Möbius, Augustus Ferdinand

Related Category: Mathematics: Biographies

(mō´bēəs, Ger. mö´bēəs),(1790–1868), German mathematician and astronomer, b. Schulpforta, Saxony. A professor of astronomy at the Univ. of Leipzig, he made important contributions to theoretical astronomy with his publications The Principles of Astronomy (1836) and The Elements of Celestial Mechanics (1843). Möbius also focused on analytical geometry and was a pioneer in topology. He is best known, however, for his invention of the Möbius strip—a flat, rectangular strip with a half-twist and ends connected to form a continuous-sided, single-edged loop (see topology)—and the Möbius net, an important configuration in projective geometry.