Jacobi and the birth of Lie's theory of groups (Q1205961): Difference between revisions

In 1868, at age 26 Sophus Lie decided to become a mathematician; in 1873 he decided to devote himself to the task of creating a theory of continuous transformation groups. Lie's mathematical activity during 1869-1873 was acknowledged by Lie himself as well as later historians as relevant to the theory which emerged after 1873. An earlier paper by the author [in \textit{J. McCleary} and \textit{D. E. Rowe}, The history of modern mathematics, Vol. 1, 275-327 (1989; Zbl 0687.01007)] dealt mostly with the period 1869-1871 and Lie's relationship to Felix Klein whom he met in Berlin in 1869. This ``geometric'' period is summarized as background in the beginning of this article. The remainder of it is mainly devoted to the influence of Jacobi's work on Lie during the years 1871-1873. Jacobi's identity for the Poisson bracket is, of course, the fundamental identity for Lie groups, but Jacobi's influence went far deeper. As the author shows ``virtually all the discoveries of Lie'' during this period are related to Jacobi's work on first order partial differential equations (published posthumously by Clebsch in 1862). This paper is written in the thorough, detailed and clear way which has come to be expected of the author. It lays out the mathematical context of the development as well as its content. It closes with Lie ready to embark on the theory which was to occupy him the rest of his life. At the end of the paper a useful glossary is appended of terms used by Lie and his contemporaries or in reference to their ideas which may be unfamiliar to the causal mathematical reader.