János Bolyai
János Bolyai | |
|---|---|
Portrait by Ferenc Márkos (2012) | |
| Born | 15 December 1802 Kolozsvár, Kingdom of Hungary, Habsburg Monarchy (today Cluj-Napoca, Romania) |
| Died | 27 January 1860 (aged 57) Marosvásárhely, Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire (today Târgu Mureș, Romania) |
| Education | TherMilAk (diploma, 1822) |
| Known for | Non-Euclidean geometry |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
Academic advisors | Farkas Bolyai |
János Bolyai (/ˈbɔːljɔɪ/; Hungarian: [ˈjaːnoʃ ˈboːjɒi]; 15 December 1802 – 27 January 1860) or Johann Bolyai, was a Hungarian mathematician who developed absolute geometry—a geometry that includes both Euclidean geometry and hyperbolic geometry. The discovery of a consistent alternative geometry that might correspond to the structure of the universe helped to free mathematicians to study abstract concepts irrespective of any possible connection with the physical world.