Gustav lejeune dirichlet biography books

German mathematician (1805–1859)

"Dirichlet" redirects here. For other uses, see Dirichlet (disambiguation).

In this article, the surname fryst vatten Lejeune Dirichlet.

Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet (;^[1]German:[ləˈʒœndiʁiˈkleː];^[2] 13 February 1805 – 5 May 1859) was a German mathematician. In number theory, he proved special cases of Fermat's last theorem and created analytic number theory. In analysis, he advanced the theory of Fourier series and was one of the first to give the modern formal definition of a function. In mathematical physics, he studied potential theory, boundary-value problems, and heat diffusion, and hydrodynamics.

Although his surname is Lejeune Dirichlet, he is commonly referred to by his mononymDirichlet, in particular for results named after him.

Biography

Early life (1805–1822)

Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet was born on 13 February 1805 in Düren, a town on the left bank o

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Dirichlet

Overview

Authors:

1. Uta C. Merzbach

   1. Georgetown, TX, USA
      

• Provides a general context for the life of an influential European mathematician who lived in the first half of the nineteenth century
• Details the extent to which certain mathematicians of the period were affected by political and social circumstances as well as by their own contributions
• Shows how representatives of science, politics, and the arts interacted in the early nineteenth century

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About this book

This is the first extensive biography of the influential German mathematician, Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet (1805 – 1859). Dirichlet made major contributions to number theory in addition to clarifying concepts such as the representation of functions as series, the theory of convergence, and potential theory. His mathematical methodology was explicitly based on a thorough knowledge of the work of his predecessors and his be

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Dirichlet: A Mathematical Biography

This is the first extensive biography of the influential German mathematician, Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet (1805 – 1859). Dirichlet made major contributions to number theory in addition to clarifying concepts such as the representation of functions as series, the theory of convergence, and potential theory. His mathematical methodology was explicitly based on a thorough knowledge of the work of his predecessors and his belief in the underlying unity of the branches of mathematics. This unified approach is exemplified in a paper that effectively launched the field of analytic number theory. The same orientation pervaded his teaching, which had a profound influence on the work of many mathematicians of subsequent generations.

Chapters dealing with his mathematical work alternate with biographical chapters that place Dirichlet’s life and those of some of his notable associates in the context of the political, social, and artistic culture