Das Fotoalbum für Weierstraß 025 (Johann Gustav Hermes)

Johann Gustav Hermes (20 June 1846 – 8 June 1912) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

. Hermes is known for completion of a polygon with 65,537 sides.

Early life

On 20 June 1846, Hermes was born in

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...

, a former German city (presently

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

, Russia). Hermes was educated at the Kneiphöfischen Gymnasium. He undertook his ''Abitur'' (final examination) at the school in 1866. After completing his secondary education, he studied

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

from 1866 to 1870, mostly in

. His studies were interrupted due to his participation in the Franco-Prussian War between 1870 and 1871.

Education

On 14 December 1872, Hermes complete his studies and earned a degree in mathematics. On 5 April 1879, Hermes received a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

degree and his dissertation was on the "Reduction of the problem of

cyclotomy In mathematics, a root of unity, occasionally called a de Moivre number, is any complex number that yields 1 when raised to some positive integer power . Roots of unity are used in many branches of mathematics, and are especially important in ...

on linear equations (for

prime number A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...

s of the form 2^''m''+1)" (German: "''Zurückführung des Problems der Kreistheilung auf lineare Gleichungen (für Primzahlen von der Form'' 2^''m''+1'')''").

Career

After a probationary year at the

Chernyakhovsk Chernyakhovsk (russian: Черняхо́вск) – known prior to 1946 by its German name of (Old Prussian: Instrāpils, lt, Įsrutis; pl, Wystruć) – is a town in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, where it is the administrative center of ...

Realgymnasium in 1873, Hermes worked as a teacher at the Progymnasium of the Royal Orphanage of Königsberg in Prussia (German: ''Königliches Waisenhaus zu Königsberg in Preußen''). Beginning in 1883 he was an ''Oberlehrer'' (or upper teacher). In 1893 he became a professor at the Georgianum Gymnasium in

Lingen Lingen (), officially Lingen (Ems), is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. In 2008, its population was 52,353, and in addition there were about 5,000 people who registered the city as their secondary residence. Lingen, specifically "Lingen (Ems)" is ...

. Finally, on 1 April 1899, he became a professor and director at the

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

Realgymnasium (now named the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Gymnasium). On 31 December 1906 he asked for an early retirement from his position due to illness.

Achievements

In 1894, Hermes completed his decade-long effort to find and write down a procedure for the

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

of the regular

65537-gon In geometry, a 65537-gon is a polygon with 65,537 (216 + 1) sides. The sum of the interior angles of any non–list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting is 11796300°. Regular 65537-gon The area of a ''regular '' is (with ) :A = \f ...

exclusively with a compass and a straightedge. His manuscript, with over 200 pages, is today located at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

. In his maiden speech as the director at the Osnabrück Realgymnasium on 11 April 1899, he praised the concept of duty of the influential

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...

, who was also a resident of Königsberg. He finished with the words "''Geduld ist die Pforte der Freude.''" ("Patience is the gate to joy.")

Personal life

In December 1906, Hermes became ill. On 8 June 1912, Hermes died. Hermes is buried in Osnabrück, Germany.

References

External links

* ''(About the division of the circle into 65537 equal pieces)''
Other publications by Hermes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hermes, Johann Gustav 1846 births 1912 deaths 19th-century German mathematicians 20th-century German mathematicians German military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War Scientists from Königsberg People from the Province of Prussia Prussian Army personnel