Leo Königsberger (15 October 1837 – 15 December 1921) was a German mathematician, and

historian of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient history, ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural science, natural, social science, social, and formal science, formal. Pr ...

. He is best known for his three-volume biography of

Hermann von Helmholtz Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (; ; 31 August 1821 – 8 September 1894; "von" since 1883) was a German physicist and physician who made significant contributions in several scientific fields, particularly hydrodynamic stability. The ...

, which remains the standard reference on the subject.

Biography

Königsberger was born in Posen (now

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

), the son of a successful merchant. He studied at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

with

Karl Weierstrass Karl Theodor Wilhelm Weierstrass (; ; 31 October 1815 – 19 February 1897) was a German mathematician often cited as the " father of modern analysis". Despite leaving university without a degree, he studied mathematics and trained as a school t ...

, where he taught mathematics and physics (1860–64). He taught at the

University of Greifswald The University of Greifswald (; ), formerly known as Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald, is a public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Founded in 1456, it is one of th ...

(assistant professor, 1864–66; professor, 1866–69), the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

(1869–75), the Technische Universität Dresden (1875–77), and the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

(1877–84) before returning to

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

in 1884, where remained until his retirement in 1914. In 1904 he was a Plenary Speaker of the ICM in Heidelberg. In 1919 he published his autobiography, ''Mein Leben'' ('My Life'). The biography of Helmholtz was published in 1902 and 1903. He also wrote a biography of C. G. J. Jacobi. Königsberger's own research was primarily on

elliptic function In the mathematical field of complex analysis, elliptic functions are special kinds of meromorphic functions, that satisfy two periodicity conditions. They are named elliptic functions because they come from elliptic integrals. Those integrals are ...

s and differential equations. He worked closely with Lazarus Fuchs, a childhood friend.

Selected publications

Vorlesungen über die Theorie der elliptischen Functionen, nebst einer Einleitung in die allgemeine Functionenlehre

Vorlesungen über die Theorie der hyperelliptischen Integrale
Teubner 1878
Project Gutenberg

Allgemeine Üntersuchungen aus der Theorie der Differentialgleichungen

Lehrbuch der Theorie der Differentialgleichungen mit einer unabhängigen Variabeln

Zur Geschichte der Theorie der elliptischen Transcendenten in den Jahren 1826–29
Teubner 1879
Project Gutenberg

Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi
Teubner 1904. * * Mein Leben, Heidelberg 1919.
Erw. Ausgabe. Univ. Heidelberg 2015.

Notes

References

External links

* * *

Extended autobiography (in German) from the University of Heidelberg.
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Koenigsberger, Leo 1837 births 1921 deaths Mathematicians from the Kingdom of Prussia Historians from the Kingdom of Prussia Scientists from Poznań Converts to Lutheranism from Judaism 19th-century German mathematicians People from the Grand Duchy of Posen Academic staff of the University of Greifswald 20th-century German mathematicians German historians of science Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities