Menahem Max Schiffer

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Menahem Max Schiffer (born September 24, 1911 in Berlin ; † November 11, 1997 ) was a German-American mathematician who dealt with complex analysis , partial differential equations and mathematical physics .

Life

Schiffer first studied physics, first from 1930 at the University of Bonn and then at the Humboldt University in Berlin , with Max von Laue , Erwin Schrödinger , Walter Nernst , Erhard Schmidt , Issai Schur and Ludwig Bieberbach , among others . In Berlin he worked particularly with Issai Schur. In 1934 his first mathematical work was published. After the takeover of the National Socialists , who urged among many others, shorn from office, emigrated Schiffer, the Jew was to Israel. Schiffer received his diploma from the Hebrew University there in Jerusalem on the basis of its publication in 1934 and received his doctorate in 1939 under Michael Fekete (conformal representations and simple functions). In his dissertation he introduced the Schiffer variation method for the treatment of geometrical problems in complex analysis. He was a professor at Stanford University , where other well-known analysts from Europe were teaching alongside him at the same time ( George Pólya , Charles Loewner , Stefan Bergman , Gábor Szegő ).

He worked with Paul Garabedian on the Bieberbach conjecture (in 1955 they proved the case n = 4). In addition to complex analysis, he also dealt with mathematical physics and wrote a textbook on general relativity .

In 1950 and 1958 he was invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians , in 1958 in Edinburgh with a plenary lecture (Extremum Problems and Variational Methods in Conformal Mapping). In 1963 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , and in 1970 to the National Academy of Sciences . Schiffer was known for his carefully crafted lectures - in 1976 he received the Teaching Award from Stanford University.

Fonts

  • with Leon Bowden: The role of mathematics in Science (= Anneli Lax new mathematical library. Vol. 30). Mathematical Association of America, Washington, D. C. 1984, ISBN 0-88385-630-1 .
  • with Stefan Bergman : Kernel Functions and elliptic differential equations in mathematical physics (= Pure and applied mathematics. Vol. 4). Academic Press, New York 1953, OCLC 869578504 ; (= Dover books on mathematics ). Dover Publications, Mineola, N.Y. 2005, ISBN 0-486-44553-4 .
  • with Donald Spencer : Functionals of finite Riemann Surfaces (= Princeton mathematical series ). Princeton University Press, Princeton 1954, OCLC 935491940 ; ibid 2015, ISBN 978-0-691-07967-7 .
  • with Ronald Adler, Maurice Bazin: Introduction to General Relativity (= International series in pure and applied physics ). McGraw Hill, New York 1965, OCLC 977686779 ; 2nd edition Ibid 1975, ISBN 0-07-000423-4 .

literature

  • Who's Who in America. A biographical dictionary of notable living men and women. Vol. 33 (1964-1965). Marquis Who's Who, Chicago, Ill. 1964, OCLC 39904169 , p. 1769.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Schiffer, Menahem Max
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH September 24, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH November 11, 1997