Max Brückner (mathematician)

Maximum icosahedral star, one of the polyhedron stars investigated by Brückner for the first time, made of polygons and polygons. Theory and history , Teubner, Leipzig, 1900, panel XI, detail

Table XI of polygons and polygons. Theory and History , Teubner, Leipzig, 1900

Johannes Max Brückner (born August 5, 1860 in Harthau , Kingdom of Saxony, † November 1, 1934 in Bautzen ) was a German geometer who was known for his collection of polyhedral models.

Career

Brückner was born in Harthau in the Kingdom of Saxony. After studying mathematics and physics in Leipzig from 1880 to 1885, he received his doctorate in 1886 at the University of Leipzig under Felix Klein and Wilhelm Scheibner with a dissertation on a special type of conformal mapping of one level to another . After teaching at a secondary school in Zwickau from 1887 to 1897, he was appointed to the grammar school in Bautzen, where he worked until his retirement in 1924. He died on November 1, 1934 in Bautzen.

Since 1893 Brückner was a member of the German Mathematicians Association (DMV) and invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Heidelberg (1904) , Rome (1908) , Cambridge (1912) and Bologna (1928) . In 1930 and 1931 he donated his extensive model collection to the University of Heidelberg , and in 1931 the university awarded him an honorary doctorate for building a collection of over 200 mathematical models of star bodies. In the following year he was also given honorary citizenship for his research in the field of polyhedron theory.

Brückner is known for the production of many geometric models, in particular of star-shaped and uniform polyhedra , which he describes in his book Polygons and Multiples. Documented theory and history . The shapes examined in this book also include a polyhedron made up of three nested octahedra , made famous by MC Escher's print Stars . The fact that Escher refers explicitly and repeatedly to Brückner is clear from his handwritten notes on the margin of some of his drawings and preliminary studies for other works.

Fonts

The elements of four-dimensional geometry with special consideration of the polytopes , annual report of the Verein für Naturkunde zu Zwickau 1893
Polygons and polygons - theory and history , Teubner, Leipzig, 1900
About the equiangular, uniform, discontinuous and non-convex polyhedra . In: Treatises of the Imperial Leopoldine-Carolinian German Academy of Natural Scientists, Vol. 86, pp. 1–348, Halle 1906

Web links

Individual evidence

^ Max Steck: Brückner, Max in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 2 (1955), p. 657 f. ( Online version )
^ Max Brückner in the Mathematics Genealogy Project
↑ ^a ^b Frank Etwein: A life for the polyhedra - the senior teacher Max Brückner and his models . Math Semesterber 66, pp. 15–30 (2019) doi: 10.1007 / s00591-019-00246-3 , footnote 5 explicitly names the place of activity Zwickau, another footnote 39 relates to the whereabouts of the collection.
↑ Joseph Malkevitch: Milestones in the History of Polyhedra . In: Senechal M. (eds) Shaping Space. Pp. 53-63, Springer, New York (2013) doi: 10.1007 / 978-0-387-92714-5_4
↑ Max Brückner: Polygons and polygons. Theory and History , Teubner, Leipzig, 1900, in the Internet Archive , accessed on February 19, 2020
↑ MC Escher (1898–1972): Sterne / Stars , 41 x 32 cm, woodcut, print on paper, October 1948, in the Digital Commonwealth , Boston Public Library, Print Department
↑ HSM Coxeter : A special book review: MC Escher: His life and complete graphic work , in: The Mathematical Intelligencer, 7 (1), pp. 59-69, (1985) doi: 10.1007 / BF03023010 . Coxeter's analysis of Escher's Stars can be found on pages 61–62.
↑ George W. Hart: Max Brückner's Wunderkammer of Paper Polyhedra , Proceedings of Bridges 2019: Mathematics, Art, Music, Architecture, Education, Culture, pp. 59-66, (2019)

personal data
SURNAME	Brückner, Max
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Brückner, Johannes Max
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German geometer
DATE OF BIRTH	August 5, 1860
PLACE OF BIRTH	Harthau , Kingdom of Saxony
DATE OF DEATH	November 1, 1934
Place of death	Bautzen

[1] Max Steck: Brückner, Max in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 2 (1955), p. 657 f. ( Online version )

[2] Max Brückner in the Mathematics Genealogy Project

[Etwein-3] Frank Etwein: A life for the polyhedra - the senior teacher Max Brückner and his models . Math Semesterber 66, pp. 15–30 (2019) doi: 10.1007 / s00591-019-00246-3 , footnote 5 explicitly names the place of activity Zwickau, another footnote 39 relates to the whereabouts of the collection.

[4] Joseph Malkevitch: Milestones in the History of Polyhedra . In: Senechal M. (eds) Shaping Space. Pp. 53-63, Springer, New York (2013) doi: 10.1007 / 978-0-387-92714-5_4

[5] Max Brückner: Polygons and polygons. Theory and History , Teubner, Leipzig, 1900, in the Internet Archive , accessed on February 19, 2020

[6] MC Escher (1898–1972): Sterne / Stars , 41 x 32 cm, woodcut, print on paper, October 1948, in the Digital Commonwealth , Boston Public Library, Print Department

[7] HSM Coxeter : A special book review: MC Escher: His life and complete graphic work , in: The Mathematical Intelligencer, 7 (1), pp. 59-69, (1985) doi: 10.1007 / BF03023010 . Coxeter's analysis of Escher's Stars can be found on pages 61–62.

[8] George W. Hart: Max Brückner's Wunderkammer of Paper Polyhedra , Proceedings of Bridges 2019: Mathematics, Art, Music, Architecture, Education, Culture, pp. 59-66, (2019)