Mathematics and Mathematicians

This book is about mathematics in Sweden between 1630 and 1950--from S. Klingenstierna to M. Riesz, T. Carleman, and A. Beurling. It tells the story of how continental mathematics came to Sweden, how it was received, and how it inspired new results. The book contains a biography of Gosta Mittag-Leffler, the father of Swedish mathematics, who introduced the Weierstrassian theory of analytic functions and dominated a golden age from 1880 to 1910. Important results are analyzed and re-proved in modern notation, with explanations of their relations to mathematics at the time. The book treats Backlund transformations, Mittag-Leffler's theorem, the Phragmen-Lindelof theorem and Carleman's contributions to the spectral theorem, quantum mechanics, and the asymptotics of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. Other important features include sketches of personalities and university life. Presents the first thorough treatment of mathematics in Sweden. Discusses the work of the great mathematicians and the development of mathematics throughout Europe. Brings the mathematics of an era to life in an informative and highly readable way.