Hermann Weyl (known as Peter to his close friends) was educated at the universities of Munich and Göttingen. His doctorate was from Göttingen where his supervisor was D. Hilbert. After submitting a doctoral dissertation Singuläre Integralgleichungen mit besonder Berücksichtigung des Fourierschen Integraltheorems he was awarded the degree in 1908. It was at Göttingen that he held his first teaching post.
From 1913 to 1930 he held the chair of mathematics at Zürich Technische Hochschule, from 1930 to 1933 he held the chair of mathematics at Göttingen, and from 1933 until he retired in 1952 he worked at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.
He attempted to incorporate electromagnetism into the geometric formalism of general relativity. Weyl published Die Idee der Riemannschen Fläche (1913) which united analysis, geometry and topology. He produced the first gauge theory in which the Maxwell electromagnetic field and the gravitational field appear as geometrical properties of space-time.
From 1923-38 he evolved the concept of continuous groups using matrix representations. With his application of group theory to quantum mechanics he set up the modern subject. He also made contributions on the uniform distribution of numbers modulo 1 which are fundamental in analytic number theory.
More recently attempts to incorporate electromagnetism into general relativity have been made by John Wheeler, and T Kaluza and others. These theories, like Weyl's, lack the connection with quantum phenomena that is so important for interactions other than gravitation.
Weyl's own comment, although half a joke, sums up his personality.
My work always tried to unite the truth with the beautiful, but when I had to choose one or the other, I usually chose the beautiful.
Article by J J O'Connor and E F Robertson