Johann Friedrich Pfaff

Infobox_Scientist
name = Johann Friedrich Pfaff


image_width = 228px
caption = Johann Friedrich Pfaff
birth_date = birth date|1765|12|22|mf=y
birth_place = Stuttgart, Germany
death_date = death date and age|1825|4|21|1765|12|22|mf=y
death_place = Halle, Germany
residence =
nationality =
field = Mathematics
work_institution = University of Helmstedt
Halle University
alma_mater = University of Göttingen
doctoral_advisor = Abraham Kaestner
doctoral_students = Carl Friedrich Gauss
August Möbius
known_for = Pfaffians
prizes =
religion =
footnotes =

Johann Friedrich Pfaff (sometimes spelled Friederich) was born in Stuttgart on December 22, 1765, and died in Halle on April 21, 1825. Pfaff was described as one of Germany's most eminent mathematicians during the 19th century. He studied integral calculus, and is noted for his work on partial differential equations of the first order (Pfaffian systems as they are now called) which became part of the theory of differential forms; and as Carl Friedrich Gauss's formal research supervisor.

Pfaff was a student of Abraham Kaestner, and became the precursor of the German school of mathematic thinking, which under Gauss and his followers largely determined the lines on which mathematics developed during the nineteenth century. He knew Gauss well, when they both lived together in Helmstedt in 1798. August Möbius was later a student of his.

ee also

* Pfaffian

External links

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Persondata
NAME= Pfaff, Johann Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= German mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH= December 22, 1765
PLACE OF BIRTH= Stuttgart, Germany
DATE OF DEATH= April 21, 1825
PLACE OF DEATH= Halle, Germany