Christian Gustav Adolph Mayer

Christian Gustav Adolph Mayer (also: Adolf Mayer; * February 15, 1839 in Leipzig, † April 11, 1908 in Gries near Bozen ) was a German mathematician.

Life

Adolph Mayer was the son of Leipzig merchant, banker and Chamber Council Christian Adolph Mayer (1802-1875) and his wife Agnes born Frege (1809-1845), a descendant of Christian Gottlob Frege. He attended the Thomas School in Leipzig. He studied chemistry, mineralogy, and especially mathematics in Heidelberg, Göttingen and Leipzig. Since 1859 he was a member of the Corps Hildeso - Guestphalia Göttingen. In 1861 he received his doctorate in Heidelberg. After continuing his studies at the Albertus University of Königsberg, he habilitated in 1866 at the University of Leipzig. There he became an associate in 1871 and in 1881 ordinary honorary professor. Mayer was co-director of the company founded in 1882 by Felix Klein Mathematical Seminar. From 1890 to 1900 he was a full professor in Leipzig.

His research interests were partial differential equations, calculus of variations and analytical mechanics.

Mayer was its origin material independently. So he could give up his salary for years in order to secure the livelihood of a younger colleague.

He was a member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig, the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

Mayer married in 1872 in Schönefeld at Leipzig Margaret Weigel ( 1845-1922 ), the daughter of the publisher Oswald Weigel. The couple had four children. Her son Christian Adolph Mayer (1874-1946) was a partner in the banking house Meyer & Co. in Leipzig. Her daughter Sophie Pauline Mayer (1873-1964) married in 1892 the diplomat Albert Dufour of Feronce ( 1868-1945 ).

Works

• Contributions to the theory of the maxima and minima of simple integrals. Leipzig 1866.
• History of the principle of least action. Leipzig 1877.
• Equilibrium conditions smooth point systems. Species equilibrium., 1899.