Nikolai Lobachevsky | |
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![]() Portrait by Lev Kryukov (c. 1843)
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Born | December 1, 1792 Makaryev, Makaryevsky uezd, Nizhny Novgorod Governorate,Russian Empire (now Makaryevo, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia) |
Died | February 24, 1856 (aged 63) Kazan, Kazan Governorate, Russian Empire (now Tatarstan, Russia) |
Nationality | Russian |
Alma mater | Kazan University |
Known for | Lobachevskian geometry |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Geometry |
Academic advisors | J. C. M. Bartels |
Notable students | Nikolai Brashman |
Signature | |
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Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky (Russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Лобаче́вский, IPA: [nʲikɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ləbɐˈtɕɛfskʲɪj] ( listen); 1 December [O.S. 20 November] 1792 – 24 February [O.S. 12 February] 1856) was a Russian mathematician and geometer, known primarily for his work on hyperbolic geometry, otherwise known as Lobachevskian geometry and also his fundamental study on Dirichlet integrals known as Lobachevsky integral formula.
William Kingdon Clifford called Lobachevsky the "Copernicus of Geometry" due to the revolutionary character of his work.
Nikolai Lobachevsky was born either in or near the city of Nizhny Novgorod in the Russian Empire (now in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia) in 1792 to parents of Polish origin – Ivan Maksimovich Lobachevsky and Praskovia Alexandrovna Lobachevskaya. He was one of three children. His father, a clerk in a land surveying office, died when he was seven, and his mother moved to Kazan. Lobachevsky attended Kazan Gymnasium from 1802, graduating in 1807 and then received a scholarship to Kazan University, which was founded just three years earlier in 1804.