Mathematical Treasure: Weierstrass on Elliptic Functions

Axel Harnack (1851-1888) was a German mathematician who distinguished himself in his contributions to potential theory and harmonic analysis. In 1887, he published notes from Karl Weierstrass’s 1882-83 series of lectures on applications of elliptic functions. Harnack died at age 36, probably from tuberculosis.

Harnack included a table of contents for his set of notes, outlining the topics discussed.

Some excerpts from “Chapter I” of the notes follow.

The images above are supplied through the courtesy of the University of California Libraries and are available via the Internet Archive, where the identification of the volume as a work on potential functions is somewhat misleading.

Index to Mathematical Treasures