1815-1897

German Mathematician

An exceptional teacher and researcher, Karl Weierstrass was one of the most influential mathematicians of the nineteenth century. He taught and inspired some of Europe's most gifted mathematicians and made important contributions in elliptic functions, the calculus of variations, and other areas of mathematics.

Weierstrass was born in Prussia, now part of Germany, to a mid-level bureaucrat. His father, a well-educated and intelligent man, was seemingly content working at a lower level than his abilities permitted. His father's position with the main tax office convinced him that his son should study accounting and law, though Weierstrass's interests lay elsewhere, in mathematics. This dilemma played itself out internally, with Weierstrass paying little attention to his studies at all for a time.

Eventually he decided to pursue mathematics, showing an immediate aptitude for the field.

Karl Weierstrass. (Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission...