Hermann Günter Grassmann (1809-1877). A school-teacher, an inhabitant of Szczecin, a founder of an algebra which was named on his behalf as the Grassmannian algebra and which is nowadays commonly applied in theoretical physics (supersymmetry, superstrings).

Hermann Günther Grassmann was born as a member of a family which had been living in Szczecin since a few generations earlier. In 1827-1830 he studied theology and philology in Berlin. He studied theology with Neander and Schleichmacher and prepared the work about the tiding forces „Theorie der Ebbe und Flut”. He also tought in a craft school (Gewehrbe schule). After he returned to Szczecin, he first tought at the Marienstifte School (nowadays the building of the High School No 9 in Szczecin on the Mariacki square), and since 1843 he tought in Friedrich Wilhelm Grammar School, where he had been working at until the last days of his life. Due to a serious leg ilness, for a couple of years before he died, he used to teach while moving in a wheelchair.

In 1992, the German Mathematical Society (DMV – Deutsche Mathematiker Vereinigung) contacted the Szczecin branch of the Polish Mathematical Society and suggested to memorise the 150th anniversary of the issue of Grassmann’s work “Die lineale Ausdehnungslehre”. In May 1994, a memorial was placed onto one of the walls near the entrance to the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the University of Szczecin. This memorial is the only memorial devoted to Hermann Günter Grassmann in Europe.