Overview
- First biography of Grassmann, since Friedrich Engel’s, almost a century ago
- Seeks to define Grassmann’s place in the present scientific context and in the history of sciences as a whole
- Throws light on the complex relations between Grassmann’s philosophical, pedagogical, religious and scientific positions
- Attempts an explanation of the way in which Grassmann’s mathematical work is rooted in its sociological context
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
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Table of contents (4 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
Hermann Günther Graßmann was one of the most remarkable personalities in 19th-century science. A "small-town genius", he developed a groundbreaking n-dimensional algebra of space and contributed to a revolution in the understanding of mathematics. His work fascinated great mathematicians such as W. R. Hamilton, J. W. Gibbs and A. N. Whitehead. This intellectual biography traces Graßmann’s steps towards scientific brilliance by untangling a complicated web of influences: the force of unsolved problems in mathematics, Friedrich Schleiermacher’s Dialectic, German Romanticism and life in 19th-century Prussia. The book also introduces the reader to the details of Graßmann’s mathematical work without neglecting his achievements in Sanskrit philology and physics. And, for the first time, it makes many original sources accessible to the English-language reader.
Reviews
From the reviews:
“This review is principally concerned, provides a description of Grassmann’s life and an analysis of his mathematical ideas. … In summary, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this biography, and it must surely be the seminal work on the life and times of Hermann Grassmann. … The level of scholarship is consistently high, which is evidenced by the fact that almost … 306 pages is devoted to references and bibliographical information. … greatly benefited from the addition of a mathematical index.” (P. N. Ruane, The Mathematical Association of America, March, 2010)
“One should welcome this English translation of the German original … . The book, intended ‘to critically appreciate and explain the life and work of Hermann Gunther Graßmann (1809-1877)’, does it in a clear and well documented way. … The book is richly illustrated (47 figures) and completed with chronology of Graßmann’s life and an extensive bibliography on him (16 pages).” (Roman Duda, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1195, 2010)
Authors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Hermann Graßmann
Book Subtitle: Biography
Authors: Hans-Joachim Petsche
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-8860-7
Publisher: Birkhäuser Basel
eBook Packages: Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematics and Statistics (R0)
Copyright Information: Birkh�user Basel 2009
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-7643-8859-1Published: 18 September 2009
eBook ISBN: 978-3-7643-8860-7Published: 30 December 2009
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XX, 306
Number of Illustrations: 47 b/w illustrations
Topics: History of Mathematical Sciences