Hermann Minkowski
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Hermann Minkowski (1864-1909) was a German mathematician who developed the mathematical foundation for a space-time continuum later used by Albert Einstein in his general theory of relativity.
By 1907, Minkowski observed that the work of Lorentz and Einstein could be better described in a non-euclidean space. Minkowski considered that space and time, previously thought to be independent, were actually coupled together in a four-dimensional "space-time continuum." Minkowski also developed a four-dimensional treatment of electrodynamics. His major papers were Raum und Zeit (1907) and Zwei Abhand lungen über die Grundgleichungen der Elektrodynamik (1909).
Minkowski died prematurely of a ruptured appendix before Einstein built on his work.