Bernhard Riemann 1826-1866

Detlef Laugwitz

The name of Bernard Riemann is well known to mathematicians and physicists around the world. College students encounter the Riemann integral early in their studies. Real and complex function theories are founded on Riemann’s work. Einstein’s theory of gravitation would be unthinkable without Riemannian geometry. In number theory, Riemann’s famous conjecture stands as one of the classic challenges to the best mathematical minds and continues to stimulate deep mathematical research. The name is indelibly stamped on the literature of mathematics and physics. This book, originally written in German and presented here in an English-language translation, examines Riemann’s scientific work from a single unifying perspective. Laugwitz describes Riemann’s development of a conceptual approach to mathematics at a time when conventional algorithmic thinking dictated that formulas and figures,...