Mathematician:Caspar Wessel

Mathematician

Norwegian–Danish mathematician and cartographer who, in $1799$, was the first person to describe the geometrical interpretation of complex numbers as points in the complex plane.

The younger brother of poet and playwright Johan Herman Wessel.

Nationality

Norwegian

History

• Born: 8 June 1745 in Vestby (near Dröbak), Norway
• Died: 25 March 1818 in Copenhagen, Denmark

Theorems and Definitions

• The actual originator of what is now known as the Argand diagram.

Publications

• 1797: Om Directionens Analytiske Betegning ("On the Analytical Representation of Direction")

Sources

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Caspar Wessel": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive

• 1986: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers ... (previous) ... (next): A List of Mathematicians in Chronological Sequence
• 1997: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): A List of Mathematicians in Chronological Sequence