differential geometry: Development of Differential Geometry
Development of Differential Geometry
Differential geometry was founded by Gaspard Monge and C. F. Gauss in the beginning of the 19th cent. Important contributions were made by many mathematicians during the 19th cent., including B. Riemann, E. B. Christoffel, and C. G. Ricci. This work was collected and systematized at the end of the century by J. G. Darboux and Luigi Bianchi. The importance of differential geometry may be seen from the fact that Einstein's general theory of relativity is formulated entirely in terms of the differential geometry, in tensor notation, of a four-dimensional manifold combining space and time.
Sections in this article:
- Introduction
- Development of Differential Geometry
- The Analysis of Surfaces
- The Analysis of Curves
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Mathematics
