Hilbert, David (1862–1943)

German mathematician, philosopher, and physicist whose work was fundamental to 20th-century mathematics. He founded the formalist school with Grundlagen der Geometrie/Foundations of Geometry (1899), which was based on his idea of postulates.

Hilbert attempted to put mathematics on a logical foundation through defining it in terms of a number of basic principles, which Kurt Gödel later showed to be impossible. In 1900 Hilbert proposed a set of 23 problems for future mathematicians to solve, and gave 20 axioms to provide a logical basis for Euclidean geometry.

Hilbert was born in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia) and studied there and at Leipzig and Paris. He was professor at Königsberg 1892–95 and at Göttingen 1895–1930.

Studying algebraic invariants, Hilbert had by 1892 not only solved all the known central problems of this branch of mathematics, he had introduced sweeping developments and new areas for research, particularly in algebraic topology.

From 1909 Hilbert worked on problems of physics, such as the kinetic theory of gases and the theory of relativity.