David Hilbert (1862-1943) was one of the most important mathematicians of last century. He worked most of his life in Göttingen, which had a very important mathematics center at the time. Here, Hilbert was surrounded by excellent mathematicians like Felix Klein, John von Neumann, Ernst Zermelo, Emmy Noether and more.

One of Hilbert’s achievements was to initiate a shift towards a more modern axiomatic method in mathematics, and in particular in geometry. In relation to this, he proposed a research project, called “Hilbert’s program”, which aimed at formulating a solid and complete logical foundation for mathematics. Hilbert’s “The Foundations of Geometry” is therefore one of the most important modern works in mathematics, although his program did not succeed. The book is therefore a natural follow-up for Gem #1: Euclid’s “The Elements” (which is regarded as one of the most important mathematics texts ever, and in particular related to geometry). If you want to download the book in pdf format, you can go to the Gutenberg Project. Otherwise, you can read it here:

David Hilbert – The Foundations of Geometry