Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky

Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky (Никола́й Ива́нович Лобаче́вский) (December 1 1792–February 24 1856 (N.S.); November 20 1792–February 12 1856 (O.S.))) was a Russian mathematician.

Mathematical results

Lobachevsky's main achievement is the development (independently from János Bolyai) of non-Euclidean geometry. Before him, mathematicians were trying to deduce Euclid's fifth postulate from other axioms. Lobachevsky would instead develop a geometry in which the fifth postulate was not true. This idea was first reported on February 23 (Feb. 11, O.S. ), 1826 to the session of the department of physics and mathematics, and this research was printed in the Bulletin of Kazan University (Вестник Казанского университета) in 1829–1830. The recognition of his ideas by the mathematical community was quite slow. They were fully accepted only several decades after Lobachevsky's death.

Related Topics:
János Bolyai - Non-Euclidean geometry - Euclid - Fifth postulate - Axiom - Geometry - February 23 - O.S. - 1826 - 1829 - 1830

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Another of Lobachevsky's achievements was developing a method for the numerical approximation of the roots of algebraic equations. This method is now known as Dandelin-Gräffe method, named after two other mathematicians who discovered it independently. In Russia, it is called Lobachevsky method. Lobachevsky gave the definition of a function as a correspondence between two sets of real numbers (Dirichlet gave the same definition independently soon after Lobachevsky).

Related Topics:
Numerical - Approximation - Root - Algebraic equation - Dandelin-Gräffe method - Function - Dirichlet

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~