nLab David Hilbert

Selected writings

On the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics:

Further resources

  • the (English translation) of the lecture of David Hilbert at the International Congress of Mathematicians at Paris in 1900 (with the list of “Hilbert’s problems”) is here

  • Felix E. Browder. Mathematical Developments Arising from Hilbert Problems. Proceedings of Symposia in Pure Mathematics. XXVIII.2. American Mathematical Society.

Lectures by Hilbert on physics and especially on general relativity are collected here:

Quotes and anecdotes

In mathematics:

From archive.org/details/philosophyoferns033109mbp:

Cassirer liked to tell the following story: once he met the great mathematician Hilbert, the “Euclid of our time,” and asked him about one of the latter’s disciples. Hilbert answered: “He is all right. You know, for a mathematician he did not have enough imagination. But he has become a poet and now he is doing fine.


On physics (cf. Hilbert's sixth problem), quoted in Reid 1970 p 126:

“Physics is much too hard for physicists.”

(echoed in Amati/Witten’s quote: “String theory is part of the physics of the twenty-first century that fell by chance into the twentieth century.”).

Here is the full paragraph in Reid 1970 p 126:

category: people

Last revised on September 24, 2024 at 09:29:51. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.