Victor Guido Feodor Eberhard (17 January 1861 – 28 April 1927) was a blind German geometer, known for Eberhard's theorem partially characterizing the

multiset In mathematics, a multiset (or bag, or mset) is a modification of the concept of a set that, unlike a set, allows for multiple instances for each of its elements. The number of instances given for each element is called the ''multiplicity'' of ...

s of faces that can form

convex polyhedra In geometry, a polyhedron (: polyhedra or polyhedrons; ) is a three-dimensional figure with flat polygonal faces, straight edges and sharp corners or vertices. The term "polyhedron" may refer either to a solid figure or to its boundary surfa ...

Life

Eberhard was born on 17 January 1861 in

Pless Pleß or Pless may refer to: Places *Pleß, a municipality in the district of Unterallgäu in Bavaria, Germany * Pszczyna (German: Pleß), a town in southern Poland ** Duchy of Pless, a historic territory in Silesia * Pleß (mountain), a mountai ...

, in the Prussian

Province of Silesia The Province of Silesia (; ; ) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1919. The Silesia region was part of the Prussian realm since 1742 and established as an official province in 1815, then became part of the German Empire in 1871. In 1919, as ...

(now Pszczyna in southern Poland), where his father Richard Eberhard was a jurist. he became blind in 1873. He earned a doctorate in 1885 at the

University of Breslau A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, with a dissertation ''Über eine räumlich involutorische Verwandtschaft 7. Grades und ihre Kernfläche 4. Ordnung'' concerning 7th-order spatial involutions, supervised by Heinrich Schröter. He continued his studies at the

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

and completed his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

in 1888 at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in Duchy of Prussia, which was a fief of Poland. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant Reformation, Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke A ...

, with a habilitation thesis proving Eberhard's theorem. He became a professor in 1895 at

Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public university, public research university in the cities of Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German State o ...

. The Philosophical Faculty of the university did not support his hire, and he was paid little in his new position. Publishing only small works in geometry after his habilitation, he was forced to retire in 1926. He died in 1927.

Books

Eberhard was the author of two books: *''Zur Morphologie der Polyeder'' (''On the morphology of polyhedra'', Teubner, 1891), expanded from his habilitation thesis *''Die Grundgebilde Der Ebenen Geometrie'' (''The foundations of plane geometry'', Teubner, 1895)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eberhard, Victor 1861 births 1927 deaths 19th-century German mathematicians University of Wrocław alumni Academic staff of the University of Halle German blind people German scientists with disabilities Blind scholars and academics 20th-century German mathematicians Scientists with disabilities Mathematicians from the German Empire Humboldt University of Berlin alumni