Christian Goldbach

Christian Goldbach
Born	March 18, 1690 Königsberg, Brandenburg-Prussia
Died	November 20, 1764 (aged 74) Moscow, Russian Empire
Nationality	German
Fields	Mathematics and Law
Known for	Goldbach's conjecture

Christian Goldbach (March 18, 1690 – November 20, 1764) was a German mathematician who also studied law. He is remembered today for Goldbach's conjecture.

Biography

Born in the Duchy of Prussia's capital Königsberg, part of Brandenburg-Prussia, Goldbach was the son of a pastor. He studied at the Royal Albertus University. After finishing his studies he went on long educational voyages from 1710 to 1724 through Europe, visiting other German states, England, Holland, Italy, and France, meeting with many famous mathematicians, such as Gottfried Leibniz, Leonhard Euler, and Nicholas I Bernoulli. Back in Königsberg he got acquainted with Georg Bernhard Bilfinger and Jakob Hermann.

He went on to work at the newly opened St Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1725. Later on, he was a tutor to the later Tsar Peter II in 1728. In 1742 he entered the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.^[1]

He died on November 20, 1764 at age of 74, at Moscow.

Contributions

Goldbach is most noted for his correspondence with Leibniz, Euler, and Bernoulli, especially in his 1742 letter to Euler stating his Goldbach's Conjecture. He also studied and proved some theorems on perfect powers, such as the Goldbach-Euler theorem, and made several notable contributions to analysis.^[1]

Works

• (1729) De transformatione serierum
• (1732) De terminis generalibus serierum

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Rosen, Kenneth H. (2004). Elementary Number Theory, Fifth Edition. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0321237072. 

• Nicola Fragnito, A solution of Goldbach Conjecture, Journal of Algebra, Number Theory and Applications, ISSN 0972-5555, Vol. 20. Issue 2, ( March 2011 ), pages 147-211, available online at http://pphmj.com/abstract/5699.htm ttp://pphmj.com/journals/jpanta.htm

External links

• O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Christian Goldbach", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews, http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Goldbach.html .
• Electronic copies of Euler's correspondence with Goldbach

Persondata
Name	Goldbach, Christian
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 18, 1690
Place of birth	Königsberg, Brandenburg-Prussia
Date of death	November 20, 1764
Place of death	Moscow, Russian Empire