Christian Goldbach

Christian Goldbach ( born March 18, 1690 in Königsberg ( Prussia ). . † 20 Novemberjul / December 1 1764greg in Moscow ) was a German mathematician.

Life and work

He was born the son of a Protestant minister and studied at the Albertus University in his hometown of medicine and law. Then he went to 1710-1724 in the longer study trips through Germany, England, the Netherlands, Italy and France. Here he came into contact with many famous mathematicians such as Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Leonhard Euler, Nicholas I Bernoulli and acquired thereby a thorough knowledge of mathematics at. Back in Königsberg, he made the acquaintance of Georg Bernhard Bilfinger and Jakob Hermann. Both were appointed by Tsar Peter the Great on the newly established St. Petersburg Academy. Goldbach applied subsequently in July 1725 to the President of the Academy Lorenz Blumentrost ( 1692-1755 ) for office and obtained the post of a professor of mathematics and history. In the inaugural first meeting on December 27, 1725, he served as Secretary of the Academy. 1727 Goldbach was appointed teacher of the young Tsar Peter II and moved with this his residence to Moscow. From the year 1727 the regular scientific correspondence with Leonhard Euler, who was appointed to the St. Petersburg Academy, which lasted several decades started.

After the death of Peter II of smallpox in 1730, the entire court with the new Empress Anna moved back from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Goldbach followed and began operations in the academy again. 1737 he was appointed together with Johann Daniel Schumacher ( 1690-1761 ) as Managing Director of the Academy. Despite the unstable and volatile political situation in Tsarist Russia succeeded Goldbach during the entire time to stay in the favor of the powerful. In the 1740s he set his activities at the Academy and took a well- paid jobs in the Russian Foreign Ministry. Later, he was commissioned to draw up principles for the education of princes of royal blood.

Goldbach undertook important work in the field of mathematics. He is now known particularly for his until today neither proved nor disproved Goldbach 's conjecture, he on June 7 1742greg. formulated in a letter to Euler. The Goldbach's conjecture is one of the oldest and most important unsolved problems in number theory.

Works

  • De transformatione serierum ( 1729 )
  • De terminis generalibus serierum ( 1732)
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