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Elwin Bruno Christoffel (; November 10, 1829 – March 15, 1900) was a German mathematician and physicist. He introduced fundamental concepts of differential geometry, opening the way for the development of tensor calculus, which would later provide the mathematical basis for general relativity. ==Life== Christoffel was born on 10 November 1829 in Montjoie (now Monschau) in Prussia in a family of cloth merchants. He was initially educated at home in languages and mathematics, then attended the Jesuit Gymnasium and the Friedrich-Wilhelms Gymnasium in Cologne. In 1850 he went to the University of Berlin, where he studied mathematics with Gustav Dirichlet (which had a strong influence over him) among others, as well as attending courses in physics and chemistry. He received his doctorate in Berlin in 1856 for a thesis on the motion of electricity in homogeous bodies written under the supervision of Martin Ohm, Ernst Kummer and Heinrich Gustav Magnus. After receiving his doctorate, Christoffel returned to Montjoie where he has spent the following three years in isolation form the academic community. However, he continued to study mathematics (especially mathematical physics) from books by Bernhard Riemann, Dirichlet and Augustin-Louis Cauchy. He also continued his research, publishing two papers in differential geometry.〔 In 1859 Christoffel returned to Berlin, earning his habilitation and becoming a Privatdozent at the University of Berlin. In 1862 he was appointed to a chair at the Polytechnic School in Zurich left vacant by Dedekind. He organised a new institute of mathematics at the young institution (it had been established only seven years earlier) that was highly appreciated. He also continued to publish research, and in 1868 he was elected a corresponding member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences and of the Istituto Lombardo in Milan. In 1869 Christoffel returned to Berlin as a professor at the Gewerbeakademie (now part of the Technical University of Berlin), with Hermann Schwarz succeeding him in Zurich. However, strong competition from the close proximity to the University of Berlin meant that the Gewerbeakademie could not attract enough students to sustain advanced mathematical courses and Christoffel left Berlin again after three years.〔 In 1872 Christoffel became a professor at the University of Strasbourg, a centuries-old institution that was being reorganized into a modern university after Prussia's annexation of Alsace-Loraine in the Franco-Prussian War. Christoffel, together with his colleague Theodor Reye, has built a reputable mathematics department at Strassbourg. He continued to publish research and had several doctoral students: Otto Pauls, Victor Doerr, Rikitaro Fujisawa, Ludwig Maurer, Joseph Wellstein and Paul Epstein. Christoffel retired from the University of Strasbourg in 1894, being succeeded by Heinrich Weber.〔 After retirement he continued to work and publish, with the last treatise finished just before his death and published posthumously.〔 Christoffel died on 15 March 1900 in Strassbourg. He was never married and has left no family behind.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Elwin Bruno Christoffel」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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