The axiomatization of linear algebra: 1875-1940 (Q1899010)

This paper gives a good account of the history of the axiomatization of Linear Algebra: 1875-1940. Modern linear algebra is based on vector spaces, or more generally, on modules. The abstract notion of vector space was first isolated by Peano (1888) in geometry. It was not influential then, nor when Weyl rediscovered it in 1918. Around 1920 it was rediscovered again by Banach, Hahn and Wiener, all analysts, and by Noether, an algebraist. Then the notion developed quickly in two distinct areas -- the one: functional analysis, emphasizing infinite-dimensional normed vector spaces and the other: ring theory, emphasizing finitely generated modules. Even before Peano, a more limited notion of vector space over the reals was axiomatized by Darboux (1975).