Emil Hilb (born 26 April 1882 in Stuttgart; died 6 August 1929 in Würzburg) was a German-Jewish mathematician who worked in the fields of

special function Special functions are particular mathematical functions that have more or less established names and notations due to their importance in mathematical analysis, functional analysis, geometry, physics, or other applications. The term is defined by ...

differential equation In mathematics, a differential equation is an equation that relates one or more unknown functions and their derivatives. In applications, the functions generally represent physical quantities, the derivatives represent their rates of change, an ...

s, and

difference equation In mathematics, a recurrence relation is an equation according to which the nth term of a sequence of numbers is equal to some combination of the previous terms. Often, only k previous terms of the sequence appear in the equation, for a parameter ...

s. He was one of the authors of the ''Enzyklopädie der mathematischen Wissenschaften'' (''Encyclopedia of mathematical sciences''), contributing on the topics of

trigonometric series In mathematics, a trigonometric series is a infinite series of the form : \frac+\displaystyle\sum_^(A_ \cos + B_ \sin), an infinite version of a trigonometric polynomial. It is called the Fourier series of the integrable function f if the term ...

and differential equations. He wrote a book on

Lamé function In mathematics, a Lamé function, or ellipsoidal harmonic function, is a solution of Lamé's equation, a second-order ordinary differential equation. It was introduced in the paper . Lamé's equation appears in the method of separation of variable ...

s.http://www.didaktik.mathematik.uni-wuerzburg.de/history/vollrath/papers/073.pdf Hans-Joachim Vollrath: Emil Hilb (1882–1929), In: P. Baumgart (Hrsg.), Lebensbilder bedeutender Würzburger Professoren, Neustadt/Aisch (Degener), 1995, pages 320–338 Hilb obtained his PhD in 1903 under the supervision of

Ferdinand von Lindemann Carl Louis Ferdinand von Lindemann (12 April 1852 – 6 March 1939) was a German mathematician, noted for his proof, published in 1882, that (pi) is a transcendental number, meaning it is not a root of any polynomial with rational coefficien ...

. He worked as a high school mathematics teacher in

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

until 1906, when

Max Noether Max Noether (24 September 1844 – 13 December 1921) was a German mathematician who worked on algebraic geometry and the theory of algebraic functions. He has been called "one of the finest mathematicians of the nineteenth century". He was the ...

hired him as an assistant; in 1908 he found a position as a lecturer at the

University of Erlangen A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

. He won a position as a professor at the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. The University of Würzburg is one of ...

in 1909, in preference over

Ernst Zermelo Ernst Friedrich Ferdinand Zermelo (, ; 27 July 187121 May 1953) was a German logician and mathematician, whose work has major implications for the foundations of mathematics. He is known for his role in developing Zermelo–Fraenkel axiomatic se ...

. His students at Würzberg included Richard Bär, who later became a distinguished experimental physicist,. Otto Haupt, and Axel Schur.

Books

* ''Beiträge zur theorie der lame'schen Funktionen'' (Contributions to the theory of

s), München, 1903 * ''Über Integraldarstellungen willkürlicher Funktionen'' (On integral representations of arbitrary functions), Teubner, 1908
''Enzyklopädie der mathematischen Wissenschaften'' (Encyclopedia of the Mathematical Sciences), second volume, edited by H. Burkhardt, W. Wirtinger, R. Fricke, and E. Hilb – downloadable pdf files from the University of Göttingen
(German)

Other biographical sources on Hilb

* Haupt, Otto (1933) Emil Hilb, Jahresbericht der Deutschen Mathematiker Vereinigung (Annual Report of the German Mathematical Association), 42, pages 183–198 * Naas, L. and Schmid, H.L. (1961) Neue Deutsche Biographie II (New German Biography II), Berlin (Duncker & Humblot) 1972, page 115 (Otto Haupt) Mathematisches Wörterbuch, Bd. 1, Berlin/Leipzig (Akademieverlag/Teubner), page 729 * Poggendorff, J.C. (1937) biographisch-literarisches Handwörterbuch für Mathematik, Astronomie, Physik, Chemie und verwandte Wissensgebiete, Bd. V. Leipzig-Berlin 1926, page 536, Bd. VI, Leipzig-Berlin 1937, pages 1117 * Reindl, Maria (1966) Lehre und Forschung in Mathematik und Naturwissenschaften, insbesondere Astronomie, an der Universität Würzburg von der Gründung bis zum Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts, Quellen und Beiträge zur Geschichte der Universität Würzburg (teaching and research in mathematics and natural sciences, especially astronomy, at the University of Würzburg from its founding until the 20th century), Beiheft 1, (Hrsg. v. Otto Volk), Neustadt an der Ausch, (Degener & Co.), pages 79–80 * Strätz, Reiner (1989) Biographisches Handbuch Würzburger Juden (biographical handbook of Jews in Würzburg) 19001945, Würzburg (Ferdinand Schöningh), pages 262–263

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hilb, Emil Scientists from Stuttgart 20th-century German mathematicians 19th-century German Jews 1929 deaths 1882 births