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Some addenda to Karl Weierstraß’s biography. (Einige Nachträge zur Biographie von Karl Weierstraß.) (German) Zbl 0868.01026

Dauben, Joseph W. (ed.) et al., History of mathematics: states of the art. Flores quadrivii – Studies in honor of Christoph J. Scriba. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. 65-91 (1996).
Summary: Unfortunately, nobody has as yet written a standard biography of the outstanding mathematician Karl Weierstraß (1815-1897). This paper examines two aspects of his life. The first part deals with the “secrecy” with which Weierstraß enveloped his foster-son, Franz, since 1886. The paper shows that Weierstraß deliberately covered up tracks and falsified information. It refers to Weierstraß’s relationship to Franz, the child’s biography, and, in particular, the question of who his mother was. With regard to the considerable amount of money spent by Weierstraß on Franz, the second part of the paper concentrates on how Weierstraß obtained the highly endowed honorary prize for scientific achievement awarded by the Peter-Wilhelm-Müller Foundation in 1895. The paper describes the foundation, which has sunk into obscurity today, and reconstructs the negotiations related to the award in 1894/1895. Originally, H. v. Helmholtz coveted the prize for the physicist H. Hertz, but on the initiative of L. Koenigsberger, one of Weierstraß’s disciples who had become a new adviser to the foundation, the prize was awarded to Weierstraß.
For the entire collection see [Zbl 0836.00024].

MSC:

01A70 Biographies, obituaries, personalia, bibliographies
01A55 History of mathematics in the 19th century

Keywords:

Biography

Biographic References:

Weierstraß, K.
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