David Hilbert

Born on 23 January 1862 in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia), David Hilbert was one of the most influential mathematicians of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1884 Hilbert earned his doctorate at the University of Königsberg, where he stayed on as a lecturer over the next decade. In 1895 he accepted a professorship in mathematics at the University of Göttingen, where he would remain until he retired in 1930. His early work focused on invariant theory and the finite basis theorem. In 1900 at the Second International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris, Hilbert presented what would become his famous list of 23 unsolved problems, which challenged mathematicians throughout the 20th century to solve fundamental questions. His work in integral equations in 1909 led to research in functional analysis and Hilbert space and the study of mathematical physics. In 1915 Hilbert invited Albert Einstein to lecture on general relativity at Göttingen, and later that year presented his version of general relativity’s gravitational field equations just days before Einstein did (though notably, Hilbert had to revise his equations before they were published in March 1916). Hilbert received many honors and awards in his lifetime, including the Bolyai Prize in 1910. He was also elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1928. He died in 1943 at age 81.

Date in History: 23 January 1862