Secondary literature about Julius Petersen


Major secondary publications of Petersen

The mathematical journal Discrete Mathematics celebrated the centennial of Petersen's article on graph theory in 1991. Volume 100 and 101 of the journal consisted solely of articles with connection to Petersen and his works. Together with the article by Lützen (item 4) this is the most important secondary sources of Petersen's life and works.
  1. Lützen, Jesper; Sabidussi, Gert & Toft, Bjarne: Julius Petersen 1839-1910: A biography. Discrete Mathematics 100 (1992), pp. 9-82.
    Article in English. This is the most detailed biography in English of Petersen. It discusses Petersen's mathematical works, but it also includes his economical, social and pedagogical activities.

  2. Sabidussi, Gert: Correspondence between Sylvester, Petersen, Hilbert and Klein on invariants and the factorisation of graphs 1889-1891. Discrete Mathematics 100 (1992), pp. 99-155.
    Article in English containing 47 letters (translated into English) shedding some light on the background and origin of Petersen's famous paper on graph factorisation, and on his abortive collaboration with Sylvester.

  3. Mulder, Henry Martyn: Julius Petersen's theory of regular graphs. Discrete Mathematics 100 (1992), pp. 157-175.
    Article in English. Abstract: In 1891 Petersen published a paper on the factorization of regular graphs. This was the first paper in the history of mathematics to contain fundamental results explicitly in graph theory. In this report Petersen's results are analysed and their development in subsequent decades are followed.

  4. Lützen, Jesper: The mathematical correspondence between Julius Petersen and Ludwig Sylow. In: Amphora: Festschrift for Hans Wussing on the occasion of his 65th birthday, edited by S. S. Demidov et al. Birkhauser, Basel-Boston-Berlin 1992, pp. 439-467.
    Article in English. When writing his doctoral dissertation in 1870-71 Petersen asked Sylow for help. Sylow had then just shown his famous theorems in group theory and they were useful in helping Petersen. The article reproduces a commented version of 5 letters from 1870 which show their collaboration, which at this time mainly was help from Sylow to Petersen.

  5. Toft, Bjarne: Julius Petersen (1839-1910) - matematikeren og mennesket. Odense Universitet. Årsberetning 1991. Odense 1992, pp. 58-76.
    Article in Danish about Petersen, which is a kind of a brief summary of the English biographical article by Lützen et al.

  6. Juel, C.: En dansk Matematiker [A Danish mathematician]. Matematisk Tidsskrift A (1923), pp. 85-95.
    Article in Danish based on a talk given by Juel at the 50th anniversary of the Danish Mathematical Society. The paper gives a good survey of Petersen's mathematics.

  7. Vind, Karl: Bing og Petersen: En episode i økonomisk teori i Danmark [Bing and Petersen: An episode in economic theory in Denmark]. In: Danske Økonomer, Festskrift i anledning af Socialøkonomisk Samfunds 75 års jubilæum. Samfundsvidenskabeligt Forlag 1976, pp. 185-189.
    An article in Danish about Petersen and Bing, and their relation to the established economists in the 1870's.

  8. Hafnia's 50 Aars Jubilæumsskrift. 1922, pp. 44-46.
    Section in Danish describing Petersen in his role as member of the "kontrolkomité" of the insurance company Hafnia.

  9. Crone, C: Matematisk Forening gennem 50 Aar [The Mathematical Society through 50 years]. Jul. Gjellerups Forlag, København 1923, 91 pp.
    A Danish book describing the first 50 years of the Danish Mathematical Society. As one of the founders and a very active member, Petersen is mentioned in several sections of the book.

  10. Andersen, Kirsti & Bang, Thøger: Matematik [Mathematics]. Københavns Universitet 1479-1979. Bind XII: Det matematisk-naturvidenskabelige Fakultet, 1. del. Redigeret af Mogens Pihl m.fl. G. E. C. Gads Forlag, København 1983, pp. 113-199.
    This article in Danish describes mathematics at the University of Copenhagen during the 500 years until 1979. On pp. 171-179 Petersen is described as professor at the university.



Minor secondary publications of Petersen

  1. Professor Julius Petersen. Illustreret Tidende 20 June 1909 (front page) & 14 August 1910 (front page).
    Front page articles in Danish. Laudatory articles for the general public on Petersen's personality and his achievements.

  2. Elvius, Sofus: Biografier og Portrætter ad Studenterne fra 1862 [Biographies and portraits of the students of 1862]. Kjøbenhavn 1912, pp. 67-68.
    Short biography in Danish including a portrait.

  3. Danmarks verdensberømte Julius Petersen (1839-1910) [Denmark's world famous Julius Petersen (1839-1910)]. In: Soraner-bladet 75 (5) (1990), pp. 62-68.
    A short biography in Danish.



Obituaries of Petersen

Obituaries in scientific journals


Obituaries in Danish newspapers



Encyclopedia articles



Articles on the World Wide Web of Petersen


Last updated: 2000.07.12, 1997.06.04