author
H. (Hermann) Minkowski
1864–1909
Best known for giving space and time a new geometric shape, this brilliant mathematician helped lay part of the groundwork for modern relativity. His work also transformed number theory through the field now called the geometry of numbers.
1 Audiobook
The Principle of Relativity
by Albert Einstein, H. (Hermann) Minkowski
About the author
Born in 1864 in what is now Kaunas, Lithuania, Hermann Minkowski grew up in Königsberg and showed unusual mathematical talent at a young age. He went on to teach at several major universities, including Königsberg, ETH Zürich, and Göttingen, building a reputation as one of the most original mathematicians of his generation.
Minkowski made major contributions to number theory, especially through the geometry of numbers, where he used geometric ideas to solve arithmetic problems. He is also widely remembered for his 1908 reformulation of special relativity, which united space and time into a single four-dimensional framework that later became central to modern physics.
Though he died in 1909 at only 44, his influence lasted far beyond his short life. Mathematicians still use his ideas in geometry and number theory, and physicists continue to build on the spacetime picture that bears his name.