The Theory of Algebraic Number Fields

Constance Reid, in Chapter VII of her book Hilbert, tells the story of the writing of the Zahlbericht, as his report entitled Die Theorie der algebra is­ chen Zahlkorper has always been known. At its annual meeting in 1893 the Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung (the German Mathematical Society) invited Hilbert and Minkowski to prepare a report on the current state of affairs in the theory of numbers, to be completed in two years. The two mathematicians agreed that Minkowski should write about rat