Gustav de Vries (22 January 1866 – 16 December 1934) was a Dutch
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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
, who is best remembered for his work on the
Korteweg–de Vries equation with
Diederik Korteweg
Diederik Johannes Korteweg (31 March 1848 – 10 May 1941) was a Dutch mathematician. He is now best remembered for his work on the Korteweg–de Vries equation, together with Gustav de Vries.
Early life and education
Diederik Korteweg's father ...
. He was born on 22 January 1866 in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
, and studied at the
University of Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...
with the distinguished physical chemist
Johannes van der Waals and with Korteweg. While doing his doctoral research De Vries supported himself by teaching at the Royal Military Academy in
Breda
Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...
(1892-1893) and at the "cadettenschool" in
Alkmaar
Alkmaar () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland. Alkmaar is well known fo ...
(1893-1894). Under Korteweg's supervision De Vries completed his doctoral dissertation:
''Bijdrage tot de kennis der lange golven,'' (Contributions to the knowledge of long waves) Acad. proefschrift, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1894, 95 pp, Loosjes, Haarlem. The following year Korteweg and De Vries published the research paper ''On the Change of Form of Long Waves advancing in a Rectangular Canal and on a New Type of Long Stationary Waves,'' Philosophical Magazine, 5th series, 39, 1895, pp. 422–443. In 1894 De Vries worked as a high school teacher at the "HBS en Handelsschool" in
Haarlem
Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...
, where he remained until his retirement in 1931. He died in Haarlem on 16 December 1934. The
Korteweg-de Vries Institute for Mathematics
The Korteweg-de Vries Institute for Mathematics (KdVI) is the institute for mathematical research at the University of Amsterdam. The KdVI is located in Amsterdam at the Amsterdam Science Park.
Robbert Dijkgraaf, Alexander Schrijver, Nicolai Re ...
is named after him.
See also
*
Cnoidal wave
In fluid dynamics, a cnoidal wave is a nonlinear and exact periodic wave solution of the Korteweg–de Vries equation. These solutions are in terms of the Jacobi elliptic function ''cn'', which is why they are coined ''cn''oidal waves. They ar ...
*
Korteweg–de Vries equation
Further reading
* Bastiaan Willink, ''The collaboration between Korteweg and de Vries — An enquiry into personalities'', History of Physics, 16 p., October 2007
arXiv.org.
External links
*
*
1866 births
1934 deaths
19th-century Dutch mathematicians
Scientists from Amsterdam
Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam
20th-century Dutch mathematicians
Fluid dynamicists
{{Europe-mathematician-stub