Heinrich Friedrich Karl Ludwig Burkhardt (15 October 1861 – 2 November 1914) was a German mathematician. He famously was one of the two examiners of Albert Einstein's PhD thesis Eine neue Bestimmung der Moleküldimensionen.[1] Of Einstein's thesis he stated: "The mode of treatment demonstrates fundamental mastery of the relevant mathematical methods" and "What I checked, I found to be correct without exception."[2]
Heinrich Burkhardt | |
|---|---|
 Heinrich Burkhardt | |
| Born | 15 October 1861 |
| Died | 2 November 1914 (aged 53) |
| Nationality | German |
| Alma mater | Technical University of Munich (1879–81) University of Berlin (1881–82) University of Munich (1882–83, 1885–86) University of Göttingen (1883–84) |
| Known for | Burkhardt quartic Burkhardt group |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Doctoral advisor | Gustav Conrad Bauer |
Biography
editBurkhardt was born in Schweinfurt. Starting from 1879 he studied under Karl Weierstrass, Alexander von Brill, and Hermann Amandus Schwarz at the University of Munich, at the Technische Hochschule in Munich (now Technical University of Munich), at the University of Berlin and at the University of Göttingen. He attained a doctorate in 1886 in Munich under Gustav Conrad Bauer with a thesis entitled: Beziehungen zwischen der Invariantentheorie und der Theorie algebraischer Integrale und ihrer Umkehrungen (Relations between the invariant theory and the theory of algebraic integrals and their inverses).
In 1887, he was an assistant at Göttingen and obtained his habilitation there in 1889. Later, he was a professor in Zürich (1897–1908) and Munich (since October 1908). He worked on the theory of the elliptical functions, series expansions, group theory, the Burkhardt quartic, and history of mathematics.
He died in Neuwittelsbach/München, of a disease of the stomach, diagnosed about Easter 1914.
Works
edit- 1899: Elliptische Funktionen, zweiter Tiel, from Internet Archive
- 1903: Algebraische Analysis, from Internet Archive
- 1908: Entwicklungen nach oscillierenden Funktionen und Integration der Differentialgleichungen der mathematischen physick
- 1913: Theory of Functions of a Complex Variable, translated by S.E. Rasor, link from Internet Archive
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Einstein, Albert (1905). Eine neue Bestimmung der Moleküldimensionen (PDF) (Thesis). Bern: Wyss. doi:10.3929/ethz-a-000565688. hdl:20.500.11850/139872. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-05-19. Retrieved 2024-04-29; Dissertation Univ. Zürich, Referee: A. Kleiner, Co-referee: H. Burkhardt
{{cite thesis}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ^ Expert Opinion by Alfred Kleiner and Heinrich Burkhardt on Einstein's Dissertation (Zurich, 22-23 July 1905), collected in Volume 5: The Swiss Years: Correspondence, 1902-1914 (English translation supplement) Page 22. Archived 2023-10-02 at the Wayback Machine
External links
edit- Works by or about Heinrich Burkhardt at the Internet Archive
- O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Heinrich Friedrich Karl Ludwig Burkhardt", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
- Heinrich Burkhardt in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- Heinrich Burkhardt at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- Einstein's dissertation
- Heinrich Liebmann „Zur Erinnerung an Heinrich Burkhardt“, Jahresbericht DMV Bd.24, 1915, S.185-195