Walther von Dyck

{{short description|German mathematician (1856–1934)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| image = Walther Von Dyck.jpg

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| order = 8th

| title = Rector of the Technical University of Munich

| term_start = 1919

| term_end = 1925

| predecessor = {{ill|Karl Heinrich Hager|de}}

| successor = Jonathan Zenneck

| order2 = 1st

| title2 = Rector of the Technical University of Munich

| term_start2 = 1903

| term_end2 = 1906

| predecessor2 = Position renamed

| successor2 = Friedrich von Thiersch

| order3 = 7th

| title3 = Director of the Technical University of Munich

| term_start3 = 1900

| term_end3 = 1903

| predecessor3 = {{ill|Egbert von Hoyer|de}}

| successor3 = Position renamed

| nationality = German

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1856|12|06}}

| birth_place = Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1934|11|05|1856|12|06}}

| death_place = Munich, Nazi Germany

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| education = Technical University of Munich

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{{Infobox scientist | embed=yes

| fields = Mathematics

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| thesis_title = Über regulär verzweigte Riemannsche Flächen und die durch sie definierten Irrationalitäten

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| thesis_year = 1879

| doctoral_advisor = Felix Klein

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Walther Franz Anton von Dyck (6 December 1856 – 5 November 1934), born Dyck ({{IPA|de|diːk}}Pronunciation according to information from the [https://www.tum.de/en/about-tum/our-university/tum-board-of-management Board of Management of the Technical University of Munich].) and later ennobled, was a German mathematician. He is credited with being the first to define a mathematical group, in the modern sense in {{Harv|Dyck|1882}}. He laid the foundations of combinatorial group theory,{{Citation| publisher = Springer| isbn = 978-0-387-95336-6| last = Stillwell| first = John| title = Mathematics and its history| year = 2002| page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=WNjRrqTm62QC&pg=PA374 374]}} being the first to systematically study a group by generators and relations.