Hermann Weyl
Hermann Weyl (November 9 1885 - December 8 1955) was a German mathematician and physicist, one of the first people to combine general relativity with the laws of electromagnetism. From 1913 to 1930 he held the chair of mathematics at the Technische Hochschule of Zurich.Weyl published works on space, time, matter, philosophy, logic, and the history of mathematics. Weyl researched mainly topological space and geometry (of the Bernhard Riemann derivation). Weyl also researched quantum mechanics and number theory. Weyl research is the framework for nonconservation of parity. This is a characteristic of weak interactions between subatomic lepton particles.
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2 Personality 3 Quotes 4 See also 5 Published works 6 External links and references |
Weyl was born in Elmshorn (a town near Hamburg), Germany.
From 1904 to 1908 he studied in GÃÂöttingen and Munich, mainly mathematics and physics. His doctorate was presented to him at GÃÂöttingen under the direction of Hilbert and Minkowski. In 1910, he obtained a teaching post of private lecturer at GÃÂöttingen. Weyl gains a professorship at the Technische Hochschule in ZÃÂürich, Switzerland in the year of 1913.
In 1913, Weyl published Die Idee der Riemannschen FlÃÂäche (The Concept of a Riemann Surface), which gave a unified treatment of Riemann surfaces. In 1918, he introduced the notion of gauge, and gave the first example of what is now known as a gauge theory. Weyl's gauge theory was an unsuccessful attempt to model electromagnetic field and the gravitational field as geometrical properties of spacetime.
George Polya and Weyl, during a mathematicians gathering in ZÃÂürich (February 9, 1918), made a bet concerning the least upper bound property. This discussion was on the completely vaguenes of the concepts concerning the construction of the real numbers, sets, and countability [and that the phrases of the least upper bound property is false]. What was in debate was that it may be irrelevant asking about truth of the least upper bound property, other than the basic assertions of Georg Hegel. When the friendly bet ended, the individuals gathered cited Polya as the victor (with Kurt GÃÂödel not in concurrence).
From 1923 to 1938, Weyl developed the concept of continuous groups in terms of matrix representations. Weyl analysis topics included matrix algebras, semigroups, commutators, and spinors. These are important in understanding the group theory's structure of quantum mechanics. Weyl established a group-theoretic basis for quantum mechanics. Weyl's analysis covered symmetric groups, full linear groups, orthogonal groups, and symplectic groups and the results of the invariants and representations. Weyl also showed how to use exponential sums in diophantine approximation, with his criterion for uniform distribution mode 1, which was fundamental step in analytic number theory. In 1928 and 1929, he was a visiting professor at Princeton University.
Weyl leaves the professorship at the Technische Hochschule in ZÃÂürich, Switzerland, in the year of 1930 and he became Hilbert's successor at GÃÂöttingen where he held the chair of mathematics. The rise of the National Socialist Germany, in 1933, resulted in Wyel going to the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University. There Weyl worked with Einstein.
Here, Weyl researched a grand unification of gravitation and electromagnetism.
Weyl tried to incorporate electromagnetism in the geometrical formalism of general relativity. Weyl's research of Riemann surfaces and the associated definition of the complex manifold in one dimension. This is part of the theory of complex manifolds and of differential manifolds.
Weyl worked at the IAS till retirement. He retired in 1952. Weyl died in ZÃÂürich, Switzerland.
Weyl's own comment, although half a joke, sums up his personality.
Main:
Weyl algebra,
Weyl group,
Weyl's postulate,
Weyl tensor,
Weyl spinor,
Peter-Weyl theorem
Biography
Personality
Quotes
See also
Published works
External links and references