Hjalmar Mellin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Hjalmar Mellin
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| Born | 19 June 1854 Liminka, Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland
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| Died | 5 April 1933 (aged 78) |
| Nationality | Finnish |
| Alma mater | University of Helsinki (Ph.D., 1882) |
| Known for | Mellin formula Mellin transform |
| Spouse(s) | Hilda Koskinen d.1909 Hilda Maria Sofia Peltola d.1927 |
| Children | 4 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | Helsinki University of Technology |
| Thesis | De algebraiska funktionerna af en oberoende variabel (1882) |
| Doctoral advisor | Gösta Mittag-Leffler |
| Doctoral students | Ernst Leonard Lindelöf |
Robert Hjalmar Mellin (born June 19, 1854 – died April 5, 1933) was a famous Finnish mathematician. He was known for his work with mathematical functions.
Early Life and Education
Hjalmar Mellin was born in Liminka, Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland. His father, Gustaf Robert Mellin, was a priest and teacher. His mother was Sofia Augusta Thérmen. Hjalmar was the oldest of four children. He sometimes helped his father by translating his religious and literary writings. His mother's brother, Karl Otto Themén, was an important government official.
Mellin was a very smart student. He studied at the University of Helsinki in Finland. Later, he traveled to Berlin to continue his studies. There, he learned from a famous mathematician named Karl Weierstrass.
Mathematical Discoveries
Hjalmar Mellin is best known for creating a special mathematical tool. It's called the Mellin transform. This transform is a way to change one type of mathematical problem into another, often simpler, form. It's used a lot in advanced mathematics and engineering.
He also studied other important mathematical ideas. These included gamma functions, which are like a special type of factorial. He also looked at hypergeometric functions and Dirichlet series. Mellin also researched the Riemann zeta function, which is very important in number theory.
Career and Later Years
After his studies, Mellin became a professor. He taught at the Polytechnic Institute in Helsinki. This institute later became the Helsinki University of Technology. Hjalmar Mellin was chosen to be its very first leader, called a rector.
Later in his life, Mellin became known for his strong opinions. He did not agree with the theory of relativity, which was developed by Albert Einstein. Mellin wrote several papers explaining why he disagreed, mostly based on his philosophical views.
In his personal life, Mellin was a strong supporter of the Finnish language. He believed that Finnish should be the main language for government and culture in Finland. At that time, Swedish was more commonly used. Mellin wanted Finnish to be more widely adopted.
See also
- Mellin inversion theorem
- Mellin–Barnes integral
- Poisson–Mellin–Newton cycle
