Carl David Tolmé Runge

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**Carl Runge**
Carl David Tolmé Runge
Born	August 30, 1856 Bremen, Germany
Died	January 3, 1927 Göttingen, Germany
Residence	Germany
Nationality	German
Field	Mathematician and physicist
Institution	University of Hannover (1886-1904) Georg-August University of Göttingen (1904-1925)
Alma mater	Berlin University
Academic advisor	Karl Weierstrass Ernst Kummer
Notable students	Max Born
Known for	Runge-Kutta method Runge's phenomenon

Carl David Tolmé Runge (August 30, 1856 – January 3, 1927) was a German mathematician, physicist, and spectroscopist.

He was co-developer and co-eponym of the Runge-Kutta method, in the field of what is today known as numerical analysis.

He spent the first few years of his life in Havana, where his father Julius Runge was the Danish consul. The family later moved to Bremen, where his father died early (in 1864).

In 1880 he received his Ph.D. in mathematics at Berlin, where he studied under Karl Weierstrass. In 1886 he became a professor in Hannover, Germany.

His interests included mathematics, spectroscopy, geodesy and astrophysics. In addition to pure mathematics he did a great deal of experimental work studying spectral lines of various elements, and was very interested in the application of this work to astronomical spectroscopy.

In 1904, on the initiative of Felix Klein he received a call to the Georg-August University of Göttingen, which he accepted. There he remained until his retirement in 1925.

Runge crater on the Moon is named after him.

[edit] Bibliography

F. Paschen: "Carl Runge", Astrophysical Journal 69:317–321, 1929. DOI:10.1086/143192.
Iris Runge: Carl Runge und sein wissenschaftliches Werk, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1949.