Meeting under the Integral Sign?: The Oslo Congress of Mathematicians on the Eve of the Second World War

Meeting under the Integral Sign?: The Oslo Congress of Mathematicians on the Eve of the Second World War PDF Author: Christopher D. Hollings
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 1470443538
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
This book examines the historically unique conditions under which the International Congress of Mathematicians took place in Oslo in 1936. This Congress was the only one on this level to be held during the period of the Nazi regime in Germany (1933–1945) and after the wave of emigrations from it. Relying heavily on unpublished archival sources, the authors consider the different goals of the various participants in the Congress, most notably those of the Norwegian organizers, and the Nazi-led German delegation. They also investigate the reasons for the absence of the proposed Soviet and Italian delegations. In addition, aiming to shed light onto the mathematical dimension of the Congress, the authors provide overviews of the nineteen plenary presentations, as well as their planning and development. Biographical information about each of the plenary speakers rounds off the picture. The Oslo Congress, the first at which Fields Medals were awarded, is used as a lens through which the reader of this book can view the state of the art of mathematics in the mid-1930s.

Meeting under the Integral Sign?: The Oslo Congress of Mathematicians on the Eve of the Second World War

Meeting under the Integral Sign?: The Oslo Congress of Mathematicians on the Eve of the Second World War PDF Author: Christopher D. Hollings
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 1470443538
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
This book examines the historically unique conditions under which the International Congress of Mathematicians took place in Oslo in 1936. This Congress was the only one on this level to be held during the period of the Nazi regime in Germany (1933–1945) and after the wave of emigrations from it. Relying heavily on unpublished archival sources, the authors consider the different goals of the various participants in the Congress, most notably those of the Norwegian organizers, and the Nazi-led German delegation. They also investigate the reasons for the absence of the proposed Soviet and Italian delegations. In addition, aiming to shed light onto the mathematical dimension of the Congress, the authors provide overviews of the nineteen plenary presentations, as well as their planning and development. Biographical information about each of the plenary speakers rounds off the picture. The Oslo Congress, the first at which Fields Medals were awarded, is used as a lens through which the reader of this book can view the state of the art of mathematics in the mid-1930s.

Mathematical Communities in the Reconstruction After the Great War 1918–1928

Mathematical Communities in the Reconstruction After the Great War 1918–1928 PDF Author: Laurent Mazliak
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030616835
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 373

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Book Description
This book is a consequence of the international meeting organized in Marseilles in November 2018 devoted to the aftermath of the Great War for mathematical communities. It features selected original research presented at the meeting offering a new perspective on a period, the 1920s, not extensively considered by historiography. After 1918, new countries were created, and borders of several others were modified. Territories were annexed while some countries lost entire regions. These territorial changes bear witness to the massive and varied upheavals with which European societies were confronted in the aftermath of the Great War. The reconfiguration of political Europe was accompanied by new alliances and a redistribution of trade – commercial, intellectual, artistic, military, and so on – which largely shaped international life during the interwar period. These changes also had an enormous impact on scientific life, not only in practice, but also in its organization and communication strategies. The mathematical sciences, which from the late 19th century to the 1920s experienced a deep disciplinary evolution, were thus facing a double movement, internal and external, which led to a sustainable restructuring of research and teaching. Concomitantly, various areas such as topology, functional analysis, abstract algebra, logic or probability, among others, experienced exceptional development. This was accompanied by an explosion of new international or national associations of mathematicians with for instance the founding, in 1918, of the International Mathematical Union and the controversial creation of the International Research Council. Therefore, the central idea for the articulation of the various chapters of the book is to present case studies illustrating how in the aftermath of the war, many mathematicians had to organize their personal trajectories taking into account the evolution of the political, social and scientific environment which had taken place at the end of the conflict.

The International Commission on Mathematical Instruction, 1908-2008: People, Events, and Challenges in Mathematics Education

The International Commission on Mathematical Instruction, 1908-2008: People, Events, and Challenges in Mathematics Education PDF Author: Fulvia Furinghetti
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031043138
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 754

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Book Description
The book presents the history of ICMI trough a prosopographical approach. In other words, it pays a lot of attention to the actors of the International movement. The portraits of the members of the ICMI Central Committees (1908-1936) and ICMI Executive Committees (1952-2008), and other eminent figures in ICMI history, who have passed away in the first 100 years of its life, are the guiding thread of the volume. Each portrait includes: · Biographical information · An outline of the various contributions made by the individual in question to the study of problems pertaining to mathematics teaching/education · Primary bibliography · Secondary with particular attention to the publications concerning the teaching of mathematics · Images: photos, book frontispieces, relevant manuscripts The authors of the portraits (30 altogether) are researchers in the history of mathematics, mathematics, and mathematics education. The focus on the officer’s role within ICMI and on his/her contributions to mathematics education, make the portraits different from usual biographies. In particular, since most officers were active mathematicians, the portraits shed light on aspects of their lesser-known activity. Connecting chapters place the action of these figures in the historical context and in the different phases of ICMI history.

