Karl Theodor Wilhelm Weierstrass (Weierstraß) (October 31, 1815 – February 19, 1897) was a German mathematician who is often cited as the "father of modern analysis". He was born in Ostenfelde , Westphalia (today Germany) and died in Berlin, Germany.

Karl Weierstraß

Karl Weierstrass was the son of Wilhem Weierstrass, a government official, and Theodora Vonderforst. His interest in mathematics began while he was a Gymnasium student, and was sent to the University of Bonn upon graduation to prepare for a government position. Because his studies were to be in the fields of law, economics, and finance, he was immediately in conflict with his hopes to study mathematics. He resolved the conflict by paying little heed to his planned course of study, but continued private study in mathematics. The outcome was leaving the university without a degree. His father was able to obtain a place for him in a teacher training school in Muenster, and he later was certified as a teacher in that city. During this period of study, Weierstrass attended the lectures of Christoph Gudermann and became interested in elliptic functions.

After 1850 Weierstrass suffered from a long period of illness, but was able to publish papers that brought him fame and distinction. In 1857 he took the chair of mathematics at the University of Berlin.

Selected papers

• Zur Theorie der Abelschen Functionen (1854)
• Theorie der Abelschen Functionen (1856)

See also

• Bolzano-Weierstraß theorem
  • Heine-Borel theorem
• Stone-Weierstrass theorem
• Weierstrass-Casorati theorem
• Weierstrass's elliptic functions
• Weierstrass function
• Weierstrass M-test
• Weierstrass preparation theorem
• Lindemann-Weierstrass theorem
• Weierstrass factorization theorem

External links

• Biography
• University of St Andrews' page
• Weierstraß' students
• Digitalized versions of Weierstraß' original publications are freely available online from the library of the Berlin Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften.