Alwin Korselt
Encyclopedia
Alwin Reinhold Korselt was a German mathematician. He discovered Korselt's Criterion which provides a definition for Carmichael numbers and also contributed an early result in relational algebra
.
near Zittau
in Saxony (nowadays close to the Czech and Polish borders) since the early Middle Ages. Alwin Korselt was born there in 1864.
After attending Gymnasium in Zittau between 1876 and 1885, he studied mathematics and physics in Leipzig
(with one semester in 1886 in Freiburg im Breisgau) until 1890. After a probationary year as a teacher at Nikolaigymnasium in Leipzig
he taught from 1891 to 1898 at various schools in Pirna
, Dresden
, Keilhau near Rudolstadt
, Löbau
and Meerane
. Frequent changes, often between very different school types, indicate that he found it difficult to gain ground in his profession. His first scientific publication, a voluminous review of Ernst Schröder
's lectures on the Algebra of Logic, fell into this time (finished 1893). From 1898 till his retirement in 1924 he taught at Realschule Plauen
.
He never married, and was well known for his shabby appearance, which was mostly because he found it hard to spend money on anything but books and cigars. In the 1930s he lost a leg through amputation, but remained scientifically active until around 1939. He died in Plauen in 1947 and was interred in Mittelherwigsdorf.
) was titled Über die Möglichkeit der Lösung merkwürdiger Dreiecksaufgaben durch Winkelteilung ("On the Possibility of Solving Strange Triangle Problems by Angle Dissection"). Shortly afterwards he took part in controversy with Gottlob Frege
, concerning Hilbert's axioms
for the foundations of Euclidean geometry
. He was treated by Frege as a partisan of Hilbert.
Korselt was influenced by Bolzano
and had contact with Pringsheim
, Hilbert
, Russell
, Fraenkel and Caratheodory
.
Relational algebra
Relational algebra, an offshoot of first-order logic , deals with a set of finitary relations that is closed under certain operators. These operators operate on one or more relations to yield a relation...
.
Personal life
The Korselts are a huge, widespread family that has been resident in the village of MittelherwigsdorfMittelherwigsdorf
Mittelherwigsdorf is a municipality in the district Görlitz, in Saxony, Germany....
near Zittau
Zittau
Zittau is a city in the south east of the Free State of Saxony, Germany, close to the border tripoint of Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. , there are 28,638 people in the city. It is part of the Görlitz district....
in Saxony (nowadays close to the Czech and Polish borders) since the early Middle Ages. Alwin Korselt was born there in 1864.
After attending Gymnasium in Zittau between 1876 and 1885, he studied mathematics and physics in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
(with one semester in 1886 in Freiburg im Breisgau) until 1890. After a probationary year as a teacher at Nikolaigymnasium in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
he taught from 1891 to 1898 at various schools in Pirna
Pirna
Pirna is a town in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, capital of the administrative district Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge. The town's population is over 40,000. Pirna is located near Dresden and is an important district town as well as a Große Kreisstadt...
, Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, Keilhau near Rudolstadt
Rudolstadt
Rudolstadt is a town in the German Bundesland of Thuringia, close to the Thuringian Forest to the southwest, and to Jena and Weimar to the north....
, Löbau
Lobau
The Lobau is a Vienna floodplain on the northern side of the Danube and partly in Großenzersdorf, Lower Austria. It has been part of the Danube-Auen National Park since 1996 and has been a protected area since 1978. It is used as a recreational area and is known as a site of nudism. There is...
and Meerane
Meerane
Meerane is a town in the Zwickau district of Saxony, Germany. It lies midway between the towns of Chemnitz and Zwickau.As of 31 December 2008, there were 16,517 inhabitants...
. Frequent changes, often between very different school types, indicate that he found it difficult to gain ground in his profession. His first scientific publication, a voluminous review of Ernst Schröder
Ernst Schröder
Ernst Schröder was a German mathematician mainly known for his work on algebraic logic. He is a major figure in the history of mathematical logic , by virtue of summarizing and extending the work of George Boole, Augustus De Morgan, Hugh MacColl, and especially Charles Peirce...
's lectures on the Algebra of Logic, fell into this time (finished 1893). From 1898 till his retirement in 1924 he taught at Realschule Plauen
Plauen
Plauen is a town in the Free State of Saxony, east-central Germany.It is the capital of the Vogtlandkreis. The town is situated near the border of Bavaria and the Czech Republic.Plauen's slogan is Plauen - echt Spitze.-History:...
.
He never married, and was well known for his shabby appearance, which was mostly because he found it hard to spend money on anything but books and cigars. In the 1930s he lost a leg through amputation, but remained scientifically active until around 1939. He died in Plauen in 1947 and was interred in Mittelherwigsdorf.
Research
Korselt's 1902 dissertation at Leipzig University (adviser Otto HölderOtto Hölder
Otto Ludwig Hölder was a German mathematician born in Stuttgart.Hölder first studied at the Polytechnikum and then in 1877 went to Berlin where he was a student of Leopold Kronecker, Karl Weierstraß, and Ernst Kummer.He is famous for many things including: Hölder's inequality, the Jordan–Hölder...
) was titled Über die Möglichkeit der Lösung merkwürdiger Dreiecksaufgaben durch Winkelteilung ("On the Possibility of Solving Strange Triangle Problems by Angle Dissection"). Shortly afterwards he took part in controversy with Gottlob Frege
Gottlob Frege
Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege was a German mathematician, logician and philosopher. He is considered to be one of the founders of modern logic, and made major contributions to the foundations of mathematics. He is generally considered to be the father of analytic philosophy, for his writings on...
, concerning Hilbert's axioms
Hilbert's axioms
Hilbert's axioms are a set of 20 assumptions proposed by David Hilbert in 1899 in his book Grundlagen der Geometrie , as the foundation for a modern treatment of Euclidean geometry...
for the foundations of Euclidean geometry
Euclidean geometry
Euclidean geometry is a mathematical system attributed to the Alexandrian Greek mathematician Euclid, which he described in his textbook on geometry: the Elements. Euclid's method consists in assuming a small set of intuitively appealing axioms, and deducing many other propositions from these...
. He was treated by Frege as a partisan of Hilbert.
Korselt was influenced by Bolzano
Bernard Bolzano
Bernhard Placidus Johann Nepomuk Bolzano , Bernard Bolzano in English, was a Bohemian mathematician, logician, philosopher, theologian, Catholic priest and antimilitarist of German mother tongue.-Family:Bolzano was the son of two pious Catholics...
and had contact with Pringsheim
Alfred Pringsheim
Alfred Israel Pringsheim was a German mathematician and patron of the arts. He was born in Ohlau, Prussian Silesia and died in Zürich, Switzerland.- Family and academic career :...
, Hilbert
David Hilbert
David Hilbert was a German mathematician. He is recognized as one of the most influential and universal mathematicians of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Hilbert discovered and developed a broad range of fundamental ideas in many areas, including invariant theory and the axiomatization of...
, Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
, Fraenkel and Caratheodory
Constantin Carathéodory
Constantin Carathéodory was a Greek mathematician. He made significant contributions to the theory of functions of a real variable, the calculus of variations, and measure theory...
.