Frobenius, (Ferdinand) Georg (1849–1917)

German mathematician. He formulated the concept of the abstract group – the first abstract structure of ‘new’ mathematics. His research into the theory of groups and complex number systems would prove useful to the development of quantum mechanics. He also made contributions to the theory of elliptic functions and to the solution of differential equations.

Frobenius was born in Berlin and studied at Göttingen. He was professor at the Eidgenossische Polytechnikum in Zürich, Switzerland, 1875–92, and at Berlin for the rest of his career. Publications on abstract algebra and groups written or cowritten by Frobenius include Über Gruppen von vertauschbaren Elementen (1879), Über endliche Gruppen (1895), and Über die reellen Darstellungen der endlichen Gruppen (1906).