Wilhelm Killing

Wilhelm Killing (1847 to 1923) was a German mathematician who made important contributions to the theories of Lie algebras, Lie groups, and non-Euclidean geometry. His classification work on the structure of Lie algebras laid groundwork that later mathematicians built on, and the Killing form in that theory carries his name. His career sits in the nineteenth century, when the modern language of groups and algebras was taking shape, and his results are still taught in courses on Lie theory.