Carathéodory, Constantin (1873-1950)

German mathematician who made significant advances to the calculus of variations and to function theory. His work also covered theory of measure and applied mathematics.

Carathéodory was born in Berlin and studied there and at Göttingen University. He held professorships at various universities in Germany and, 1920-24, in Greece; from 1924 he was at the University of Munich.

His first major contribution to the calculus of variations was his proposal of a theory of discontinuous curves. From his work on field theory he established links with partial differential calculus, and in 1937 he published a book on the application to geometrical optics of the results of his investigations into the calculus of variations.

One of Carathéodory's most significant achievements, the subject of a book in 1932, was a simplification of the proof of one of the central theorems of conformal representation. It formed part of his work on function theory.

Carathéodory's interests also extended beyond pure mathematics into the applications of the subject, particularly to mechanics, thermodynamics, and relativity theory.