Leon Lichtenstein

Leon Lichtenstein (born May 16, 1878 in Warsaw , Russian Empire ; † August 21, 1933 in Zakopane ) was a Polish-German mathematician who dealt with the calculus of variations , ordinary and partial differential equations , conformal maps and potential theory.

life and work

Lichtenstein attended secondary school in Warsaw and came to Berlin in 1894 , where he studied electrical engineering and mechanical engineering (diploma 1901) at the Technical University in Berlin-Charlottenburg and, at the same time, lectured mathematics at the University of Berlin with Hermann Amandus Schwarz , Ferdinand Georg Frobenius , Edmund Landau , Friedrich Schottky heard. While he was still working as an electrical engineer at Siemens & Halske , he made up his Abitur in 1907. In 1908 he received his doctorate in engineering.in electrical engineering at the Technical University in Charlottenburg ("On the theory of electrical cables", Electrotechnical Journal 1908). In 1909 he also received his doctorate under Schwarz at the University of Berlin in mathematics on successive approximation of differential equations ("On the theory of ordinary differential equations of the second order - the solutions as functions of the boundary values ​​and the parameters"). In 1910 he completed his habilitation. During the First World War he worked as a test engineer at Siemens (testing power cables, etc.) and did static and aerodynamic calculations for the air force.

In 1919 he became a full honorary professor at the Technical University in Berlin-Charlottenburg and in 1920 a full professor at the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster . Since 1922 he was a professor at the University of Leipzig , where he was to be dismissed as a Jew in 1933 after the transfer of power to the National Socialists in the German Reich in accordance with the law for the restoration of the civil service . Already suffering from heart and kidney disease, he died during the semester break on a vacation trip to Poland from the effects of the excitement. His funeral urn was buried in the Südfriedhof (Leipzig) . Since 1925 he was a full member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences .

In the 1920s he also published a series of studies on equilibrium figures of rotating liquids with applications to astronomical problems and existence problems of the differential equations of hydrodynamics. During his time at Siemens, he also published a number of electrical engineering papers. In 1918 Lichtenstein was one of the founders of the " Mathematische Zeitschrift " and from 1919 to 1927 head of the "Yearbook on the Progress of Mathematics".

His doctoral students include Ernst Hölder , Erich Kähler , Aurel Wintner , Hermann Boerner and Karl Maruhn .

Lichtenstein was a cousin of Norbert Wiener .

Fonts

• Contributions to the theory of cable investigations into the capacity ratios of stranded and concentric multiple cables. Oldenbourg, Munich 1908.
• Basics of hydromechanics. Springer, Berlin 1929. Reprinted in 1968.
• Figures of equilibrium in rotating liquids. Springer, Berlin 1933.
• Lectures on some classes of nonlinear integral equations and integro-differential equations along with applications. Springer, Berlin 1931.
• Astronomy and mathematics in their interaction. Mathematical problems in the theory of the figure of the heavenly bodies. 1922 (Leipzig inaugural lecture), reprint: VDM, Saarbrücken 2007 as well as in: Herbert Beckert, Walter Purkert Leipzig mathematical inaugural lectures. Selection from the years 1869-1922 , BG Teubner, Leipzig 1987 (with biography)

Some of his works are online, selection:

• “On the theory of ordinary differential equations and partial differential equations of the second order”, dissertation 1909
• "On some existential problems of the calculus of variations - method of infinitely many variables", Journal für Mathematik, Vol. 145, 1914
• "Investigations into the equilibrium figures of rotating liquids whose particles attract each other according to Newton's law", Part 1, Mathematische Zeitschrift 1918 , Part 2, 1920 [1] , Part 3 (figure of the earth) [2]
• "On the Calculation of Variations I", Göttinger Nachrichten 1919 . Part 2 ("The isoperimetric problem", journal for pure and applied mathematics, vol. 165, 1931) [3]
• "Investigations into the shape of the heavenly bodies I - Laplace's theory of the shape of the earth's moon", Mathematische Zeitschrift 1920 , part 2, 1920 (double stars) [4] , part 3 (rings), 1923 [5] , part 4, 1923 (Maxwells Theory of Saturn's Rings) [6]
• "Recent developments in potential theory and conformal mapping", Encyclopedia of Mathematical Sciences, 1918/9
• "Recent studies on the theory of partial differential equations of the 2nd order of the elliptical type", Encyclopedia of Mathematical Sciences 1924
• "On the theory of the equilibrium figures of homogeneous liquids", from the estate, Mathematische Zeitschrift Vol. 39, 1935

literature

• Otto Hölder : Leon Lichtenstein. In: Session reports of the Saxon Academy of Sciences, mathematical-physical class. Volume 36, 1934, pp. 307-314.
• Danuta Przeworska-Rolewicz: Leon Lichtenstein. On the 120th anniversary of his birthday. Mathematical Institute, Warsaw 1997.
• Ernst Hölder : Leon Lichtenstein's mathematical effectiveness. In: Annual report DMV. Volume 83, 1981, p. 135.
• Gisela Möllenhoff, Rita Schlautmann-Overmeyer: Jewish families in Münster 1918 to 1945. Biographical lexicon. Westphalian steam boat, Münster 1995, ISBN 3-929586-48-7 .
• Herbert Beckert : Leon Lichtenstein. In: Herbert Beckert, Horst Schumann (Ed.) 100 Years of Mathematical Seminar at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig. German Science Publishers, Berlin 1981.
• Lichtenstein, Leon , in: Joseph Walk : Short biographies on the history of the Jews 1918–1945 . Munich: Saur, 1988, ISBN 3-598-10477-4 , p. 234

Web links

• Literature by and about Leon Lichtenstein in the catalog of the German National Library
• Pinl about Lichtenstein in the annual report DMV volume 73, on Lichtenstein page 191, with list of publications
• History of Mathematics at the University of Münster, a. a. Biography of Lichtenstein, pdf

Individual evidence

1. ^ German Mathematicians Association: Short Biographies
2. ^ Norbert Wiener: Mathematics - My life.