Wilhelm Fiedler


Otto Wilhelm Fiedler was a German-Swiss mathematician, known for his textbooks of geometry and his contributions to descriptive geometry.

Life

Fiedler was the son of a shoemaker. He went to the Royal Mercantile College in Chemnitz and in 1849 to the Bergakademie Freiberg as an external student. In 1852 he became a mathematics teacher at the "Werkmeisterschule" in Freiberg and 1853 at the "Gewerbeschule" in Chemnitz. He had to take care of his widowed mother and his siblings, and educated himself without directly attending a university. In 1858 he obtained the doctorate in mathematics at the University of Leipzig under August Ferdinand Möbius.
Fiedler made himself known by editing the translation of the textbooks of analytic, projective, and algebraic geometry by George Salmon. He was a friend of Salmon and studied his theological works after he retired.
In 1864 he became professor for descriptive geometry at the Technical University in Prag and 1867 professor at the Federal polytechnic school in Zurich. In 1907 he retired. Among his students were Marcel Grossmann and Emil Weyr. Hendrik de Vries was his assistant.
He was a member of the Leopoldina and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He obtained in 1884 the Steiner price of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, and in 1907 the Honorary degree of the Vienna University of Technology was awarded to him.
In 1860 he married Line Elise née Springer. In 1875, he was naturalized in Zurich. His son Ernst was professor of mathematics and rector of the "Oberrealschule" in Zurich. His son Karl was Privatdozent for zoology in Zurich.

Publications