Werner Burau

Rolf Werner Burau (born December 31, 1906 in Allenstein ; † January 16, 1994 ) was a German mathematician who dealt with geometry.

Burau studied from 1925 at the University of Königsberg , where he received his doctorate under Kurt Reidemeister in 1932 (group theoretical studies on knots and braids). From 1933 he was a research assistant at the Deutsche Seewarte in Hamburg. In 1943 he completed his habilitation at the University of Hamburg (with Wilhelm Blaschke ), where he was then a private lecturer and, from 1949, an adjunct professor. In 1950 he was on a scholarship at the Institute for Higher Mathematics at the University of Rome with Francesco Severi . In 1953 he was a diet lecturer, then from 1965 scientific advice and finally an adjunct professor at the University of Hamburg (for geometry). In 1975 he retired.

Burau dealt with knot theory (a representation of the braid group is named after him), projective geometry (in which the Burau geometry is named after him) and algebraic geometry . After the Second World War, he rebuilt the Mathematical Society in Hamburg , which was badly affected by the war (from 1950 to 1960 he was its year administrator). He was co-editor of the collected works of Wilhelm Blaschke and translated the textbook of projective geometry by HSM Coxeter . He also wrote biographies of mathematicians for the Dictionary of Scientific Biography , including co-authoring articles on Hermann Grassmann and Felix Klein .

literature

Burau: Multi-dimensional projective and higher geometry , VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften 1961
Burau: Algebraic curves and surfaces , de Gruyter 1962 (Göschen)
Burau, Wilhelm Hauser: Integrals of algebraic functions and plane algebraic curves , VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften 1958
Burau: Elementary Number Theory , Klett 1955, 1962 (mathematical workbooks)
Helmut Karzel , Heinrich Wefelscheid: Werner Burau , Communications of the Mathematical Society Hamburg, Vol. 19, 2000, pp. 167-183

source

Renate Tobies : Biographical Lexicon in Mathematics for PhDs, 2006

References

↑ Published in two articles in the treatises from the Mathematical Seminar of the Hamburg University , 9 , 1932, on Zopfinvarianten , pp. 117–124, and Labeling of Hose Knots , pp . 125–133.

personal data
SURNAME	Burau, Werner
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Burau, Rolf Werner (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH	December 31, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH	Allenstein
DATE OF DEATH	January 16, 1994

[1] Published in two articles in the treatises from the Mathematical Seminar of the Hamburg University , 9 , 1932, on Zopfinvarianten , pp. 117–124, and Labeling of Hose Knots , pp . 125–133.