Christian Goldbach
An 18th-century mathematician and diplomat whose casual letter to Euler posed a simple question about numbers that remains unsolved today.
1690–1764 (age 74)·German mathematician·Birthday: March 18
Biography
Christian Goldbach was a man of numbers and networks, navigating the intellectual and political courts of 18th-century Europe. Born in Prussia, he studied law and mathematics, but his true calling was as a scholarly connector. His travels brought him to the heart of the Enlightenment, and in 1725 he landed in St. Petersburg as a founding member of the city's new Academy of Sciences. Goldbach thrived as much as an administrator and correspondent as a researcher, maintaining a vast web of letters with giants like Leibniz and, most famously, Leonhard Euler. It was in a 1742 letter to Euler that he casually suggested that every even integer greater than 2 is the sum of two primes—a conjecture that has tantalized and defeated mathematicians for centuries. While he contributed to number theory and analysis, Goldbach's legacy is forever tied to that elegant, unproven proposition, a testament to the power of a simple question.
#1 When Christian Was Born
The biggest hits of 1690
Christian's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1690Born
1695Started school
1703Became a teenager
1706Could drive
1708Could vote
1711Turned 21
1720Turned 30
1730Turned 40
1740Turned 50
1750Turned 60
1760Turned 70
1764Died at 74
Key Achievements
- Formulated Goldbach's Conjecture, one of the oldest and best-known unsolved problems in number theory.
- Co-discovered the Goldbach–Euler Theorem concerning infinite series of reciprocals of powers.
- Served as a secretary and joint leader of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg.
- Had a significant career in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs after his formal academic work.
Did You Know?
He was the tutor to the future Russian Tsar Peter II during his time in Russia.
Much of his known mathematical work comes from his extensive correspondence, not formal publications.
He is also known for a related, weaker conjecture that every odd number greater than 5 is the sum of three primes, which was proven in 2013.
He corresponded with many leading intellectuals of his day, including Nicolas Bernoulli and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.
“Every even integer greater than two can be expressed as the sum of two primes.”
