Research :

Solving Gordan's Problem

Hilbert's first work on invariant functions led him to the
demonstration in 1888 of his famous finiteness theorem.
Twenty years earlier, Paul Gordan had demonstrated the
theorem of the finiteness of generators for binary forms using a
complex computational approach. Attempts to generalize his
method to functions with more than two variables failed
because of the enormous difficulty of the calculations involved.
To solve what had become known in some circles as Gordan's
Problem, Hilbert realized that it was necessary to take a
completely different path. As a result, he demonstrated Hilbert's
basis theorem, showing the existence of a finite set of
generators, for the invariants of quantics in any number of
variables, but in an abstract form. That is, while demonstrating
the existence of such a set, it was not a constructive proof—it
did not display "an object"—but rather, it was an existence
proof[28] and relied on use of the law of excluded middle in an
infinite extension.

Hilbert sent his results to the Mathematische Annalen. Gordan,

the house expert on the theory of invariants for the
Mathematische Annalen, could not appreciate the revolutionary
nature of Hilbert's theorem and rejected the article, criticizing
the exposition because it was insufficiently comprehensive. His
comment was:

Das ist nicht Mathematik. Das ist Theologie.

This is not Mathematics. This is Theology.[29]

Klein, on the other hand, recognized the importance of the

work, and guaranteed that it would be published without any
alterations. Encouraged by Klein, Hilbert extended his method
in a second article, providing estimations on the maximum
degree of the minimum set of generators, and he sent it once
more to the Annalen. After having read the manuscript, Klein
wrote to him, saying:

Without doubt this is the most important work on general

algebra that the Annalen has ever published.[30]
Later, after the usefulness of Hilbert's method was universally
recognized, Gordan himself would say:

I have convinced myself that even theology has its merits.[31]

For all his successes, the nature of his proof created more
trouble than Hilbert could have imagined. Although Kronecker
had conceded, Hilbert would later respond to others' similar
criticisms that "many different constructions are subsumed
under one fundamental idea"—in other words (to quote Reid):
"Through a proof of existence, Hilbert had been able to obtain a
construction"; "the proof" (i.e. the symbols on the page) was
"the object".[31] Not all were convinced. While Kronecker would
die soon afterwards, his constructivist philosophy would
continue with the young Brouwer and his developing intuitionist
"school", much to Hilbert's torment in his later years.[32]
Indeed, Hilbert would lose his "gifted pupil" Weyl to intuitionism
—"Hilbert was disturbed by his former student's fascination with
the ideas of Brouwer, which aroused in Hilbert the memory of
Kronecker".[33] Brouwer the intuitionist in particular opposed
the use of the Law of Excluded Middle over infinite sets (as
Hilbert had used it). Hilbert responded:

Taking the Principle of the Excluded Middle from the

mathematician ... is the same as ... prohibiting the boxer the
use of his fists.[34]

Axiomatization of geometry
The text Grundlagen der Geometrie (tr.: Foundations of
Geometry) published by Hilbert in 1899 proposes a formal set,
called Hilbert's axioms, substituting for the traditional axioms of
Euclid. They avoid weaknesses identified in those of Euclid,
whose works at the time were still used textbook-fashion. It is
difficult to specify the axioms used by Hilbert without referring
to the publication history of the Grundlagen since Hilbert
changed and modified them several times. The original
monograph was quickly followed by a French translation, in
which Hilbert added V.2, the Completeness Axiom. An English
translation, authorized by Hilbert, was made by E.J. Townsend
and copyrighted in 1902.[35][36] This translation incorporated
the changes made in the French translation and so is
considered to be a translation of the 2nd edition. Hilbert
continued to make changes in the text and several editions
appeared in German. The 7th edition was the last to appear in
Hilbert's lifetime. New editions followed the 7th, but the main
text was essentially not revised.[g]
Hilbert's approach signaled the shift to the modern axiomatic
method. In this, Hilbert was anticipated by Moritz Pasch's work
from 1882. Axioms are not taken as self-evident truths.
Geometry may treat things, about which we have powerful
intuitions, but it is not necessary to assign any explicit meaning
to the undefined concepts. The elements, such as point, line,
plane, and others, could be substituted, as Hilbert is reported to
have said to Schoenflies and Kötter, by tables, chairs, glasses
of beer and other such objects.[37] It is their defined
relationships that are discussed.

Hilbert first enumerates the undefined concepts: point, line,

plane, lying on (a relation between points and lines, points and
planes, and lines and planes), betweenness, congruence of
pairs of points (line segments), and congruence of angles. The
axioms unify both the plane geometry and solid geometry of
Euclid in a single system.

The 23 problems
Hilbert put forth a highly influential list consisting of 23 unsolved
problems at the International Congress of Mathematicians in
Paris in 1900. This is generally reckoned as the most
successful and deeply considered compilation of open
problems ever to be produced by an individual mathematician.
[by whom?]

After re-working the foundations of classical geometry, Hilbert

could have extrapolated to the rest of mathematics. His
approach differed, however, from the later "foundationalist"
Russell–Whitehead or "encyclopedist" Nicolas Bourbaki, and
from his contemporary Giuseppe Peano. The mathematical
community as a whole could engage in problems of which he
had identified as crucial aspects of important areas of
mathematics.

The problem set was launched as a talk "The Problems of

Mathematics" presented during the course of the Second
International Congress of Mathematicians held in Paris. The
introduction of the speech that Hilbert gave said:

Who among us would not be happy to lift the veil behind which
is hidden the future; to gaze at the coming developments of our
science and at the secrets of its development in the centuries to
come? What will be the ends toward which the spirit of future
generations of mathematicians will tend? What methods, what
new facts will the new century reveal in the vast and rich field of
mathematical
thought?[38]

He presented fewer than half the problems at the Congress,

which were published in the acts of the Congress. In a
subsequent publication, he extended the panorama, and
arrived at the formulation of the now-canonical 23 Problems of
Hilbert. See also Hilbert's twenty-fourth problem. The full text is
important, since the exegesis of the questions still can be a
matter of inevitable debate, whenever it is asked how many
have been solved.

