Kurt Heegner

Kurt Heegner (1893-1965) was a Berlin high school teacher and radio engineer now famous for his mathematical discoveries.

In 1952 Heegner published what he claimed was the solution of Gauss' class number 1 problem, a significant and longstanding problem in number theory. Owing partly to a few minor mistakes in the paper, partly to his refusal of invitations to give talks on his solution, and partly to the reluctance of professional mathematicians to accept the work of an amateur, Heegner's work went unnoticed for years. Heegner's proof was finally recognized in 1967 when Harold Stark independently arrived at a similar proof, which was shown to be equivalent to Heegner's.

See also

• List of amateur mathematicians
• Stark–Heegner theorem

Literature

• Kurt Heegner. "Diophantische Analysis und Modulfunktionen." Mathematische Zeitschrift, (56):227–253, 1952.