Adolf Hurwitz German mathematician Date of Birth: 26.03.1859 Country: Germany

Biography of Adolf Hurwitz

Adolf Hurwitz was a German mathematician born into a Jewish family. His father, Solomon Hurwitz, worked in the engineering industry, while his mother, Elsa, passed away when Adolf was only three years old. In 1868, Hurwitz enrolled in a gymnasium, where he was taught mathematics by Herman Schubert. Recognizing and appreciating his talent, Schubert convinced Adolf's father to support his further education at the university.

In 1877, Hurwitz entered the University of Munich, attending lectures by Felix Klein during his first year of study. A year later, he moved to Berlin, where he continued his education at the local university by attending lectures by Kummer, Kronecker, and Weierstrass. He completed his studies in Leipzig in 1880.

After completing his education, Hurwitz began his teaching career at the University of Königsberg, where he became a professor in 1884. During the same year, he married Ida Samuel, and they had three children together. In 1892, Hurwitz became a professor at the Polytechnic School in Zurich. Among his students in Zurich were David Hilbert and Albert Einstein.

Hurwitz's main works focused on mathematical analysis, function theory, algebra, and number theory. He wrote a classic two-volume monograph on the theory of analytic and elliptic functions titled "Vorlesungen über allgemeine Funktionentheorie und Elliptischen Funktionen" (Berlin, 1922). He was one of the first mathematicians to extensively study Riemann surfaces and their applications to the theory of algebraic curves. Hurwitz also solved the isoperimetric problem.