Abstract
It was Hilbert's good fortune that the university in his native city, although far from the center of things in Berlin, was in its scientific tradition one of the most distinguished universities in Germany.Jacobi had taught at Königsberg when, in the time of Gauss, he was considered the 'second best" mathematician in Europe. Richelot, who had been Jacobi's successor, had had the distinction of discovering in the work of an unknown gymnasium teacher the genius of Karl Weierstrass. He had then persuaded the University to award Weierstrass an honorary degree and had travelled to the little town where Weierstrass taught to make the presentation in person — "We have all found our master in Herr Weierstrass!" The versatile Franz Neumann had established at Königsberg the first institute of theoretical physics at a German university and had originated the format of the seminar.