FROBENIUS, GEORG

born Oct. 26, 1849, Berlin, Prussia died Aug. 3, 1917, Berlin in full Ferdinand Georg Frobenius German mathematician who made major contributions to group theory, especially the concept of abstract groups and the theory of finite groups of linear substitutions, that later found important uses in the theory of finite groups as it applies to quantum mechanics. Frobenius became assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Berlin in 1874 and in 1875 was appointed professor of mathematics at the Federal Polytechnic, Zrich. In 1892 he returned to the University of Berlin as professor of mathematics. Frobenius' findings in abstract group theory were published in the paper ber Gruppen von vertauschbaren Elementen (1879; Concerning Groups of Permutable Elements), in collaboration with Ludwig Stickelberger. In collaboration with Issai Schur, he developed group theory by means of the theory of finite groups of linear substitutions. Many of his results were published in such papers as ber die Gruppencharaktere (1896; Concerning Group Characters). He also contributed to the development of a means of solving linear homogenous differential equations.