“Geometry can in no way be viewed… as a branch of mathematics; instead, geometry relates to something already given in nature, namely, space. I… realized that there must be a branch of mathematics which yields in a purely abstract way laws similar to geometry.”

—  Hermann Grassmann

Forward, as quoted by Mario Livio, Is God a Mathematician? (2009)
Ausdehnungslehre (1844)

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Hermann Grassmann photo
Hermann Grassmann 10
German polymath, linguist and mathematician 1809–1877

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