Kronecker, Leopold

Kronecker, Leopold

▪ German mathematician
born December 7, 1823, Liegnitz, Prussia [now Legnica, Poland]
died December 29, 1891, Berlin, Germany
 German mathematician whose primary contributions were in the theory of equations and higher algebra.

      Kronecker acquired a passion for number theory from Ernst Kummer (Kummer, Ernst Eduard), his instructor in mathematics at the Liegnitz Gymnasium, and earned his doctor's degree at the University of Berlin with a dissertation (1845) on those special complex (complex number) units that appear in certain algebraic number fields. He managed the family mercantile and land business until age 30, when he was financially able to retire. While in business he pursued mathematics as a recreation. From 1861 to 1883 Kronecker lectured at the University of Berlin, and in 1883 he succeeded Kummer as professor there.

      Kronecker was primarily an arithmetician and algebraist. His major contributions were in elliptic functions (elliptic equation), the theory of algebraic equations, and the theory of algebraic numbers (algebraic number). In the last field he created an alternative to the theory of his fellow countryman Julius Dedekind (Dedekind, Richard). Kronecker's theory of algebraic magnitudes (1882) presents a part of this theory; his philosophy of mathematics, however, seems destined to outlast his more technical contributions. He was the first to doubt the significance of nonconstructive existence proofs (proofs that show something must exist, often by using a proof through contradiction, but that give no method of producing them), and for many years he carried on a polemic against the analytic school of the German mathematician Karl Weierstrass (Weierstrass, Karl) concerning these proofs and other points of classical analysis. Kronecker joined Weierstrass in approving the universal arithmetization of analysis, but he insisted that all mathematics should be reduced to the positive whole numbers. For more information, see mathematics, foundations of.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • KRONECKER, LEOPOLD — (1823–1891), German mathematician. He was born in Liegnitz, brother of hugo kronecker . Following the death of his uncle, a successful banker, Kronecker entered the business world. He prospered and was able to retire after eight years and devote… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Kronecker , Leopold — (1823–1891) German mathematician Born in Liegnitz, now Legnica in Poland, Kronecker studied mathematics at Berlin but he did not become a professional mathematician until relatively late in life. He worked, highly successfully, as a businessman… …   Scientists

  • Leopold Kronecker — (* 7. Dezember 1823 in Liegnitz; † 29. Dezember 1891 in Berlin) war ein deutscher Mathematiker. Der Physiologe Hugo Kronecker (1839–1914), sechzehn Jahre jünger als er, war sein Bruder. Inhaltsverzeichnis …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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  • Kronecker — Kronecker, Leopold, Mathematiker, geb. 7. Dez. 1823 in Liegnitz, gest. 29. Dez. 1891 in Berlin, studierte seit 1841 in Berlin, Bonn, Breslau, promovierte 1845 in Berlin, lebte bis 1855 in und bei Liegnitz, dann in Berlin und wurde 1860 zum… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Kronecker — Kronecker, Leopold, Mathematiker, geb. 7. Dez. 1823 in Liegnitz, seit 1883 Prof. in Berlin, gest. das. 29. Dez. 1891. »Vorlesungen über Mathematik« (hg. von Netto, 1894 fg.), »Werke« (hg. von Hensel, 1895 fg.) …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Leopold Kronecker — Infobox Scientist name = Leopold Kronecker caption = Leopold Kronecker birth date = birth date|1823|12|7|mf=y birth place = Liegnitz, Prussian province of Silesia residence = Prussian nationality = Prussian death date = death date and… …   Wikipedia

  • Leopold Kronecker — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Kronecker. Leopold Kronecker Leopold Kronecker Naissance 7 décembre 1823 Legn …   Wikipédia en Français

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