Definition:Riemannian Geometry/Historical Note

Historical Note on Riemannian Geometry

The concept of Riemannian geometry originated from Bernhard Riemann in $1854$, in his trial lecture (published as Über die Hypothesen, welche der Geometrie zu Grunde liegen) to apply for position of Privatdozent (unpaid lecturer) at Göttingen.

The contents of this lecture proved to be exactly the correct model for Einstein's General Theory of Relativity:

Riemann's geometry of an $n$-dimensional space bears the same relation to Euclidean geometry of an $n$-dimensional space as the general geometry of curved surfaces bears to the geometry of the plane.

-- Albert Einstein

Hence it has been suggested that this lecture may have been the most important scientific lecture ever given.

Sources

• 1992: George F. Simmons: Calculus Gems ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {A}.32$: Riemann ($\text {1826}$ – $\text {1866}$)
• 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): geometry
• 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Riemannian geometry
• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): geometry
• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Riemannian geometry