Georg Cantor
3 March 1845 – 6 January 1918
Georg Cantor (1845-1918) was a German mathematician who created set theory and established the mathematics of infinity, proving that the real numbers are more numerous than the natural numbers and introducing transfinite cardinal and ordinal numbers. His work, initially controversial, became a foundation of modern mathematics; he spent most of his career at the University of Halle and suffered recurring bouts of depression in later life.
Lived at the same time
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Life events
Cantor was born to a merchant family of German descent in Saint Petersburg.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgBecause of his father's poor health, the family relocated to Germany, settling in Frankfurt.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgCantor studied at the ETH Zurich and then the University of Berlin under Weierstrass, Kummer, and Kronecker.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHe completed his dissertation on number theory, 'De aequationibus secundi gradus indeterminatis'.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgCantor took a position at Halle, where he remained for his entire career, becoming full professor in 1879.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHis paper 'On a Property of the Collection of All Real Algebraic Numbers' showed the real numbers cannot be put in one-to-one correspondence with the naturals, founding set theory.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgCantor married Vally Guttmann, with whom he had six children.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgCantor was instrumental in founding the Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung and was elected its first president.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgIn 1891 Cantor published his diagonal argument, and in the 1890s his major treatises on transfinite cardinal and ordinal arithmetic.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAfter years of ill health and recurrent depression, Cantor died of a heart attack in the Halle university clinic where he had spent his final year.
Source: en.wikipedia.org