Felix Klein

Felix Klein PDF Author: Renate Tobies
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030757854
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 677

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Book Description
About Felix Klein, the famous Greek mathematician Constantin Carathéodory once said: “It is only by illuminating him from all angles that one can come to understand his significance.” The author of this biography has done just this. A detailed study of original sources has made it possible to uncover new connections; to create a more precise representation of this important mathematician, scientific organizer, and educational reformer; and to identify misconceptions. Because of his edition of Julius Plücker’s work on line geometry and due to his own contributions to non-Euclidean geometry, Klein was already well known abroad before he received his first full professorship at the age of 23. By exchanging ideas with his most important cooperation partner, the Norwegian Sophus Lie, Klein formulated his Erlangen Program. Various other visionary programs followed, in which Klein involved mathematicians from Germany and abroad. Klein was the most active promoter of Riemann’s geometric-physical approach to function theory, but he also integrated the analytical approaches of the Weierstrass school into his arsenal of methods. Klein was a citizen of the world who repeatedly travelled to France, Great Britain, Italy, the United States, and elsewhere. Despite what has often been claimed, it must be emphasized that Klein expressly opposed national chauvinism. He promoted mathematically gifted individuals regardless of their nationality, religion, or gender. Many of his works have been translated into English, French, Italian, Russian, and other languages; more than 300 supporters from around the world made it possible for his portrait to be painted by the prominent impressionist Max Liebermann. Inspired by international developments, Klein paved the way for women to work in the field of mathematics. He was instrumental in reforming mathematical education, and he endorsed an understanding of mathematics that affirmed its cultural importance as well as its fundamental significance to scientific and technological progress.

Framing Global Mathematics

Framing Global Mathematics PDF Author: Norbert Schappacher
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030956830
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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Book Description
This open access book is about the shaping of international relations in mathematics over the last two hundred years. It focusses on institutions and organizations that were created to frame the international dimension of mathematical research. Today, striking evidence of globalized mathematics is provided by countless international meetings and the worldwide repository ArXiv. The text follows the sinuous path that was taken to reach this state, from the long nineteenth century, through the two wars, to the present day. International cooperation in mathematics was well established by 1900, centered in Europe. The first International Mathematical Union, IMU, founded in 1920 and disbanded in 1932, reflected above all the trauma of WW I. Since 1950 the current IMU has played an increasing role in defining mathematical excellence, as is shown both in the historical narrative and by analyzing data about the International Congresses of Mathematicians. For each of the three periods discussed, interactions are explored between world politics, the advancement of scientific infrastructures, and the inner evolution of mathematics. Readers will thus take a new look at the place of mathematics in world culture, and how international organizations can make a difference. Aimed at mathematicians, historians of science, scientists, and the scientifically inclined general public, the book will be valuable to anyone interested in the history of science on an international level.

The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920–1950

The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920–1950 PDF Author: Karen Hunger Parshall
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691233810
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 640

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Book Description
A meticulously researched history on the development of American mathematics in the three decades following World War I As the Roaring Twenties lurched into the Great Depression, to be followed by the scourge of Nazi Germany and World War II, American mathematicians pursued their research, positioned themselves collectively within American science, and rose to global mathematical hegemony. How did they do it? The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920–1950 explores the institutional, financial, social, and political forces that shaped and supported this community in the first half of the twentieth century. In doing so, Karen Hunger Parshall debunks the widely held view that American mathematics only thrived after European émigrés fled to the shores of the United States. Drawing from extensive archival and primary-source research, Parshall uncovers the key players in American mathematics who worked together to effect change and she looks at their research output over the course of three decades. She highlights the educational, professional, philanthropic, and governmental entities that bolstered progress. And she uncovers the strategies implemented by American mathematicians in their quest for the advancement of knowledge. Throughout, she considers how geopolitical circumstances shifted the course of the discipline. Examining how the American mathematical community asserted itself on the international stage, The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920–1950 shows the way one nation became the focal point for the field.

