Ferdinand Minding was a German–Russian mathematician

Mathematician

A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....

 known for his contributions to differential geometry. He continued the work of Gauss

Gauss

Gauss may refer to:*Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician and physicist*Gauss , a unit of magnetic flux density or magnetic induction*GAUSS , a software package*Gauss , a crater on the moon...

 concerning differential geometry of surfaces

Differential geometry of surfaces

In mathematics, the differential geometry of surfaces deals with smooth surfaces with various additional structures, most often, a Riemannian metric....

, especially its intrinsic aspects. Minding considered questions of bending of surfaces and proved the invariance of geodesic curvature

Geodesic curvature

In Riemannian geometry, the geodesic curvature k_g of a curve lying on a submanifold of the ambient space measures how far the curve is from being a geodesic...

. He studied ruled surface

Ruled surface

In geometry, a surface S is ruled if through every point of S there is a straight line that lies on S. The most familiar examples are the plane and the curved surface of a cylinder or cone...

s, developable surface

Developable surface

In mathematics, a developable surface is a surface with zero Gaussian curvature. That is, it is a "surface" that can be flattened onto a plane without distortion . Conversely, it is a surface which can be made by transforming a plane...

s and surfaces of revolution

Surface of revolution

A surface of revolution is a surface in Euclidean space created by rotating a curve around a straight line in its plane ....

 and determined geodesics on the pseudosphere

Pseudosphere

In geometry, the term pseudosphere is used to describe various surfaces with constant negative gaussian curvature. Depending on context, it can refer to either a theoretical surface of constant negative curvature, to a tractricoid, or to a hyperboloid....

. Minding's results on the geometry of geodesic triangles on a surface of constant curvature (1840) anticipated Beltrami

Eugenio Beltrami

Eugenio Beltrami was an Italian mathematician notable for his work concerning differential geometry and mathematical physics...

's approach to the foundations of non-Euclidean geometry

Non-Euclidean geometry

Non-Euclidean geometry is the term used to refer to two specific geometries which are, loosely speaking, obtained by negating the Euclidean parallel postulate, namely hyperbolic and elliptic geometry. This is one term which, for historical reasons, has a meaning in mathematics which is much...

 (1868).

Minding was largely self-taught in mathematics. He attended lectures in the University of Halle and eventually graduated with a thesis "De valore intergralium duplicium quam proxime inveniendo" (1829).
Minding worked as a teacher in Elberfeld and as a university lecturer in Berlin. His work on statics

Statics

Statics is the branch of mechanics concerned with the analysis of loads on physical systems in static equilibrium, that is, in a state where the relative positions of subsystems do not vary over time, or where components and structures are at a constant velocity...

 drew attention of Alexander von Humboldt

Alexander von Humboldt

Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt...

. However, his 1842 bid for election to Berlin Academy, supported by Dirichlet, failed and during 1843 he relocated to the University of Dorpat, where he had a post of a professor of mathematics for the next 40 years. In Dorpat he taught Karl Peterson and supervised his doctoral thesis that established the Gauss–Bonnet theorem

Gauss–Bonnet theorem

The Gauss–Bonnet theorem or Gauss–Bonnet formula in differential geometry is an important statement about surfaces which connects their geometry to their topology...

 and derived Gauss–Codazzi equations

Gauss–Codazzi equations

In Riemannian geometry, the Gauss–Codazzi–Mainardi equations are fundamental equations in the theory of embedded hypersurfaces in a Euclidean space, and more generally submanifolds of Riemannian manifolds...

. Minding also worked on differential equation

Differential equation

A differential equation is a mathematical equation for an unknown function of one or several variables that relates the values of the function itself and its derivatives of various orders...

s (Demidov prize of the St Petersburg Academy during 1861), algebraic function

Algebraic function

In mathematics, an algebraic function is informally a function that satisfies a polynomial equation whose coefficients are themselves polynomials with rational coefficients. For example, an algebraic function in one variable x is a solution y for an equationwhere the coefficients ai are polynomial...

s, continued fraction

Continued fraction

In mathematics, a continued fraction is an expression obtained through an iterative process of representing a number as the sum of its integer part and the reciprocal of another number, then writing this other number as the sum of its integer part and another reciprocal, and so on...

s and analytical mechanics

Analytical mechanics

Analytical mechanics is a term used for a refined, mathematical form of classical mechanics, constructed from the 18th century onwards as a formulation of the subject as founded by Isaac Newton. Often the term vectorial mechanics is applied to the form based on Newton's work, to contrast it with...

. His list of publications consists of some 60 titles, including several books. Many of his scientific accomplishments were only recognized properly after his death.

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