Walther Franz Anton von Dyck (6 December 1856 – 5 November 1934), born Dyck () and later

ennobled Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characterist ...

, was a German

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 ...

. He is credited with being the first to define a mathematical group, in the modern sense in . He laid the foundations of combinatorial group theory, being the first to systematically study a group by generators and relations.

Biography

Von Dyck was a student of

Felix Klein Christian Felix Klein (; 25 April 1849 – 22 June 1925) was a German mathematician and mathematics educator, known for his work with group theory, complex analysis, non-Euclidean geometry, and on the associations between geometry and grou ...

, and served as chairman of the commission publishing

Klein's encyclopedia Felix Klein's ''Encyclopedia of Mathematical Sciences'' is a German mathematical encyclopedia published in six volumes from 1898 to 1933. Klein and Wilhelm Franz Meyer were organizers of the encyclopedia. Its full title in English is ''Encyclope ...

. Von Dyck was also the editor of Kepler's works. He promoted technological education as rector of the

Technische Hochschule of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. E ...

. He was a Plenary Speaker of the ICM in 1908 at Rome. Von Dyck is the son of the Bavarian painter Hermann Dyck.

Legacy

The

Dyck language In the theory of formal languages of computer science, mathematics, and linguistics, a Dyck word is a balanced string of square brackets and The set of Dyck words forms the Dyck language. Dyck words and language are named after the mathemat ...

in formal language theory is named after him, as are

Dyck's theorem In the part of mathematics referred to as topology, a surface is a two-dimensional manifold. Some surfaces arise as the boundaries of three-dimensional solids; for example, the sphere is the boundary of the solid ball. Other surfaces arise as ...

and

Dyck's surface In the part of mathematics referred to as topology, a surface is a two-dimensional manifold. Some surfaces arise as the boundaries of three-dimensional solids; for example, the sphere is the boundary of the solid ball. Other surfaces arise as ...

in the theory of surfaces, together with the

von Dyck group In mathematics, a triangle group is a group (mathematics), group that can be realized geometrically by sequences of reflection (mathematics), reflections across the sides of a triangle. The triangle can be an ordinary Euclidean geometry, Euclid ...

s, the

Dyck tessellation In the mathematical field of graph theory, the Dyck graph is a 3- regular graph with 32 vertices and 48 edges, named after Walther von Dyck. It is Hamiltonian with 120 distinct Hamiltonian cycles. It has chromatic number 2, chromatic index 3, r ...

s, Dyck paths, and the

Dyck graph In the mathematical field of graph theory, the Dyck graph is a 3- regular graph with 32 vertices and 48 edges, named after Walther von Dyck. It is Hamiltonian with 120 distinct Hamiltonian cycles. It has chromatic number 2, chromatic index 3, r ...

Publications

* .

Notes

References

* Ulf Hashagen: ''Walther von Dyck (1856–1934). Mathematik, Technik und Wissenschaftsorganisation an der TH München'', Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2003,

External links

* * 1856 births 1934 deaths Scientists from Munich 19th-century German mathematicians 20th-century German mathematicians German untitled nobility Group theorists Combinatorialists People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Technical University of Munich faculty Presidents of the Technical University of Munich {{Germany-mathematician-stub