Emmy Noether – Mathematician Extraordinaire

Emmy Noether – Mathematician Extraordinaire PDF Author: David E. Rowe
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030638103
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
Although she was famous as the "mother of modern algebra," Emmy Noether’s life and work have never been the subject of an authoritative scientific biography. Emmy Noether – Mathematician Extraordinaire represents the most comprehensive study of this singularly important mathematician to date. Focusing on key turning points, it aims to provide an overall interpretation of Noether’s intellectual development while offering a new assessment of her role in transforming the mathematics of the twentieth century. Hermann Weyl, her colleague before both fled to the United States in 1933, fully recognized that Noether’s dynamic school was the very heart and soul of the famous Göttingen community. Beyond her immediate circle of students, Emmy Noether’s lectures and seminars drew talented mathematicians from all over the world. Four of the most important were B.L. van der Waerden, Pavel Alexandrov, Helmut Hasse, and Olga Taussky. Noether’s classic papers on ideal theory inspired van der Waerden to recast his research in algebraic geometry. Her lectures on group theory motivated Alexandrov to develop links between point set topology and combinatorial methods. Noether’s vision for a new approach to algebraic number theory gave Hasse the impetus to pursue a line of research that led to the Brauer–Hasse–Noether Theorem, whereas her abstract style clashed with Taussky’s approach to classical class field theory during a difficult time when both were trying to find their footing in a foreign country. Although similar to Proving It Her Way: Emmy Noether, a Life in Mathematics, this lengthier study addresses mathematically minded readers. Thus, it presents a detailed analysis of Emmy Noether’s work with Hilbert and Klein on mathematical problems connected with Einstein’s theory of relativity. These efforts culminated with her famous paper "Invariant Variational Problems," published one year before she joined the Göttingen faculty in 1919.

Max Dehn

Max Dehn PDF Author: Jemma Lorenat
Publisher: American Mathematical Society
ISBN: 1470461064
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Max Dehn (1878?1952) is known to mathematicians today for his seminal contributions to geometry and topology?Dehn surgery, Dehn twists, the Dehn invariant, etc. He is also remembered as the first mathematician to solve one of Hilbert?s famous problems. However, Dehn's influence as a scholar and teacher extended far beyond his mathematics. Dehn also lived a remarkable life, described in this book in three phases. The first phase focuses on his early career as one of David Hilbert?s most gifted students. The second, after World War I, treats his time in Frankfurt where he led an intimate community of mathematicians in explorations of historical texts. The final phase, after 1938, concerns his flight from Nazi Germany to Scandinavia and eventually to the United States where, after various teaching experiences, the Dehns settled at iconic Black Mountain College. This book is a collection of essays written by mathematicians and historians of art and science. It treats Dehn?s mathematics and its influence, his journeys, and his remarkable engagement in history and the arts. A great deal of the information found in this book has never before been published.

Mathematicians Fleeing from Nazi Germany

Mathematicians Fleeing from Nazi Germany PDF Author: Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400831407
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 500

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Book Description
The emigration of mathematicians from Europe during the Nazi era signaled an irrevocable and important historical shift for the international mathematics world. Mathematicians Fleeing from Nazi Germany is the first thoroughly documented account of this exodus. In this greatly expanded translation of the 1998 German edition, Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze describes the flight of more than 140 mathematicians, their reasons for leaving, the political and economic issues involved, the reception of these emigrants by various countries, and the emigrants' continuing contributions to mathematics. The influx of these brilliant thinkers to other nations profoundly reconfigured the mathematics world and vaulted the United States into a new leadership role in mathematics research. Based on archival sources that have never been examined before, the book discusses the preeminent emigrant mathematicians of the period, including Emmy Noether, John von Neumann, Hermann Weyl, and many others. The author explores the mechanisms of the expulsion of mathematicians from Germany, the emigrants' acculturation to their new host countries, and the fates of those mathematicians forced to stay behind. The book reveals the alienation and solidarity of the emigrants, and investigates the global development of mathematics as a consequence of their radical migration. An in-depth yet accessible look at mathematics both as a scientific enterprise and human endeavor, Mathematicians Fleeing from Nazi Germany provides a vivid picture of a critical chapter in the history of international science.

Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace PDF Author: Christopher Hollings
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781851244881
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"Ada, Countess of Lovelace and daughter of Romantic poet Lord Byron, is sometimes referred to as the world's first computer programmer. But how did a young woman in the nineteenth century without a formal education become a pioneer of computer science? Drawing on previously unpublished archival material, including a remarkable correspondence course with eminent mathematician Augustus De Morgan, this book explores Ada Lovelace's development from her precocious childhood into a gifted, perceptive and knowledgeable mathematician who, alongside Mary Somerville, Michael Faraday and Charles Dickens, became part of Victorian London's social and scientific elite. Featuring images of the 'first programme' together with mathematical models and contemporary illustrations, the authors show how, despite her relatively short life and with astonishing prescience, Ada Lovelace explored key mathematical questions to understand the principles behind modern computing."--Page 4 de la couverture.