| 1845 |
born March 3 |
| 1856 |
age 11, family moved from St.
Petersburg to Germany |
| 1860 |
graduated from Realschule in
Darmstadt with outstanding report (esp. trigonometry) |
| 1862 |
entered the University of
Zurich |
| 1863 |
transferred to University of
Berlin to study math under Weierstrass |
| 1867 |
received doctorate, assistant
professor at the backwater University of Halle (girl's school) |
| 1868 |
joined Schellbach Seminar for
mathematics teachers |
| 1869 |
presented his thesis, again on
number theory, and received his habilitation |
| 1870 |
solved the problem proving
uniqueness of the representation of a function as a trigonometric series |
| 1872 |
begins friendship with Dedekind,
published paper in which defined irrational numbers in terms of convergent
sequences of rational numbers, promoted to Extraordinary Professor at
Halle |
| 1873 |
proved rational numbers
countable with one-to-one correspondence and algebraic numbers were
countable |
| 1874 |
published paper that
"almost all" numbers are transcendental by proving real numbers
were not countable, one-to-one correspondence appears for the first time |
| 1875 |
married Vally Guttmann (a
friend of his sister) on August 9 |
| 1879 |
published his first paper on
the theory of sets |
| 1882 |
mathematical correspondence with Dedekind ended, one with Mittaag-Leffler began |
| 1884 |
suffered first of many nervous
breakdowns |
| 1886 |
last son was born, completing
his family of six children |
| 1891 |
chaired first meeting of the
Association in Halle, elected president of the Deutsche
Mathematiker-Vereinigung |
| 1896 |
published pamphlets on the
literary question of Francis Bacon writing Shakespeare plays, mother died |
| 1897 |
published last major paper on
set theory |
| 1899 |
younger brother died, youngest
son died, mental illness caused all correspondence with Dedekind to cease,
in and out of sanatoria until death |
| 1903 |
lectured on paradoxes of set
theory at Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung meeting |
| 1904 |
attended International
Congress of Mathematicians at Heidlberg, awarded medal by the Royal
Society of London and made a member of both the London Mathematical
Society and the Society of Sciences in Gottingen |
| 1905 |
wrote a religious work,
corresponded with Jourdain on history of set theory and his religious
tract |
| 1911 |
invited to University of St
Andrews in Scotland to attend its 500th anniversary celebration, but began
to behave eccentrically, talking at great lengths on the Bacon-Shakespeare
question, and fled to London |
| 1912 |
received honorary degree of
Doctor of Laws by the University of St Andrews |
| 1913 |
retired |
| 1917 |
entered a sanatorium for the
last time and continually wrote to his wife asking to be allowed to go
home |
| 1918 |
died in a mental institution from a
hear attack on January 6 |
