Dirichlet, Peter Gustave Lejeune |
| MATHEMATICIAN (GERMANY) |
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BORN 13 Feb 1805, Düren, Nordrhein-Westfalen - DIED 5 May 1859, Göttingen, Niedersachsen BIRTH NAME Dirichlet, Johann Peter Gustave Lejeune GRAVE LOCATION Göttingen, Niedersachsen: Bartholomäus-Friedhof, Weender Landstraße |
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Peter Dirichlet attended the gymnasium in Bonn before he was educated by Georg Simon Ohm in Cologne. In 1822 he started studying mathematics in Paris and there he met Fourier, Laplace, Legendre, Poisson and others. In 1825 he attracted attention after a collaboration with the old Legendre. In 1827 he was promoted in Bonn and after a recommendation by Alexander Humboldt he obtained a teaching position at the University in Breslau. In 1827 Humboldt appointed him in Berlin, where he taught at several insitutions. In 1832 he married Rebecka Mendelssohn, the younger sister of the composer Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. They had met during magnetic experiments in the garden of her father to which Dirichlet had been invited by Alexander von Humboldt. In 1855 he succeeded Carl Friedrich Gauss at the University of Göttingen as Professor of Higher Mathematics. In Göttingen they were visited by Joseph Joachim, Agathe von Siebold and Karl August Varnhagen von Ense. He held his position in Göttingen until his death in 1859. He was buried next to Rebecka, who had died in 1858. Family • Wife: Dirichlet-Mendelssohn, Rebecka (1832-1858) Related persons • was a friend of Dedekind, Richard • was teacher of Heine, Eduard • was visited by Joachim, Joseph • has a connection with Legendre, Adrien Marie • has a connection with Lipschitz, Rudolf • was pupil of Ohm, Georg Simon • was visited by Varnhagen von Ense, Karl-August |
| Images |
 The grave of Peter Dirichlet and Rebecka Dirichlet-Mendelssohn at the Bartholomäus-Friedhof, Göttingen. Picture by Androom (27 Aug 2017) |
