Carl Wilhelm Borchardt (22 February 1817 – 27 June 1880) was a German

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History O ...

. Borchardt was born to a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

ish family in Berlin. His father, Moritz, was a respected merchant, and his mother was Emma Heilborn. Borchardt studied under a number of tutors, including Julius Plücker and

Jakob Steiner Jakob Steiner (18 March 1796 – 1 April 1863) was a Swiss mathematician who worked primarily in geometry. Life Steiner was born in the village of Utzenstorf, Canton of Bern. At 18, he became a pupil of Heinrich Pestalozzi and afterwards ...

. He studied at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

under Lejeune Dirichlet in 1836 and at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Pruss ...

in 1839. In 1848 he began teaching at the University of Berlin. He did research in the area of the arithmetic-geometric mean, continuing work by

Gauss Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (; german: Gauß ; la, Carolus Fridericus Gauss; 30 April 177723 February 1855) was a German mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to many fields in mathematics and science. Sometimes refer ...

and

Lagrange Joseph-Louis Lagrange (born Giuseppe Luigi LagrangiaKummer Kummer is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernhard Kummer (1897–1962), German Germanist * Clare Kummer (1873—1958), American composer, lyricist and playwright * Clarence Kummer (1899–1930), American jockey * Chri ...

on diagonalising symmetric

matrices Matrix most commonly refers to: * ''The Matrix'' (franchise), an American media franchise ** '' The Matrix'', a 1999 science-fiction action film ** "The Matrix", a fictional setting, a virtual reality environment, within ''The Matrix'' (franchi ...

, using

determinant In mathematics, the determinant is a scalar value that is a function of the entries of a square matrix. It characterizes some properties of the matrix and the linear map represented by the matrix. In particular, the determinant is nonzero if an ...

s and Sturm functions. He was also an editor of '' Crelle's Journal'' from 1856 to 1880, during which time it was known as ''Borchardt's Journal''. He died in

Rüdersdorf Rüdersdorf is a municipality in the district Märkisch-Oderland, in Brandenburg, Germany, near Berlin. It is served by the Schöneiche bei Berlin tramway which runs from Rüdersdorf through Schöneiche to Berlin-Friedrichshagen station on the ...

, Germany. His grave is preserved in the

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to ...

''Friedhof III der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirchengemeinde'' (Cemetery No. III of the congregations of

Jerusalem's Church Jerusalem Church (german: Jerusalem(s)kirche, Jerusalemer Kirche) is one of the churches of the Evangelical Congregation in the Friedrichstadt (under this name since 2001), a member of the Protestant umbrella organisation Evangelical Church of ...

and New Church) in

Berlin-Kreuzberg Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in 1990 it has b ...

, south of Hallesches Tor.

References

1817 births 1880 deaths Algebraists 19th-century German mathematicians 19th-century German Jews Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences Scientists from Berlin People from the Province of Brandenburg Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Humboldt University of Berlin faculty University of Königsberg alumni Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities {{Germany-mathematician-stub

See also

References