Karl Mikhailovich Peterson (25 May 1828 – 1 May 1881) was a Russian

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 ...

, known by an earlier formulation of the

Gauss–Codazzi equations In Riemannian geometry and pseudo-Riemannian geometry, the Gauss–Codazzi equations (also called the Gauss–Codazzi–Weingarten-Mainardi equations or Gauss–Peterson–Codazzi formulas) are fundamental formulas that link together the induced m ...

Life and work

Peterson was born in a peasant family. He studied at the ''Gymnasium'' of

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

and, after, at the

Imperial University of Dorpat The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.

(now

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

under

Ferdinand Minding Ernst Ferdinand Adolf Minding (; – ) was a German-Russian mathematician known for his contributions to differential geometry. He continued the work of Carl Friedrich Gauss concerning differential geometry of surfaces, especially its intrins ...

. Nothing of his life is known about the ten years after his graduation. In unknown date he went to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

where he taught in the German ''Gymnasium Peter and Paul'' of this city from 1865. Peterson never had an academic position at university level, but he was one of the founders of the

Moscow Mathematical Society The Moscow Mathematical Society (MMS) is a society of Moscow mathematicians aimed at the development of mathematics in Russia. It was created in 1864, and Victor Vassiliev is the current president. History The first meeting of the society w ...

with

Nikolai Brashman Nikolai Dmitrievich Brashman (; ; June 14, 1796 – ) was a Russian mathematician of Jewish-Austrian origin. He was a student of Joseph Johann Littrow, and the advisor of Pafnuty Chebyshev and August Davidov. He was born in Neu-Raußnitz (tod ...

and

August Davidov August Yulevich Davidov () (December 15, 1823 – December 22, 1885) was a Russian mathematician and engineer, professor at Moscow University, and author of works on differential equations with partial derivatives, definite integrals, and the appl ...

. Peterson was a notable collaborator in the journal of the Society and he is considered the founder of the Moscow school of geometry. Peterson gave, in his graduation dissertation (1853, but not published until later), an earliest formulation of the fundamental equations of the surface theory, now usually known as

, sometimes Peterson–Codazzi equations. During his time in Moscow, Peterson published some important papers about

differential geometry Differential geometry is a Mathematics, mathematical discipline that studies the geometry of smooth shapes and smooth spaces, otherwise known as smooth manifolds. It uses the techniques of Calculus, single variable calculus, vector calculus, lin ...

., pages 156–9. In 1879, the

university of Odessa The Odesa I.I.Mechnykov National University (), often referred to as Odesa National University ( ONU, ), located in Odessa, Odesa, Ukraine, is one of that country's major Public university, state-sponsored universities, named after the scientis ...

awarded him an

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peterson, Karl Mikhailovich 19th-century mathematicians from the Russian Empire 1828 births 1881 deaths Scientists from Riga University of Tartu alumni