The Mathematician Sophus Lie

by Stubhaug, Arild; Daly, R.

• ISBN13: 9783540421375
• ISBN10: 3540421378
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-01-01
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

Sophus Lie (1842-1899) is without doubt one of Norway's greatest scientific talents. His mathematical works have made him famous around the world no less than Niels Henrik Abel. The terms Lie groups and Lie algebra are today part of the standard mathematical vocabulary. In his comprehensive biography the author Arild Stubhaug let us come close to both the person Sophus Lie and his time. We follow him through childhood at the vicarage in Nordfjordeid, his growing up in Moss, school and studying in Christiania, travelling in Europe and his contacts with the leading mathematicians of his time. The academic and scientific career brought Lie from Christiania to Leipzig as professor, before the attempt to call him back to Norway, when she stood on the threshhold to national sovereignty, was successful.

Table of Contents

PART I The Measure of a Life
Tracking Him Down: A Torrent of Stories	3	(24)
PART II Family Background and Upbringing
The Family Tree	27	(6)
The Priestly Family at Nordfjordeid	33	(14)
Father's Home in Moss	47	(12)
PART III School and Education
Nissen's School. Examen Artium	59	(12)
Student Life	71	(24)
The Lack of a Calling	95	(12)
PART IV In Tune with the Times
Into Mathematical History	107	(9)
There was a Mathematician in Him	116	(5)
The First Tour Abroad	121	(32)
Parliamentary Professor	153	(16)
PART V Professor in Christiania
``My Inner Life Has Been Most Mighty''	169	(36)
``My Life's Good Fortune''	205	(15)
Marriage at Last	220	(10)
Herr Professor mit seiner Gemahlin	230	(9)
In the Lee of ``the Modern Breakthrough''	239	(20)
A Steady Stream of Works	259	(19)
The Mathematical Milieu at Home and Abroad	278	(21)
``It is Lonely, Terribly Lonely''	299	(13)
Summoned to Leipzig	312	(13)
PART VI Professor in Leipzing
The Coming Period: A More Difficult Balancing Act	325	(6)
In the Big City of Leipzig	331	(19)
Breakdown	350	(10)
Fame	360	(18)
Conflicts	378	(20)
Norwegian Students	398	(8)
Back to Norway	406	(29)
PART VII At the End of the Road
The Final Years	435
Appendices
Chronology	455
Notes and Commentaries	460
Sophus Lie's Descendants	512
Chronological Bibliography of Sophus Lie's Published Works	518
Acknowledgements	532
List of Literature	534
Index of Names	545