In 1887, a professorship became vacant at the University of Bonn, and Minkowski applied for that position; according to the regulations of German universities, he had to submit orally to the faculty an original paper, as an Habilitationsschrift . Minkowski presented Räumliche Anschauung und Minima positiv definiter quadratischer Formen (Spatial visualization and minima of positive definite quadratic forms) which was not published at the time but in 1991 the lecture was published in . Dieudonné writes:
Sa 1887, ang isang pagkapropesor naging vacant sa Unibersidad ng Bonn, at Minkowski-apply para sa mga na posisyon; ayon sa mga regulasyon ng German unibersidad, siya had sa isumite sa bibig sa mga guro ng isang orihinal na papel, bilang isang Habilitationsschrift. Minkowski ipinapahayag Räumliche Anschauung und Minima positiv definiter quadratischer Formen (malapad paggunita at minima ng positibong determinado parisukat form) na kung saan ay hindi nai-publish sa oras ngunit sa 1,991 ang panayam ay nai-publish sa. Dieudonné magsusulat: