David Hilbert is a well-known mathematician and teacher of the highest class, who did not know fatigue, persistent in his intentions, inspiring and generous, one of the great in his time.
Creative power, original originality of thinking, amazing insight and versatility of interests made David the discoverer in most areas of the exact sciences.
Gilbert David: a brief biography
David was born in the city of Velau, located near Königsberg (Prussia). Born January 23, 1862, he was the first-born of a married couple - Otto and Mary. Hilbert was not a child prodigy; successively setting himself the goal of fully exploring every area of mathematics, he solved the problems of interest to him. With the completion of his creative impulse, David left the studied field of activity to his students. And left in absolute order, teaching them the appropriate course and publishing a good textbook to followers.
Hilbert could have acted differently: he announced a special course for the new academic year in the field of mathematics that he had not studied and conquered it along with recruited students. To get on such a course was considered a huge success, although in reality training on it was a huge test.
Hilbert and the students
David Hilbert, whose biography is interesting to the modern generation, was caring and polite with students in whom he felt the potential. If the spark died out, the scientist politely recommended that they try themselves in a different kind of activity. Some of Hilbert's students followed the advice of a teacher and became engineers, physicists, and even writers. The professor did not understand the loafers and considered them inferior people. Being a very respected man of science, David had his own characteristics. In warm weather, he came to the lecture in a shirt with a short sleeve and an open collar, which did not fit the professor at all, or delivered flower bouquets to numerous passions. Could be ahead on a bicycle, like some kind of gift, to carry a container with fertilizers.
However, despite his gaiety, David Gilbert was a rather tough person and could rudely criticize someone who did not meet his standards (he calculated too hard where it could be done easier, or explained quite obviously, as for the level of the gymnasium student).
Hilbert's first studies
David Gilbert, whose brief biography is described in our article, felt his abilities for exact sciences even in Königsberg, where the profession of mathematics was little respected. Therefore, having chosen quiet Göttingen - the meeting place for German mathematicians, Hilbert moved there in 1895 and successfully worked until 1933 - the time Adolf Hitler came to power.
Hilbert read his lectures slowly, without unnecessary adornments, with frequent repetitions so that everyone would understand him. Also, David always repeated the previous material. Hilbert's lectures always gathered a large number of people: several hundred people could be packed in the hall, even on the windowsills.
David began his research with algebra, or rather, with transformations in number theory. A report on this topic became the basis of his textbook.
Hilbert family
Lucky in friendship, David was unlucky in the family. With his wife Kete, they got along very well, but their only son was born moronic. Therefore, Hilbert found an outlet in communication with numerous students - representatives of the countries of Europe and America. The mathematician often organized hiking trips and organized joint tea parties, during which discussions on mathematical topics smoothly turned into ordinary conversations on various topics. Stiff German professors did not recognize this style of communication; it was the authority of David Hilbert that made him the norm that the mathematics disciples spread around the world.
Soon, the algebraic interests of the mathematician moved to geometry, namely, to infinite-dimensional spaces. The limit of the sequence of points, the gap between them and the angle between the vectors determined the Hilbert space - a kind of Euclidean.
About putting in order in the exact sciences
In the years 1898-1899, David Hilbert published a book on the foundations of geometry, which immediately became a bestseller. In it, he gave a complete system of axioms of Euclidean geometry, systematized them into groups, trying to determine the limiting values of each of them.
Such luck led Hilbert to the idea that in each mathematical field a clear system of irreplaceable axioms and definitions can be applied. As a key example, the mathematician opted for the general theory of sets, and in it the well-known Kantor continuum hypothesis. David Hilbert was able to prove the unprovability of this hypothesis. However, in 1931, the young Austrian Kurt Gödel proved that postulates like the continuum hypothesis, considered by Hilbert to be one of the mandatory axioms of set theory, can be found in any system of axioms. This statement indicates that the development of science does not stand still and will never stop, although each time it will be necessary to invent new axioms and definitions - something that the human brain is fully adapted to. Hilbert knew this from his own experience, so he sincerely rejoiced at Godel's amazing discovery.
Hilbert's “Mathematical Problems”
At the age of 38, at a mathematical congress in Paris, which brought together the full color of science of that time, Hilbert made a presentation entitled “Mathematical Problems”, on which 23 important topics were proposed as a subject of discussion. Hilbert considered the rapidly developing areas of science (set theory, algebraic geometry, functional analysis, mathematical logic, number theory) to be the key tasks of mathematics of that time, in each of which he singled out the most important problems that had either been solved or received proof of their own by the end of the 20th century insolubility.
The most important task for mathematics
Once, young students asked Hilbert a question about what task, in his opinion, is most important for mathematics, to which they got the answer of an aging scientist: “Catch a fly on the far side of the moon!” According to Hilbert, such a task was not of particular interest, but what prospects could open up when solving it! How much this would entail important discoveries and inventions of powerful methods!
The correctness of Hilbert's words was confirmed by life: it is worth remembering that the invention of computers occurred for the instant calculation of a hydrogen bomb. Such discoveries as the first man’s landing on the moon, weather forecasts for the entire planet, the launch of an artificial Earth satellite became a kind of by-product of the solution. Unfortunately, Hilbert did not happen to witness such significant events.
In the last years of his life, the professor powerlessly watched the collapse of the mathematics school in Göttingen, which took place under the Nazi rule. David Hilbert, a mathematician who made a huge contribution to science, died on February 14, 1943 from the effects of a broken arm. The cause of death was the physical immobility of the mathematician.