Nikolaos Ch. Nikolaidis

Nicolaos Ch. Nikolaidis (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 des ponts Paris Tech 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 memories published in 1874 feature most of his mathematical papers it is over four hundred pages entitled Analectes, ou Mémoires et Notes sur les Diverses Parties des Mathématiques. By 1881, he retired from the University of Athens due to an illness. He died on July 11, 1889. He was about 63 years old. He influenced countless French and Greek mathematicians. Some included Cyparissos Stephanos, John Hazzidakis and Vassilios Lakon. He was born in 1826 in Tripoli. His father's name was Christodoulos. His father was a member of an old Greek aristocratic family. Christodoulos migrated to Switzerland from Philippopolis. The family eventually settled in the Peloponnese region of Greece around the time of the Greek War of Independence. From a young age, Nikolaidis exhibited a higher level of intelligence. He attended Greece's elite military school known as Evelpidon. Nikolaidis graduated from the school with honors. The Greek government sent him to Paris on a scholarship to study with the most brilliant minds of the time.