View source for Nikolai I. Lobachevsky

[[Image:Obachevsky.jpg|right|thumb]]
'''Nikolai I. Lobachevsky''' (1792-1856) was a [[Russia]]n [[mathematics|mathematician]].

He developed [[non-Euclidean geometry]] independently of his rival the [[Hungarian]] mathematician [[Janos Bolyai]], who developed the same concept at the same time. Non-Euclidean geometry is a system of geometry that rejects traditional Euclidean geometry's fifth postulate that parallel lines can never intersect. He also invented a method for finding the approximations of the roots of algebraic equations.


== In Popular Culture ==

He is also the subject of a rather amusing song by the [[comedy|comedic]] [[musician]], [[Tom Lehrer]] that makes fun of Lobachevsky because of supposedly [[plagiarism|plagiarizing]], although Lehrer admits that he just made the song up randomly and Lobachevsky was never actually accused of plagiarism. He is also the subject of a [[science fiction]] novella called ''Operation Changeling'' by [[Poul Anderson]] in which his [[ghost]] and the ghost of Bolyai help a group of [[Wizard (fiction)|wizards]] to navigate a non-Euclidean [[universe]]. 

[[Category:Mathematicians|Lobachevsky, Nikolai I]]