Ferdinand von Lindemann

Infobox_Scientist
name = Ferdinand von Lindemann

|300px
image_width = 200px
caption = Carl Louis Ferdinand von Lindemann
birth_date = birth date|1852|4|12|mf=y
birth_place = Hanover, Germany
death_date = death date and age|1939|3|6|1852|4|12|mf=y
death_place = Munich, Germany
residence =
nationality =
field = Mathematician
work_institution = Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
alma_mater = Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
doctoral_advisor = C. Felix Klein
doctoral_students =
Charles Ashton
Franz Fuchs
David Hilbert
Martin Kutta
Hermann Minkowski
Oskar Perron
Arnold Sommerfeld
Josef Wagner
known_for = Proving π is a transcendental number
prizes =
religion =
footnotes =

Carl Louis Ferdinand von Lindemann (April 12, 1852 – March 6 1939) was a German mathematician, noted for his proof, published in 1882, that π (pi) is a transcendental number, i.e., it is not a zero 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.

While a professor at the University of Königsberg, Lindemann acted as supervisor for the doctoral thesis of David Hilbert, Hermann Minkowski, and Arnold Sommerfeld.

Transcendence proof

In 1882, he 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 "if" "Pi" is transcendental, then the ancient and celebrated problem of squaring the circle by compass and straightedge could not be solved.

See also

* Lindemann-Weierstrass theorem

References

* Lindemann, F. "Über die Zahl π", "Mathematische Annalen" 20 (1882): pp. 213–225.

External links

*
*MathGenealogy |id=7404

Persondata
NAME= Lindemann, Ferdinand von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=German Mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH= April 12, 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH= Hanover, Germany
DATE OF DEATH= March 6 1939
PLACE OF DEATH= Munich, Germany