Mathematics in Berlin

by Begehr, Heinrich G. W.; Koch, Helmut; Kramer, Jurg; Schappacher, Norbert; Thiele, Ernst-jochen

• ISBN13: 9783764359430
• ISBN10: 3764359439
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-06-01
• Publisher: Birkhauser

Summary

This book is a font of information for readers interested in the mathematical past and present of Berlin. It presents a comprehensive, condensed overview of mathematical activity in Berlin, beginning with the foundation of the Academy by Leibniz and carrying over almost to the present day. Many towering figures in mathematical history worked in Berlin, and thus most of the chapters of this book are essentially concise biographies of these luminaries. The presentations are held together and complemented by a few articles examining the overall development of entire periods of scientific life at Berlin. Chapters cover the foundation of the University of Berlin, the "Golden Age" of mathematics (spanning the second half of the 19th century), the Nazi period, the development of mathematics in East and West Berlin during the political division of the city, and the merging of the formerly separated mathematical communities with the reunification of Germany.

Table of Contents

Preface
Mathematics at the Prussian Academy of Sciences 1700-1810	p. 1
Mathematics in Berlin, 1810-1933	p. 9
Augustus Leopold Crelle	p. 27
Gustav Peter Lejeune Dirichlet	p. 33
Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi	p. 41
Jacob Steiner and Synthetic Geometry	p. 49
Gotthold Eisenstein	p. 55
Kummer and Kronecker	p. 61
Weierstrass and some members of his circle: Kovalevskaia, Fuchs, Schwarz, Schottky	p. 71
Frobenius, Schur, and the Berlin Algebraic Tradition	p. 83
Erhard Schmidt, John von Neumann	p. 97
Constantin Caratheodory	p. 105
Richard von Mises	p. 111
Einstein in Berlin	p. 117
The Nazi era: the Berlin way of politicizing mathematics	p. 127
The University of Berlin from Reopening until 1953	p. 137
Helmut Hasse, Hermann Ludwig Schmid and their students in Berlin	p. 143
Freie Universitat Berlin, a summary of its history	p. 151
Mathematics at the Berlin Technische Hochschule/Technische Universitat	p. 161
Mathematics in Berlin at the Humboldt University: from 1953 until now	p. 169
The Mathematical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR	p. 177
Fast Algorithms, Fast Computers: The Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum Berlin (ZIB)	p. 183
Weierstrass Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics (WIAS)	p. 185
Zentralblatt fur Mathematik und ihre Grenzgebiete	p. 189
Index	p. 191
Sources of photographs	p. 197
Addresses of authors and editors	p. 199
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.