Nikolai Lobachevsky, Russian Mathematician

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Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky (December 1, 1792 - February 24, 1856) was a Russian mathematician. His main achievement is the development of a non-Euclidean geometry. Before him, mathematicians were trying to deduce Euclid's fifth postulate from other axioms. Euclid's fifth is a rule in Euclidean geometry which states that for any given line and point not on the line, there is one parallel line through the point not intersecting the line. Lobachevsky developed a geometry in which the fifth postulate was not true. The non-Euclidean geometry that he developed is referred to as hyperbolic geometry; for any given point there exists more than one line that can be extended through that point and run parallel to another line of which that point is not part. He developed the angle of parallelism which depends on the distance the point is off the given line. In hyperbolic geometry the sum of angles in a hyperbolic triangle must be less than 180 degrees. Hyperbolic geometry is frequently referred to as "Lobachevskian geometry" or "Bolyai-Lobachevskian geometry". He was dismissed from the university in 1846, due to his deteriorating health: by the early 1850s, he was nearly blind and unable to walk. He died in poverty in 1856 at the age of 63.

RIA Novosti / Science Source