👉 Weierstrass defined "the general linear group" (that is, the linear group which acts on a vector space). He gave an important criterion for whether or not these groups are isomorphic. The proof of this criterion was published in 1840; we refer to it as "The Weierstrass Criterion". This criterion gives necessary and sufficient conditions under which two general linear groups are isomorphic, but does not determine them uniquely. In particular, the theorem says that if G1 and G2 are two such groups, then they are isomorphic if and only if there is a bijection from one group to another such that every element of the target group can be expressed as a function of elements of the source group. This notion of "isomorphism" is what we mean when we talk about linear transformations. The criterion says that for any two groups, their direct sum and tensor product are isomorphic if and only if they have the same number of irreducible representations (and hence can be identified with each other).