Ernst Steinitz

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Ernst Steinitz (born June 13, 1871 in Laurahütte , Upper Silesia , † September 29, 1928 in Kiel ) was a German mathematician .

Gravestone in Wroclaw

Life

In 1890 Steinitz began his studies at the University of Breslau , from 1891 to 1893 he studied in Berlin and, on his return to Breslau, received his doctorate in 1894 “On the construction of configurations n 3 ” with Jacob Rosanes .

He completed his habilitation in 1897 at the TH Berlin-Charlottenburg , where he became a private lecturer. In 1910 he returned to the Technical University in Breslau as a full professor, and from 1918 he was also a full honorary professor at the university there. Finally he became a full professor at Kiel University in 1920 . He gave lectures on his scientific work areas algebra , polyhedron theory and analysis situs ( topology ), as well as u. a. on number theory , function theory , set theory , geometry , vector analysis and mechanics . He organized seminars together with Otto Toeplitz and Helmut Hasse . In 1928 he fell ill with an incurable heart condition, from which he died that same year. He was buried in Breslau.

Steinitz was of Jewish faith. After his death, his widow moved to Breslau, emigrated with her son to Palestine when the National Socialists came to power, but returned to Breslau, was deported to Theresienstadt and was murdered in the Treblinka extermination camp in 1942 . The son stayed in Palestine, where he died in 1948.

Steinitz was an excellent pianist. When the pianist was canceled at a symphony concert in Kiel, he stepped in at short notice and played Robert Schumann's piano concerto by heart.

plant

Steinitz wrote fundamental works on algebra, especially on body theory . His extensive, varied and influential mathematical work is still widely recognized today. His work on body theory from 1910 was after van der Waerden a turning point in the history of algebra in the 20th century and it was the first time that a certain structure (body) was generally examined axiomatically. In addition to the two main works on body theory and the theory of polyhedra, he has u. a. Contributions to the theory of modules (1899, 1912), the Abelian groups (1901) and the conditionally convergent series (1913, 1914, 1916) made. For the “Encyclopedia of Mathematical Sciences” he wrote the articles “Configurations of Projective Geometry” and “Polyhedra and Space Divisions”.

In 1910 Steinitz's great work “Algebraic Theory of Bodies” appeared in the “ Journal for pure and applied mathematics ”, which, according to Bourbaki, can be regarded as the origin of today's view of algebra. In this essay he studied the properties of bodies and defined important concepts such as the prime body , the perfect body and the degree of transcendence of a body extension. He proved that every field has an algebraically closed extension field .

Steinitz studied the theory of the polyhedron for many years. His "lectures on the theory of polyhedra including the elements of topology" were published posthumously in 1934 as Volume XLI of the "Basic Teachings of Mathematical Sciences" by Hans Rademacher . The characterization of combinatorially defined polyhedra, which is dealt with there and which allows a realization as convex polyhedra in space, is represented today as one of the main results of the polyhedron theory.

The Austauschlemma Steinitz , the set of Steinitz and Steinitz rearrangement theorem are still associated with his name.

Publications (selection)

Web links

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  1. ↑ University of Heidelberg, PDF file
  2. ↑ Bigalke, Heinrich Heesch, Birkhäuser, p. 19
  3. ↑ Van der Waerden, Meine Göttinger Lehrjahre, Mitteilungen DMV 1997, No. 2, p. 24
  4. ↑ Bourbaki Elements d histoire des mathematiques , Springer 2007, p. 156 mentions Steinitz's work Algebraic Theory of Bodies from 1910 on commutative bodies and Emmy Noether's 1929 work on hypercomplex quantities and representation theory as pillars of modern linear algebra ( piliers de l´ algebre linéaire modern ). They also emphasize (p. 77) Steinitz's outstanding role in the axiomatization of algebra after the beginnings of Dedekind and Hilbert at the end of the 19th century and before the work of the schools of Emil Artin and Emmy Noether in the 1920s.
personal data
SURNAME Steinitz, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH June 13, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH Laurahütte , Upper Silesia (now Poland )
DATE OF DEATH September 29, 1928
Place of death Kiel