 The school principal, Jacob Rosted, had invited Holmboe's brother, Christopher Andreas, who had also studied mathematics, to take up the position, but he had decided instead to concentrate on philology; Christopher went on to research the Sanskrit language among others.In his teaching, Holmboe drew inspiration from Joseph-Louis Lagrange.At the Christiania Cathedral School, Holmboe met Niels Henrik Abel, then a pupil there.