Ferdinand von Lindemann
{{Short description|German mathematician (1852–1939)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Ferdinand von Lindemann
| image = Carl Louis Ferdinand von Lindemann.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| caption = Carl Louis Ferdinand von Lindemann
| birth_date = {{birth date|1852|4|12|df=y}}
| birth_place = Hannover, German Confederation
| death_date = {{death date and age|1939|3|6|1852|4|12|df=y}}
| death_place = Munich, Germany
| nationality = German
| field = Mathematics
| work_institution = University of Munich, University of Freiburg
| alma_mater = Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
| doctoral_advisor = C. Felix Klein{{MathGenealogy|id=7404}}
| doctoral_students = {{Unbulleted list|Emil Hilb|David Hilbert|Martin Kutta|Alfred Loewy|Hermann Minkowski|Oskar Perron|Arthur Rosenthal|Arnold Sommerfeld|Heinrich Wieleitner}}
| known_for = Proving {{pi}} to be a transcendental number
Lindemann–Weierstrass theorem
| prizes =
| religion =
| footnotes =
}}
Carl Louis Ferdinand von Lindemann (12 April 1852 – 6 March 1939) was a German mathematician, noted for his proof, published in 1882, that {{pi}} (pi) is a transcendental number, meaning it is not a root of any polynomial with rational coefficients.
Life and education
Lindemann was born in Hanover, the capital of the Kingdom of Hanover. His father, Ferdinand Lindemann, taught modern languages at a Gymnasium in Hanover. His mother, Emilie Crusius, was the daughter of the Gymnasium's headmaster. The family later moved to Schwerin, where young Ferdinand attended school.
He studied mathematics at Göttingen, Erlangen, and Munich. At Erlangen he received a doctorate, supervised by Felix Klein, on non-Euclidean geometry. Lindemann subsequently taught in Würzburg and at the University of Freiburg. During his time in Freiburg, Lindemann devised his proof that {{pi}} is a transcendental number (see Lindemann–Weierstrass theorem). After his time in Freiburg, Lindemann transferred to the University of Königsberg. While a professor in Königsberg, Lindemann acted as supervisor for the doctoral theses of the mathematicians David Hilbert, Hermann Minkowski, and Arnold Sommerfeld.{{Cite web |title=Ferdinand von Lindemann - Biography |url=https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Lindemann/ |access-date=2022-08-06 |website=Maths History |language=en}}
Transcendence proof
In 1882, Lindemann published the result for which he is best known, the transcendence of {{pi}}. His methods were similar to those used nine years earlier by Charles Hermite to show that e, the base of natural logarithms, is transcendental. Before the publication of Lindemann's proof, it was known that {{pi}} was irrational, as Johann Heinrich Lambert proved {{pi}} was irrational in the 1760s.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Commons category-inline}}
- {{MacTutor Biography|id=Lindemann}}
- {{MathGenealogy |id=7404}}
- Lindemann, F. "[https://archive.today/20120525195313/http://www.springerlink.com/content/n109018v5r748073/?p=0e89fa387fd94fd5a05e8abf026400d6&pi=3 Über die Zahl {{pi}}]", Mathematische Annalen 20 (1882): pp. 213–225.
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindemann, Ferdinand von}}
Category:19th-century German mathematicians
Category:20th-century German mathematicians
Category:German number theorists
Category:Scientists from Hanover
Category:People from the Kingdom of Hanover
Category:University of Göttingen alumni
Category:University of Erlangen-Nuremberg alumni