Hermann Graßmann

Founder of n-vector algebra, Hermann Grassman was an obscure high school teacher who made many lasting contributions to physics and linguistics. This biography details the complex network of internal and external factors that shaped Grassman's development.

Hermann Günther Graßmann was one of the most remarkable personalities in 19 th -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 19 th -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.

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

Contenu
Graßmann's life.- Graßmann's sources of inspiration.- Hermann Günther Graßmann's contributions to the development of mathematics and their place in the history of mathematics.- The genesis and essence of Hermann Günther Graßmann's philosophical views in the Extension Theory of 1844.