theodor franz eduard kaluza (9 november 1885, wilhelmsthal, today part of opole &ndash; 19 january 1954, gÃ¶ttingen) was a german mathematician and physicist known for the kaluzaâklein theory involving field equations in five-dimensional space. his idea that fundamental forces can be unified by introducing additional dimensions re-emerged much later in string theory. ==life== kaluza was born to a roman catholic family from the town of ratibor in the german empire's prussian province of silesia. kaluza himself was born in wilhelmsthal (a village that was incorporated into oppeln (present-day opole) in 1899). he spent his youth in kÃ¶nigsberg, where his father, max kaluza, was a professor of the english language. he entered the university of kÃ¶nigsberg to study mathematics and gained his doctorate with a thesis on tschirnhaus transformations. kaluza was primarily a mathematician but began studying relativity. in april 1919 kaluza noticed that when he solved albert einstein's equations for general relativity using five dimensions, then maxwellian equations for electromagnetism emerged spontaneously.daniela wuensch. kaluzaâklein theory. compendium of quantum physics 2009, pp 328-331.sitzungsberichte der preussischen akademie der wissenschaften (1918) (tr. proceedings of the prussian academy of sciences (1918)) . archive.org. page 966-974proceedings of the prussian academy of sciences (1918). pg. 969. (cf., da num (fÃ¼r alle drei arten feldgleichungen) [... ricci tensor... ], so fÃ¼r den die maxwellschen gleichen gem fur die komponenten des verstorms [...] der raumzeitliche energietensor is also im wesentlichen mir stromdichte zu randern (tr., since then (for all three types of field equations) [... ricci-flat manifold ... ], so for the same according to maxwell's for the components of the verstorms [...] the spatio-temporal energy tensor thus essentially current density are random)) kaluza wrote to einstein who, in turn, encouraged him to publish. kaluza's theory was published in 1921 in a paper, "zum unitÃ¤tsproblem der physik" with einstein's support in sitzungsberichte preuÃische akademie der wissenschaften 966-972 (1921). kaluza's insight is remembered as the kaluzaâklein theory (also named after physicist oskar klein). however, the work was neglected for many years as attention was directed towards quantum mechanics. his idea that fundamental forces can be explained by additional dimensions did not re-emerge until string theory was developed. it is however also notable that many of the aspects of this body of work were already published in 1914 by gunnar nordstrÃ¶m, but his work also went unnoticed and was not recognized when the ideas re-emerged. for the rest of his c
1885_births 1954_deaths 20th-century_mathematicians German_mathematicians German_physicists People_from_Opole People_from_the_Province_of_Silesia Theoretical_physicists University_of_GAPttingen_faculty University_of_Kiel_faculty University_of_KAPnigsberg_alumni