Paul Gordan
Paul Albert Gordan was a German mathematician known for work in invariant theory and for the Clebsch–Gordan coefficients and Gordan's lemma. He was called "the king of invariant theory". His most famous result is that the ring of invariants of binary forms of fixed degree is finitely generated. Clebsch–Gordan coefficients are named after him and Alfred Clebsch. Gordan also served as the thesis advisor for Emmy Noether.
Life and career
Gordan was born to Jewish parents in Breslau, Germany, and died in Erlangen, Germany.He received his Dr. phil. at the University of Breslau with the thesis De Linea Geodetica, in 1862. He moved to Erlangen in 1874 to become professor of mathematics at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
A famous quote attributed to Gordan about David Hilbert's proof of Hilbert's basis theorem, a result which vastly generalized his result on invariants, is "This is not mathematics; this is theology." The proof in question was the existence of a finite basis for invariants. It is not clear if Gordan really said this since the earliest reference to it is 25 years after the events and after his death. Nor is it clear whether the quote was intended as criticism, or praise, or a subtle joke. Gordan himself encouraged Hilbert and used Hilbert's results and methods, and the widespread story that he opposed Hilbert's work on invariant theory is a myth.
He later said "I have convinced myself that even theology has its merits". He also published a simplified version of the proof.