Farkas BolyaiDied 20 Nov 1856 at age 81 (born 9 Feb 1775). Farkas (Wolfgang) Bolyai was a Hungarian mathematician, poet and dramatist who spent a lifetime trying to prove Euclid's (fifth) postulate that parallel lines do not meet. While studying at the University of Göttingen, he met as a fellow student, the noted German mathematician Carl F. Gauss, with whom he corresponded as a life-long friend. Bolyai taught mathematics, physics and chemistry at Marosvásárhely all his life. He discouraged his son, János Bolyai, from studying the parallel axiom as he had, writing in a letter to him: “For God's sake, please give it up. Fear it no less than the sensual passion, because it, too, may take up all your time and deprive you of your health, peace of mind and happiness in life.”Wolfgang is the German form for the Hungarian name Farkas. |
