thumd, 250px Karl Heun (; born 3 April 1859,

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

; died 10 January 1929,

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

) 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 **Ge ...

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 ...

who introduced

Heun's equation In mathematics, the local Heun function H \ell (a,q;\alpha ,\beta, \gamma, \delta ; z) is the solution of Heun's differential equation that is holomorphic and 1 at the singular point ''z'' = 0. The local Heun function is called a Heun ...

Heun function In mathematics, the local Heun function H \ell (a,q;\alpha ,\beta, \gamma, \delta ; z) is the solution of Heun's differential equation that is holomorphic and 1 at the singular point ''z'' = 0. The local Heun function is called a Heun ...

s, and

Heun's method In mathematics and computational science, Heun's method may refer to the improved or modified Euler's method (that is, the explicit trapezoidal rule), or a similar two-stage Runge–Kutta method. It is named after Karl Heun and is a numerical p ...

. Karl Heun studied mathematics and philosophy in

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

(and briefly in Halle). In 1881 with the dissertation ''Die Kugelfunktionen und Laméschen Funktionen als Determinanten'' he received his doctorate under Schering 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 ...

. He then worked as a teacher at an agricultural college in

Wehlau Znamensk (; ; lt, Vėluva; pl, Welawa) is a rural locality (a settlement) in Gvardeysky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Pregolya River at its confluence with the Lava River east of Kaliningrad. Popula ...

, until in 1883 he emigrated to England where he taught until 1885 in

Uppingham Uppingham is a market town in Rutland, England, off the A47 between Leicester and Peterborough, south of the county town, Oakham. It had a population of 4,745 according to the 2011 census, estimated at 4,853 in 2019. It is known for its ep ...

. He completed his studies in London and received his Habilitierung qualification in June 1886 in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

with the thesis ''Über lineare Differentialgleichungen zweiter Ordnung, deren Lösungen durch den Kettenbruchalgorithmus verknüpft sind''. From 1886 to 1889 he taught at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's List of universities in Germany, sixth-oldest u ...

, but because of financial circumstances from 1890 to 1902 he had to work as a teacher in Berlin. In 1900 Karl Heun received the title of Professor and then in 1902 he obtained the professorial chair of

theoretical mechanics Mechanics (from Ancient Greek: μηχανική, ''mēkhanikḗ'', "of machines") is the area of mathematics and physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects. Forces applied to objects res ...

at the

Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; german: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) is a public research university in Karlsruhe, Germany. The institute is a national research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 w ...

, where he worked until he retired with a pension in 1922.

References

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heun, Karl 19th-century German mathematicians 20th-century German mathematicians 1859 births 1929 deaths