Grassmann, Hermann Günther

Hermann Günther Grassmann, (born April 15, 1809, Stettin, Prussia [now Szczecin, Pol.]—died Sept. 26, 1877, Stettin, Ger.), German mathematician chiefly remembered for his development of a general calculus of vectors in Die lineale Ausdehnungslehre, ein neuer Zweig der Mathematik (1844; “The Theory of Linear Extension, a New Branch of Mathematics”).

Grassmann taught at the Gymnasium in Stettin from 1831 until his death, except for two years (1834–36) of teaching at an industrial school in Berlin. He pursued wide interests, writing on electricity, colour, acoustics, linguistics, botany, and folklore.

In Ausdehnungslehre Grassmann developed Gottfried Leibniz’ idea of an algebra in which symbols representing geometric entities (such as points, lines, and planes) are manipulated according to certain rules. In suitable circumstances this calculus proves far more powerful than earlier methods of coordinate geometry. Grassmann also initiated the representation of subspaces of a given space (e.g., the lines in three-dimensional space) by coordinates; this leads to a point mapping of an algebraic manifold, called the Grassmannian. Somewhat similar ideas were propounded independently and contemporaneously by Sir William R. Hamilton of Great Britain in his quaternion theory; indeed, Grassmann, Hamilton, and the British mathematician George Boole were the pioneers in the field of modern algebra. Although Grassmann’s methods were only slowly adopted, partly because of his obscure writing, they eventually inspired the continental school of vector analysis. Through the work of Élie Cartan of France, his methods have since shown their utility in the study of differential forms, with its important applications to analysis and geometry.

Grassmann was an accomplished linguist, specializing in Sanskrit literature, and at the age of 53, disappointed with the lack of interest in his mathematical work, he turned all his efforts to Sanskrit studies. His Sanskrit dictionary on the Ṛgveda is still widely used.