Hohere Algebra. Manuscript transcription of Konigsberger's lectures by Konigsberger, Leo - 1892

Heidelberg, 1892.

Königsberger, Leo (1837-1921). Höhere Algebra. Akademische Vorträge . . . W: 1891 1892 S. Bound manuscript, written in a neat German hand. Title (in black letter) and 735 numbered pages. N.p. [Heidelberg], ca. 1892. 206 x 164 mm. Half morocco, mottled boards c. 1892, light wear, one corner bumped. A few pencil annotations in the margins. Ownership signature of "Heinrich H[illeg.], stud. math., Heidelberg" on the verso of the front free endpaper.

A unique record of the academic work of Königsberger, one of the most famous mathematicians of his time. Königsberger spent most of his career at the University of Heidelberg, where he taught mathematics from 1869 to 1875 and again from 1884 until his retirement in 1914. He contributed to several fields of mathematics, most notably analysis and analytical mechanics.

"Königsberger . . . was extremely skillful in treating material from the Riemannian point of view, as can be seen from his textbooks on elliptic functions (1874) and hyperelliptic integrals (1878). In addition he worked intensively on the theory of differential equations. This subject, which grew out of function theory, is associated especially with Lazarus Fuchs, with whom Königsberger was friendly during his youth. Königsberger was the first to treat not merely one differential equation, but an entire system of such equations in complex variables (DSB)."

While at Heidelberg Königsberger became close friends with the chemist Robert Bunsen and physicists Hermann Helmholtz and Gustav Kirchhoff; these contacts provided him with the stimulation for his series of works on the differential equations of analytical mechanics. He also published some notable historic works, including an account of his teacher Weierstrass's first lecture on elliptic functions (1917) and a biography of Helmholtz (1902).

The present manuscript is a transcription of Königsberger's lectures on higher algebra given at Heidelberg during the academic year 1891-92; it was most likely prepared by the mathematics student who inscribed his name in the volume. The lectures were not published, and we can find no record of any similar manuscript transcriptions in either OCLC or the Karlsruhe database. Dictionary of Scientific Biography.

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