Alexander Israel Wittenberg

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Alexander Israel Wittenberg (born February 10, 1926 in Berlin ; † December 19, 1965 ) was a Swiss mathematician and mathematics didactic.

Wittenberg was born as the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants in Berlin, attended elementary school there and fled to France when the National Socialists came to power in 1933, where he attended high schools ( Paris , Angers , Toulouse ) until 1942 with the Baccalauréat A. He fled with them in November his parents in Switzerland, where they were interned in refugee camps until the beginning of 1944. In 1945 he obtained the Matura in Zurich , then he studied mathematics at the ETH Zurich and graduated in 1949 with a diploma. He was the assistant of Ferdinand Gonseth , with whom he received his doctorate in 1957 at the ETH Zurich ( From thinking in terms: mathematics as an experiment in pure thinking ), with Paul Bernays as co-referee. From 1954 to 1956 he taught at the canton schools in Schaffhausen and Winterthur and at the technical college in Winterthur. Wittenberg was from 1956 Associate Professor at Laval University in Quebec and from 1963 Professor at York University in Toronto .

His book Education and Mathematics was influential in the 1960s, for example on Martin Wagenschein ( genetic teaching ).

In 1955 he received the citizenship of Zurich.

Fonts

  • Thinking in terms. Mathematics as an experiment in pure thinking. Birkhäuser, Basel 1957, doi : 10.3929 / ethz-a-000098701 .
  • Education and math. Mathematics as an exemplary high school subject. Klett, Stuttgart 1963; 2nd edition 1990.
  • with Soeur Sainte-Jeanne-de-France: Redécouvrir les mathématiques. Delachaux et Niestlé, Neuchâtel 1963.
  • An unusual course for future teachers of mathematics. In: American Mathematical Monthly . Vol. 70, 1963, pp. 1091-1097.
  • Is real high school education possible without studying ancient languages? In: In: New collection . 1961, issue 2, p. 141.
  • Mathematics in high school. In: New Collection. 1961, issue 6, p. 474.
  • Genetic math class. In: New Collection. 1964, No. 4, pp. 210-216.
  • Priorities and Responsibilities in the reform of mathematical education: an essay in educational metatheory , L´Enseignement Mathématique, Volume 11, 1965, Issue 4, p. 287, online

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Date of birth and career dates according to information in his dissertation
  2. ^ Scientific review . Vol. 19 (1966), p. 81.
  3. ↑ Alexander Israel Wittenberg in the Mathematics Genealogy Project (English)Template: MathGenealogyProject / Maintenance / id used
personal data
SURNAME Wittenberg, Alexander Israel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss mathematician and maths didactic
DATE OF BIRTH February 10, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH December 19, 1965