Paul Finsler | |
|---|---|
 Prof. Finsler at the International Mathematical Congress, Zürich 1932. | |
| Born | 11 April 1894 |
| Died | 29 April 1970 (aged 76) |
| Alma mater | University of Göttingen |
| Known for | Finsler manifold Finsler's lemma Finsler–Hadwiger theorem Hadwiger–Finsler inequality Non-well-founded set theory |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | University of Zurich |
| Academic advisors | Constantin Carathéodory |
Paul Finsler (born 11 April 1894, in Heilbronn, Germany, died 29 April 1970 in Zurich, Switzerland) was a German and Swiss mathematician.[1]
Finsler did his undergraduate studies at the Technische Hochschule Stuttgart,[1] and his graduate studies at the University of Göttingen, where he received his Ph.D. in 1919 under the supervision of Constantin Carathéodory.[2] He studied for his habilitation at the University of Cologne, receiving it in 1922.[1] He joined the faculty of the University of Zurich in 1927, and was promoted to ordinary professor there in 1944.[1]
Finsler's thesis work concerned differential geometry, and Finsler spaces were named after him by Élie Cartan in 1934.[1] The Hadwiger–Finsler inequality, a relation between the side lengths and area of a triangle in the Euclidean plane, is named after Finsler and his co-author Hugo Hadwiger, as is the Finsler–Hadwiger theorem on a square derived from two other squares that share a vertex.[3] Finsler is also known for his work on the foundations of mathematics, developing a non-well-founded set theory with which he hoped to resolve the contradictions implied by Russell's paradox.[1][4]
