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If $H$ is a finite-dimensional Hilbert space, a choice of orthonormal basis identifies its closed unit ball with a closed bounded ball in a finite-dimensional Euclidean space. The Heine-Borel theorem makes it compact in the norm topology.

Conversely, if $H$ is infinite-dimensional, choose a unit vector $e_1$ and inductively choose $e_{n+1}$ orthogonal to the span of $e_1,\dots ,e_n$. The finite span is a proper closed subspace, so its orthogonal complement contains a nonzero vector that can be normalized. The resulting orthonormal sequence lies in the closed unit ball and satisfiesIt has no norm-convergent subsequence. Sequential compactness is equivalent to compactness in a metric space, hence the closed ball is not compact. This proves the norm-compact unit ball criterion: a Hilbert space has a norm-compact closed unit ball exactly when it is finite-dimensional.