Xref: utzoo comp.sys.handhelds:3627 sci.math:13483 sci.lang:8041 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!batcomputer!munnari.oz.au!sirius.ucs.adelaide.edu.au!spam!spam.ua.oz.au!wvenable From: wvenable@spam.ua.oz.au (Bill Venables) Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds,sci.math,sci.lang Subject: Re: origin of eigenvalue & -vector Message-ID: Date: 16 Nov 90 04:05:11 GMT References: <6132@quanta.eng.ohio-state.edu> <685@atcmpe.atcmp.nl> Sender: wvenable@spam.ua.oz Organization: Adelaide University. Lines: 26 In-reply-to: tt@tarzan.jyu.fi's message of 15 Nov 90 10:37:04 GMT In article tt@tarzan.jyu.fi (Tapani Tarvainen) writes: > I've always thought eigenvalue and eigenvector come from German, not > Dutch. Does anybody know where, when and by whom they were first used > (1) in any language (which?) and (2) in English, and which way they > came to English? Sorry, I can't speak with authority, but I can guess. In the 30s many German speaking mathematicians went to English speaking countries, mainly the US, as refugees from the Nazis, (particularly those with a Jewish backgrounds, like Einstein and von Neumann). This cleared, for example, almost the entire Heidelberg school which was at that time among the most prolific Mathematics group in the world. They brought many technical terms with them, and some of the punchier ones stuck. (Though occasionally we still use ones like "Nullstellensatz", and the like.) Of course there are plenty of English synonyms for `eigenvalue': `latent root', `proper value', `characteristic root/value', which are still in common use as well, but they mostly involve rather colourless words that tend to be overused in Mathematics anyway. -- Bill Venables, Dept. of Statistics, | Email: venables@spam.adelaide.edu.au Univ. of Adelaide, South Australia. | Phone: +61 8 228 5412