Mathematician:Elwin Bruno Christoffel

Mathematician

German mathematician and physicist.

Introduced fundamental concepts of differential geometry, opening the way for the development of tensor calculus.

This later provided the mathematical basis for general relativity.

Nationality

German

History

• Born: 10 November 1829 in Montjoie Aachen (now Monschau), Germany
• Died: 15 March 1900 in Strasbourg, France

Theorems and Definitions

• Riemann-Christoffel Tensor (with Bernhard Riemann), also known as Riemannian Curvature Tensor
• Christoffel's Theorem
• Christoffel Symbol
• Christoffel Reduction Theorem

Publications

• 1858: Über die Gaußische Quadratur und eine Verallgemeinerung derselben (J. reine angew. Math. Vol. 55: pp. 61 – 82)
• 1869: Ueber die Transformation der homogenen Differentialausdrücke zweiten Grades (J. reine angew. Math. Vol. 70: pp. 46 – 70)

Sources

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Elwin Bruno Christoffel": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive