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The Killing form of a finite-dimensional Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ is the symmetric bilinear formThe cyclicity of the trace makes it invariant:Consequently its radical of a bilinear form $R=\{x:\kappa (x,\mathfrak{g})=0\}$ is an ideal, since $x\in R$ implies $\kappa ([y,x],z)=\kappa (x,[z,y])=0$ for all $y,z\in \mathfrak{g}$.

If $\mathfrak{g}$ is simple, then $R$ is either $0$ or $\mathfrak{g}$. In the second case the Killing form vanishes identically, so the stated solvability criterion makes $\mathfrak{g}$ a Solvable Lie algebra. A nonabelian simple Lie algebra cannot be solvable: its first derived algebra is a nonzero ideal and hence equals $\mathfrak{g}$, after which the derived series never reaches zero. Thus $R=0$, and the Killing form of a simple Lie algebra is nondegenerate.