Klara Löbenstein

Klara Löbenstein (born February 15, 1883 in Hildesheim , Germany ; † June 10, 1968 in Buenos Aires , Argentina ) was a German mathematician . She was one of the first women to do a doctorate in Germany.

life and work

Löbenstein was born as the daughter of Sofie and Lehmann Löbenstein and graduated from the municipal secondary school for girls in Hildesheim in 1899. In 1904 she was allowed to take the final exam at the municipal high school in Hanover . She initially studied mathematics and physics with Margarete Kahn as a guest student in Berlin and Göttingen , since women in Prussia were not admitted to regular studies until the winter semester of 1908/09. She studied with Woldemar Voigt and Georg Elias Müller , among others . One of their examiners was Felix Klein , who was an impartial supporter of women's studies. In 1910 she did her doctorate with David Hilbert with the dissertation: On the theorem that a flat, algebraic curve of the 6th order with 11 mutually exclusive ovals does not exist. Together with Margarete Kahn she made a contribution to Hilbert's sixteenth problem, which concerned the topology of algebraic curves in the complex projection plane. As a difficult special case in his formulation of the problem, Hilbert suggested that there are no degree 6 algebraic curves made up of 11 separate ovals. Löbenstein and Kahn developed methods to address this problem.

Löbenstein also passed the academic state examination for teaching qualifications in mathematics, physics and philosophical propaedeutics in Göttingen in 1910, since women in Germany were only admitted to habilitation from 1920 . On April 1, 1911, she became a trainee teacher at the Andreas Realgymnasium, today Scharnhorstgymnasium Hildesheim . She then became a senior teacher in Metz in 1913 and was transferred to Landsberg an der Warthe in 1916 (today Gorzów Wielkopolski in Poland ) because of the fighting there .

Because of her Jewish origins, she was released on January 1, 1936 and moved back to her parents' house in Hildesheim. On March 14, 1939, she asked the authorities to move her residence abroad and to continue paying her pension. The Secret State Police informed her that the family's livelihood was adequately secured by the accruing interest on their blocked assets of 3000 Reichsmark annually. On August 9, 1939, her request for the pension payment was denied. In 1939 she was able to emigrate to Buenos Aires, where she arrived on October 5, 1941 with the steamer Monte Albertia and taught at a high school for over 20 years. When she died at the age of 85, she was buried in the German cemetery in Buenos Aires.

literature

York-Egbert König, Christina Prauss, Renate Tobies : Margarete Kahn and Klara Löbenstein. Mathematicians - Students - Friends (= Jewish miniatures. Volume 108). Hentrich & Hentrich, Berlin 2011.
Christina Prauss: Dr. Klara Löbenstein. In: Andrea Germer (Ed.): Daughters of Time. Hildesheim women from six centuries. Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 2014.
Helmut von Jan: The catastrophe of the Hildesheim Jews 1938-1988: in memory of the 50-year return . In: Alt-Hildesheim. Yearbook for the city and monastery of Hildesheim . No. 59 , 1988, pp. 97-109 ( vernetztes-erinnern-hildesheim.de [PDF]).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Löbenstein, Klara
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH	February 15, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH	Hildesheim
DATE OF DEATH	June 10, 1968
Place of death	Buenos Aires , Argentina