Leopold Kronecker (December 7, 1823 - December 29, 1891) was a Germanmathematician and logician who argued that arithmetic and analysis must be founded on "whole numbers", saying, "God made the natural numbers; all else is the work of man" (Bell 1986, p. 477). This put Kronecker in opposition to some of the mathematical extensions of Georg Cantor. Kronecker was a student and lifelong friend of Ernst Kummer.
After obtaining his degree, however, Kronecker managed the estate and business of his uncle, producing nothing mathematical for eight years. In his 1853 memoir on the algebraic solvability of equations, Kronecker extended the work of Évariste Galois on the theory of equations. He accepted a professorship at the University of Berlin in 1883.
Kronecker also contributed to the concept of continuity, reconstructing the form of irrational numbers in real numbers. In analysis, Kronecker rejected the formulation of a continuous nowhere-differentiable function by his colleague, Karl Weierstrass. In his 1850 paper, On the Solution of the General Equation of the Fifth Degree, Kronecker solved the quintic equation by applying group theory.
Kronecker was taught mathematics at Liegnitz Gymnasium by Kummer, and it was due to Kummer that Kronecker became interested in mathematics.
Although Kronecker was not employed by the University, or any other organisation for that matter, Kummer suggested that Kronecker exercise his right to lecture at the University and this he did beginning in October 1862.
We have already indicated that Kronecker's primary contributions were in the theory of equations and higher algebra, with his major contributions in elliptic functions, the theory of algebraic equations, and the theory of algebraic numbers.
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