David Hilbert

David Hilbert

David Hilbert was a german mathematician born in 1862 and died in 1943. He is one of the most famous mathematicians from the 20th century, at the same title as Poincare.

He was not that important for solving big mathematical problems, but he became the leader and the father of modern mathematics. He didn’t find new theorems, but changed the way of solving ancient problems. Hilbert found a general solutions using abstract reasoning, leading him to the first steps of abstract algebraic geometry, which will end up being a major thematic in the 20th century. He also developed different algorithms to axiomatize geometry.

He tutored many students and became a model for many young mathematician. He started a “formalist school” which was opposed to the “intuitionist” school. Hilbert problems are a list of 23 problems that he wrote out in 1900. His problems were prominent in the 20th century. He presented ten of them in the International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris.

Mathematicians of this period couldn’t solve them and some aren’t solved still today. His 23rd problem is an example of unsolved problem. It says that we could find a further development of the calculus of variations, a method that would work in every case.