Some of these were solved within a short time. Others have

been discussed throughout the 20th century, with a few now
taken to be unsuitably open-ended to come to closure. Some
continue to remain challenges.

The following are the headers for Hilbert's 23 problems as they

appeared in the 1902 translation in the Bulletin of the American
Mathematical Society.

1. Cantor's problem of the cardinal number of the continuum.

2. The compatibility of the arithmetical axioms.
3. The equality of the volumes of two tetrahedra of equal bases
and equal altitudes.
4. Problem of the straight line as the shortest distance between
two points.
5. Lie's concept of a continuous group of transformations
without the assumption of the differentiability of the functions
defining the group.
6. Mathematical treatment of the axioms of physics.
7. Irrationality and transcendence of certain numbers.
8. Problems of prime numbers (The "Riemann Hypothesis").
9. Proof of the most general law of reciprocity in any number
field.
10. Determination of the solvability of a Diophantine equation.
11. Quadratic forms with any algebraic numerical coefficients
12. Extensions of Kronecker's theorem on Abelian fields to any
algebraic realm of rationality
13. Impossibility of the solution of the general equation of 7th
degree by means of functions of only two arguments.
14. Proof of the finiteness of certain complete systems of
functions.
15. Rigorous foundation of Schubert's enumerative calculus.
16. Problem of the topology of algebraic curves and surfaces.
17. Expression of definite forms by squares.
18. Building up of space from congruent polyhedra.
19. Are the solutions of regular problems in the calculus of
variations always necessarily analytic?
20. The general problem of boundary values (Boundary value
problems in PDE's).
21. Proof of the existence of linear differential equations having
a prescribed monodromy group.
22. Uniformization of analytic relations by means of
automorphic functions.
23. Further development of the methods of the calculus of
variations.
Formalism
edit
In an account that had become standard by the mid-century,
Hilbert's problem set was also a kind of manifesto that opened
the way for the development of the formalist school, one of
three major schools of mathematics of the 20th century.
According to the formalist, mathematics is manipulation of
symbols according to agreed upon formal rules. It is therefore
an autonomous activity of thought. There is, however, room to
doubt whether Hilbert's own views were simplistically formalist
in this sense.

Hilbert's program
Hilbert's programIn 1920, Hilbert proposed a research project in
metamathematics that became known as Hilbert's program. He
wanted mathematics to be formulated on a solid and complete
logical foundation. He believed that in principle this could be
done by showing that:

all of mathematics follows from a correctly chosen finite system

of axioms; and
that some such axiom system is provably consistent through
some means such as the epsilon calculus.
He seems to have had both technical and philosophical
reasons for formulating this proposal. It affirmed his dislike of
what had become known as the ignorabimus, still an active
issue in his time in German thought, and traced back in that
formulation to Emil du Bois-Reymond.

This program is still recognizable in the most popular

philosophy of mathematics, where it is usually called formalism.
For example, the Bourbaki group adopted a watered-down and
selective version of it as adequate to the requirements of their
twin projects of (a) writing encyclopedic foundational works,
and (b) supporting the axiomatic method as a research tool.
This approach has been successful and influential in relation
with Hilbert's work in algebra and functional analysis, but has
failed to engage in the same way with his interests in physics
and logic.

Hilbert wrote in 1919:

We are not speaking here of arbitrariness in any sense.

Mathematics is not like a
game whose tasks are determined by arbitrarily stipulated
rules. Rather, it is a conceptual system possessing internal
necessity that can only be so and by no means otherwise.[39]

Hilbert published his views on the foundations of mathematics

in the 2-volume work, Grundlagen der Mathematik.

Gödel's work
Hilbert and the mathematicians who worked with him in his
enterprise were committed to the project. His attempt to support
axiomatized mathematics with definitive principles, which could
banish theoretical uncertainties, ended in failure.

Gödel demonstrated that any non-contradictory formal system,

which was comprehensive enough to include at least
arithmetic, cannot demonstrate its completeness by way of its
own axioms. In 1931 his incompleteness theorem showed that
Hilbert's grand plan was impossible as stated. The second point
cannot in any reasonable way be combined with the first point,
as long as the axiom system is genuinely finitary.

Nevertheless, the subsequent achievements of proof theory at

the very least clarified consistency as it relates to theories of
central concern to mathematicians. Hilbert's work had started
logic on this course of clarification; the need to understand
Gödel's work then led to the development of recursion
theory and then mathematical logic as an autonomous
discipline in the 1930s. The basis for later theoretical computer
science, in the work of Alonzo Church and Alan Turing, also
grew directly out of this "debate".[40]
 Functional analysis
Around 1909, Hilbert dedicated himself to the study of
differential and integral equations; his work had direct
consequences for important parts of modern functional
analysis. In order to carry out these studies, Hilbert introduced
the concept of an infinite dimensional Euclidean space, later
called Hilbert space. His work in this part of analysis provided
the basis for important contributions to the mathematics of
physics in the next two decades, though from an unanticipated
direction. Later on, Stefan Banach amplified the concept,
defining Banach spaces. Hilbert spaces are an important class
of objects in the area of functional analysis, particularly of
the spectral theory of self-adjoint linear operators, that grew up
around it during the 20th century.

Award : Lobachevsky Prize (1903)

Bolyai Prize (1910)
ForMemRS[1]