MINKOWSKI, HERMANN


Meaning of MINKOWSKI, HERMANN in English

born June 22, 1864, Aleksotas, Russian Empire [now in Kaunas, Lithuania] died Jan. 12, 1909, Gttingen, Ger. German mathematician who developed the geometrical theory of numbers and who used geometrical methods to solve difficult problems in number theory, mathematical physics, and the theory of relativity. His idea of a four-dimensional space (since known as Minkowski space), combining the three dimensions of physical space with that of time, laid the mathematical foundation of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. The son of German parents living in Russia (his brother was Oskar Minkowski), he returned to Germany with his parents in 1872 and spent his youth in the royal Prussian city of Knigsberg, from whose university he received a doctorate in 1885. He taught mathematics at Bonn (188594), Knigsberg (189496), Zrich (18961902), and the University of Gttingen (190209). His major work was Raum und Zeit (1907; Space and Time). His works were collected in David Hilbert (ed.), Gesammelte Abhandlungen, 2 vol. (1911; Collected Papers).

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