The Divine Truth of Mathematics and the Origins of Linear Algebra

In a work ahead of its time the German mathematician Hermann Grassmann (1809–1877) published in 1844 one of the landmark works in mathematics, his Ausdehnungslehre or Calculus of Extension. It contained the main theorems that make up what is today called linear algebra. The significance of the book was not recognized at first and it took even longer before any connection was publicly made between this work and Grassmann's training for the ministry. This was in spite of the strong influence on his thinking in general that he described coming from his teacher at Berlin, the theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher.