. In the present book, eight outstanding mathematicians and historians of mathematics shed light on central aspects of Karl Weierstraß’s life and work in original articles written for the general public.