EISENSTEIN, FERDINAND GOTTHOLD MAX

born April 16, 1823, Berlin, Prussia died Oct. 11, 1852, Berlin German mathematician whose work on the theory of elliptic functions and on quadratic and cubic forms led to theorems for quadratic and biquadratic residues, a reciprocity theorem for cubic residues, cyclotomy, and quadratic partition of prime numbers. Eisenstein entered the University of Berlin in 1843 and the following year published 25 papers in August Leopold Crelle's prestigious mathematical journal. Crelle introduced him to the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, who became his lifelong mentor and sponsor. Humboldt encouraged an exchange of correspondence with German mathematician and physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss, on whose work Eisenstein elaborated. He became a professor of mathematics at the University of Berlin in 1847, and later that year his Mathematische Abhandlungen (Mathematical Treatises) was published. He was elected to the Berlin Academy shortly before his death.