Walter Ritz

The mathematical physicist Walter Ritz [Sion (Switzerland) February 22, 1878 – Göttingen July 7, 1909] is best known for his formulation of the Rayleigh-Ritz method for the solution of operator eigenvalue problems and partial differential equations. Further his name is attached to the Rydberg-Ritz combination rules in atomic spectroscopy. In 1900 he contracted tuberculosis of which he died in 1909 at the age of 31.