1832 - 1903
Rudolf Lipschitz was born in 1832 into a wealthy family in the
German village of Bonkein, near Konigsberg, which today is the
Russian city of Kaliningrad. Lipschitz wanted to become a professor
of mathematics and began his studies at a young age. He first
entered the University of Konigsberg, where his teacher was Franz
Neumann. At that time it was the custom to study at two different
universities. Following this custom, Lipschitz enrolled in the
University of Berlin. There he studied under Dirichlet. Lipschitz was
in poor health during this time which caused him to take a year off to
recover. Even so, he completed his studies at the age of twenty and
was awarded a doctorate in August, 1853.
No immediate university teaching position came up, so Lipschitz
was forced to teach for four years at gymnasiums in Konigsberg and
Elbing. However, in 1857 he became a Privatdozent at the University
of Berlin. That year he also married Ida Pascha, the daughter of a
landowner who lived near his father's estate. In 1862 his dream of
becoming a professor finally came true. He became an extraordinary
professor at the university in Breslau.
Lipschitz stayed only two years in Breslau. During this time he
wrote two unimportant papers, but he also founded a seminar on
mathematics and mathematical physics with the help of Heinrich
Schroeter and M. Frankenheim. He left Breslau on Easter of 1864
after being nominated an ordinary professor by the University of
Lipschitz spent the rest of his career at the University of Bonn. He
stayed not because he did not have the opportunity to move, but
because he was happy there. At one point he turned down a very
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