Moritz Abraham Stern
Encyclopedia
Moritz Abraham Stern was a German
mathematician
. Stern became Ordinarius (full professor) at Göttingen University in 1858, succeeding Carl Friedrich Gauss
. Stern was the first Jewish full professor at a German university.
As a professor Stern taught Bernhard Riemann
along with Gauss. Stern was also very helpful to Ferdinand Eisenstein
in formulating a proof of the quadratic reciprocity
theorem. Stern was interested in primes that cannot be expressed as the sum of a prime and twice a square (now known as Stern prime
s).
He is known for formulating Stern's diatomic series
that counts the number of ways to write a number as a sum of powers of two with no power used more than twice.
He is also known for the Stern–Brocot tree which he wrote about in 1858 and which Brocot independently discovered in 1861.
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
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....
. Stern became Ordinarius (full professor) at Göttingen University in 1858, succeeding Carl Friedrich Gauss
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss was a German mathematician and scientist who contributed significantly to many fields, including number theory, statistics, analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, geophysics, electrostatics, astronomy and optics.Sometimes referred to as the Princeps mathematicorum...
. Stern was the first Jewish full professor at a German university.
As a professor Stern taught Bernhard Riemann
Bernhard Riemann
Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann was an influential German mathematician who made lasting contributions to analysis and differential geometry, some of them enabling the later development of general relativity....
along with Gauss. Stern was also very helpful to Ferdinand Eisenstein
Ferdinand Eisenstein
Ferdinand Gotthold Max Eisenstein was a German mathematician. He specialized in number theory and analysis, and proved several results that eluded even Gauss. Like Galois and Abel before him, Eisenstein died before the age of 30. He was born and died in Berlin, Germany.-Early life:He was born...
in formulating a proof of the quadratic reciprocity
Quadratic reciprocity
In number theory, the law of quadratic reciprocity is a theorem about modular arithmetic which gives conditions for the solvability of quadratic equations modulo prime numbers...
theorem. Stern was interested in primes that cannot be expressed as the sum of a prime and twice a square (now known as Stern prime
Stern prime
A Stern prime, named for Moritz Abraham Stern, is a prime number that is not the sum of a smaller prime and twice the square of a nonzero integer. Or, to put it algebraically, if for a prime q there is no smaller prime p and nonzero integer b such that q = p + 2b², then q is a...
s).
He is known for formulating Stern's diatomic series
- 1, 1, 2, 1, 3, 2, 3, 1, 4, …
that counts the number of ways to write a number as a sum of powers of two with no power used more than twice.
He is also known for the Stern–Brocot tree which he wrote about in 1858 and which Brocot independently discovered in 1861.