| Leo Königsberger | |
|---|---|
Photograph of Leo Königsberger, 1886
|
|
| Born | 15 October 1837 Posen, Prussia |
| Died | 15 December 1921 (aged 84) Heidelberg, Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | University of Heidelberg University of Vienna |
| Alma mater | University of Berlin |
| Doctoral advisor | Karl Weierstrass Ernst Kummer |
| Doctoral students | Karl Bopp Edmund Husserl Georg Alexander Pick Alfred Pringsheim Max Wolf |
Leo Königsberger (15 October 1837 – 15 December 1921) was a German mathematician, and historian of science. He is best known for his three-volume biography of Hermann von Helmholtz, which remains the standard reference on the subject.
Königsberger was born in Posen (now Poznań, Poland), the son of a successful merchant. He studied at the University of Berlin with Karl Weierstrass, where he taught mathematics and physics (1860-64). He taught at the University of Greifswald (assistant professor, 1864-66; professor, 1866-69), the University of Heidelberg (1869-75), the Technische Universität Dresden (1875-77), and the University of Vienna (1877-84) before returning to Heidelberg in 1884, where remained until his retirement in 1914.
In 1919 he published his autobiography, Mein Leben (My Life). The biography of Helmholtz was published in 1902 and 1903. He also wrote a biography of C. G. J. Jacobi.
Königsberger's own research was primarily on elliptic functions and differential equations. He worked closely with Lazarus Fuchs, a childhood friend.