Nikolaos Ch. Nikolaidis

Nicolaos Ch. Nikolaidis (Greek: Νικόλαος Χ. Νικολαΐδης, in French Nicolas Nicolaïdès; (1826 – July 11, 1889) was an author, mechanical engineer, mathematician, soldier, and professor. He was a pioneer in 19th-century Greek mathematics introducing modern European mathematics to the Greek world. He went to school at Evelpidon and studied in France at the École nationale des ponts et chaussées and École polytechnique. His professors in France included Joseph Bertrand and Adhémar Jean Claude Barré de Saint-Venant. While in France he was exposed to the complex mathematics prevalent at the time. He wrote papers on geometry and kinematics. He was exposed to the works of Jacques Charles François Sturm, Giovanni Fagnano, Colin Maclaurin, Joseph Bertrand, and Jacques Antoine Charles Bresse. He integrated some of their works into his mathematical literature. He participated in the Cretan revolt in 1866 and was the Commander of the 174th Battalion of Verville during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. He became a professor at University of Athens in 1871. His memoirs, a work of over four hundred pages entitled Analectes, ou Mémoires et Notes sur les Diverses Parties des Mathématiques published in 1874, feature most of his mathematical papers. By 1881, he retired from the University of Athens due to an illness. He died on July 11, 1889, at about 63 years old. He influenced countless French and Greek mathematicians, including Cyparissos Stephanos, John Hazzidakis and Vassilios Lakon.