1829-1900

German mathematician who made major contributions in a number of mathematical disciplines, including tensor analysis, differential equations, and several areas of mathematical physics. Christoffel was considered one of the best professors and practitioners of mathematics during his era. His work on tensor analysis made possible the later work of Tullio Levi-Civita and Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro, leading, in turn, to the development of relativity theory.