Hieronymus Georg Zeuthen (15 February 1839 – 6 January 1920) was a Danish

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 known for work on the enumerative geometry of

conic section In mathematics, a conic section, quadratic curve or conic is a curve obtained as the intersection of the surface of a cone with a plane. The three types of conic section are the hyperbola, the parabola, and the ellipse; the circle is a ...

algebraic surface In mathematics, an algebraic surface is an algebraic variety of dimension two. In the case of geometry over the field of complex numbers, an algebraic surface has complex dimension two (as a complex manifold, when it is non-singular) and so of di ...

s, and

history of mathematics The history of mathematics deals with the origin of discoveries in mathematics and the mathematical methods and notation of the past. Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of knowledge, written examples of new mathematical developments ...

Biography

Zeuthen was born in Grimstrup near Varde where his father was a minister. In 1849, his father moved to a church in Sorø where Zeuthen began his secondary schooling. In 1857 he entered the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

to study mathematics and graduated with a master's degree in 1862. Following this he earned a scholarship to study abroad, and decided to visit

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

where he studied geometry with Michel Chasles. After returning to Copenhagen, Zeuthen submitted his doctoral dissertation on a new method to determine the characteristics of conic systems in 1865. Enumerative geometry remained his focus up until 1875. In 1871 he was appointed as an extraordinary professor at the University of Copenhagen, as well as becoming an editor of ''Matematisk Tidsskrift'', a position he held for 18 years. For 39 years he served as secretary of the

Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters {{Infobox organization , name = The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters , full_name = , native_name = Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab , native_name_lang = , logo = Royal ...

, during which he also lectured at the Polytechnic Institute. In 1886, he was promoted to ordinary professor at the University of Copenhagen, where he twice served as rector. After 1875 Zeuthen began to make contributions in other areas such as mechanics and algebraic geometry, as well as being recognised as an expert on the history of medieval and Greek mathematics. He wrote 40 papers and books on the history of mathematics, which covered many topics and several periods. He was an

invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians This is a list of International Congresses of Mathematicians Plenary and Invited Speakers. Being invited to talk at an International Congress of Mathematicians has been called "the equivalent, in this community, of an induction to a hall of fame." ...

in 1897 at Zurich, in 1904 at Heidelberg, and in 1908 at Rome.

Publications

* ''Abriß einer elementar-geometrischen Kegelschnittlehre''. Teubner 1882. * ''Die Lehre von den Kegelschnitten im Altertum''. Kopenhagen 1886 (Danish version 1885 in Forh.Vid.Selskab). * ''Geschichte der Mathematik im Altertum und Mittelalter''. Kopenhagen 1896 (Danish version 1893 publ. by Verlag A.F.Hoest). * ''Histoire des Mathématiques dans l'Antiquité et le Moyen Age''. Paris, Gauthier-Villars, 1902. * ''Geschichte der Mathematik im XVI. und XVII. Jahrhundert''. Teubner 1903, and as Heft 17 of ''Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der mathematischen Wissenschaften'' (ed.

Moritz Cantor Moritz Benedikt Cantor (23 August 1829 – 10 April 1920) was a German historian of mathematics. Biography Cantor was born at Mannheim. He came from a Sephardi Jewish family that had emigrated to the Netherlands from Portugal, another branch o ...

). The Danish version was published 1903 in Copenhagen.
''Die Mathematik im Altertum und im Mittelalter''
Kopenhagen 1912. * ''Lehrbuch der abzählenden Methoden der Geometrie''. Teubner 1914. * ''Hvorledes Mathematiken i tiden fra Platon til Euklid blev rationel Videnskab. Avec un résumé en francais''. Forh.Dansk Vid.Selskab 1917, pp.199-369.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zeuthen 1839 births 1920 deaths People from Esbjerg Municipality Danish mathematicians Members of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters Members of the French Academy of Sciences Danish historians of mathematics University of Copenhagen alumni University of Copenhagen faculty Rectors of the University of Copenhagen Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala

Biography

See also

Publications

References

External links