Friedrich Prym, Mathematician

* 28. September 1841 in Düren near Aachen
† 15. December 1915 in Bonn

Friedrich Prym gained his doctorate at the University of Berlin in 1862 after studying mathematics in Göttingen and Heidelberg. After graduating he did a traineeship in his uncle’s banking business in Vienna until 1865. After that he accepted an appointment by the University of Zurich. Only a few years later in 1869 he changed to the JMU where he installed a mathematical seminar in the following years – there was not a single math student when he began his professorship. He led the Chair of Mathematics, which he held until his retirement in 1909, to new success. Friedrich Prym’s specialized field was the functional theory which he – inspired by the important mathematician Bernhard Riemann - significantly developed further. His research work culminated in the discovery of the Prym’s formulae (Prymsche Formeln).

He lived at St. Benediktstraße 2 and at Sanderglacisstraße 4.