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Hermann Weyl evolved the concept of continuous groups using matrix representations. With his application of group theory to quantum mechanics he set up the modern subject.
Weyl was educated at the universities of Munich and Göttingen. His doctorate is from Göttingen where his supervisor was Hilbert and it was at Göttingen that he held his first teaching post.
From 1913 to 1930 he held the chair of mathematics at Zürich Technische Hochschule, from 1930 to 1933 he held the chair of mathematics at Göttingen and from 1933 until he retired in 1952 he worked at the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton.
He attempted to incorporate electromagnetism into the geometric formalism of general relativity. Weyl published Die Idee der Riemannschen Fläche (1913) which united analysis, geometry and topology. He produced the first unified field theory for which the Maxwell electromagnetic field and the gravitational field appear as geometrical properties of space-time.
From 1923-38 he evolved the concept of continuous groups using matrix representations. With his application of group theory to quantum mechanics he set up the modern subject. He also made contributions on the uniform distribution of numbers modulo 1 which are fundamental in analytic number theory.
More recently attempts to incorporate electromagnetism into general relativity have been made by John Wheeler. Wheeler's theory, like Weyl's, lacks the connection with quantum phenomena that is so important for interactions other than gravitation.
Weyl's own comment, although half a joke, sums up his personality.
My work always tried to unite the truth with the beautiful, but when I had to choose one or the other, I usually chose the beautiful.
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Tell me about Weyl's work on general relativity
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