Background
Crelle was born on March 17, 1780, in Wriezen, Germany, the son of Christian Gottfried Crelle, an impoverished dike reeve and master builder.
69117 Heidelberg, Germany
At the age of thirty-six he obtained the doctorate from the University of Heidelberg, having submitted a thesis entitled “De calculi variabilium in geometria et arte mechanica usu.”
engineer mathematician scientist
Crelle was born on March 17, 1780, in Wriezen, Germany, the son of Christian Gottfried Crelle, an impoverished dike reeve and master builder.
Crelle was trained as a civil engineer. He always had been interested in mathematics but lacked the funds to enroll at a university, acquired appreciable knowledge in this field by independent study. At the age of thirty-six, he obtained the doctorate from the University of Heidelberg, having submitted a thesis entitled “De calculi variabilium in geometria et arte mechanica usu.”
Crelle became a civil servant with the Prussian building administration. He finally obtained the rank of Geheimer Oberbaurat and was made a member of the Oberbaudirektion, under the Prussian Ministry of the Interior. During the years 1816-1826 Crelle was engaged in the planning and construction of many new roads throughout the country. He also worked on the railway line from Berlin to Potsdam, the first to be opened in Prussia, which was built in 1838.
In 1828 Crelle transferred from the Ministry of the Interior to the Ministry of Education, where he was employed as an advisor on mathematics, particularly on the teaching of mathematics in high schools, technical high schools, and teachers colleges. During the summer of 1830, on an official tour to France, he studied the French methods of teaching mathematics.
Nevertheless, to the journal for which he is best remembered Crelle gave the name Journal für die reine and angewandte Mathematik. He founded it in 1826 and edited fifty-two volumes. From the very beginning, it was one of the leading mathematical journals and even today is universally known as Crelle’s Journal.
Although not a great mathematician himself, Crelle had a unique sensitivity to mathematical genius. He immediately recognized the abilities of such men as Abel, Jacobi, Steiner, Dirichlet, Plücker, Moebius, Eisenstein, Kummer, and Weierstrass and offered to publish their papers in his journal. He also used his influence as a ministerial advisor and his acquaintance with Alexander von Humboldt and other important persons to further their careers. It is for this lifelong, unselfish intercession that Crelle deserves a place in the history of science.
Crelle wrote many mathematical and technical papers, textbooks, and mathematical tables and translated works by Lagrange and Legendre. Except for his Rechentafeln, these are now mostly forgotten. Also, for many years he published Journal für die Baukunst.
Although beginning in the 1830’s his health declined until he was hardly able to walk, Crelle continued to further the course of mathematics, even at a great personal sacrifice.
(Volume 16, German Edition)
(German Edition)
In his report to the ministry, Crelle praised the organization of mathematical education in France but criticized the heavy emphasis on applied mathematics. In line with the neo-humanistic ideals then current in Germany, he maintained that the true purpose of mathematical teaching lies in the enlightenment of the human mind and the development of rational thinking.
Crelle was elected full, corresponding, or foreign member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin; of the academies of sciences in St. Petersburg, Naples, Brussels, and Stockholm; of the American Philosophical Society; and of the Mathematical Society of Hamburg.
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences , Sweden
1841
Prussian Academy of Sciences , Germany
St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences , Russian Federation
Naples Academy of Sciences , Italy
Brussels Academy of Sciences , Belgium
American Philosophical Society , United States
Mathematical Society of Hamburg , Germany
Crelle was survived by his wife, the former Philippine Dressel.