Karl F. Sundman

Karl Frithiof Sundman ( born October 28, 1873 in Kaskinen, † September 28, 1949 in Helsinki) was a Finnish mathematician and astronomer.

Sundman studied from 1893 in Helsinki astronomy and was the same from 1894 to 1897 assistant at the Pulkovo Observatory. In 1903 he received his doctorate in Helsinki and began to teach in 1907 as an associate professor and since 1918 as a full professor and director of the observatory. In 1941, he went into retirement.

He was known for his solution of the three- body problem (1909). Assuming that the angular momentum initially does not disappear, Sundman could be the first, an analytical solution of the three- body problem in the form of a convergent power series - the state so designated today Sundman series. This was held at the time by experts to be impossible.

He also designed a special calculator for perturbation theory in astronomy (1915 ).

After him the asteroid ( 1424) Sundmania is named.