Hermann Minkowski (1864–1909)

Born in Alexoten, Russia, in 1864, Hermann Minkowski was brought up in Königsberg, Germany, where he also spent most of his university years. Rising rapidly through the ranks of academia, he earned the title Dokter in 1885, became a Docent at the University of Bonn in 1887, and in 1892 was promoted to Extraordinarius. During vacations, Minkowski usually returned to Königsberg to work with David Hilbert (1862–1943) and Adolf Hurwitz (1858–1919). For a time he actually resettled in Königsberg, where the university made him Extraordinarius in 1894 and Ordinarius (something like a full professor) in 1895. However, he was lured to Zurich, Switzerland, becoming an Ordinarius at the Polytechnicum in 1896 and marrying the following year. Eventually, to be with Hilbert again, Minkowski moved to Göttingen in 1902. It was there he died unexpectedly in 1909 of acute appendicitis. Only forty-five years old, Minkowski was struck down in the prime of his scientific career.

Minkowski had been a precocious genius. Upon completing his gymnasium education in Königsberg, he entered the university in 1880—not quite sixteen years old! During his first five semesters, Minkowski studied under H. Weber and W. Voigt. Then, going to Berlin for three semesters, he took courses from E. Kummer, Leopold Kronecker, Karl Weierstrass, H. L. F. von Helmholtz, and R. Kirchhoff. Some of these names reveal that Minkowski was a serious student of physics. This readily explains his later fascination with relativity theory.