Hermann Günther Graßmann was one of the most remarkable personalities in 19
th
-century science. A "small-town genius", he developed a groundbreaking n-dimensional algebra of space and contributed to a revolution in the understanding of mathematics. His work fascinated great mathematicians such as W. R. Hamilton, J. W. Gibbs and A. N. Whitehead. This intellectual biography traces Graßmann's steps towards scientific brilliance by untangling a complicated web of influences: the force of unsolved problems in mathematics, Friedrich Schleiermacher's Dialectic, German Romanticism and life in 19
th
-century Prussia. The book also introduces the reader to the details of Graßmann's mathematical work without neglecting his achievements in Sanskrit philology and physics. And, for the first time, it makes many original sources accessible to the English-language reader.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
From the reviews:
"This review is principally concerned, provides a description of Grassmann's life and an analysis of his mathematical ideas. . In summary, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this biography, and it must surely be the seminal work on the life and times of Hermann Grassmann. . The level of scholarship is consistently high, which is evidenced by the fact that almost . 306 pages is devoted to references and bibliographical information. . greatly benefited from the addition of a mathematical index." (P. N. Ruane, The Mathematical Association of America, March, 2010)
"One should welcome this English translation of the German original . . The book, intended 'to critically appreciate and explain the life and work of Hermann Gunther Graßmann (1809-1877)', does it in a clear and well documented way. . The book is richly illustrated (47 figures) and completed with chronology of Graßmann's life and an extensive bibliography on him (16 pages)." (Roman Duda, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1195, 2010)
