Hermann Minkowski, German Mathematician
Hermann Minkowski (June 22, 1864 - January 12, 1909) was a German mathematician. While still a student he was awarded the Mathematics Prize of the French Academy of Sciences for his manuscript on the theory of quadratic forms. He explored the arithmetic of quadratic forms, especially concerning n variables, and his research into that topic led him to consider certain geometric properties in a space of n dimensions. In 1896, he presented his geometry of numbers, a geometrical method that solved problems in number theory. He is best known for his work in relativity, in which he showed in 1907 that his former student Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity (1905), presented algebraically by Einstein, could also be understood geometrically as a theory of four-dimensional space-time. Einstein himself at first viewed Minkowski's treatment as a mere mathematical trick, before eventually realizing that a geometrical view of space-time would be necessary in order to complete his own later work in general relativity (1915). He died suddenly of appendicitis in 1909 at the age of 44.
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