HILBERT, D.(1862-1943)

    David Hilbert was born in Konigsberb in 1862 and received his Ph.D. from the university there in 1885.  He taught at the University of Konigsberg, first as Privatdozen; (1886-1892) and then as professor (1893-1894).  In 1895, he became a professor at Gottingen, a post that he held to his retirement in 1930.  He died in Gottingen in 1943.
    Hilbert was a broad mathematician and made highly important contributions in many areas, usually neatly completing each area before passing on to the next.

  These areas include the theory of algebraic invariants (1885-1892); the theory of algebraic numbers (1893-1899); the foundations of geometry, which initiated his work in axiomatics (1898-1899); the Dirichlet problem and the calculus of variations (1900-1905); integral equations, including spectral theory and the concept of Hilbert space (to 1912); followed by contributions in mathematical physics to the kinetic theory of gases and the theory of relativity; and, finally, his critical studies of the foundations of mathematics and mathematical logic.  His stimulating lectures attracted students from all parts of the world.  He was a powerhouse at the University of Gottingen and, with a galaxy of great colleagues, he made Gottingen a Mecca for mathematicians until the destructive political events of the 1930s.  Hilbert received many honors and became editor of Mathematische Annalen in 1902.  At the International Mathematical Congress in Paris in 1900, he proposed twenty-three significant unsolved mathematical problems, subsequent work upon which has greatly enriched mathematics.