Olga Taussky-Todd

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Olga Taussky-Todd (born August 30, 1906 in Olmütz , Austria-Hungary as Olga Taußky ; died October 7, 1995 in Pasadena , California ) was an American mathematician. She became known in algebra as one of the pioneers of (numerical) matrix theory .

Life

Olga Taussky was a daughter of Julius David (1862-1918) and Ida Pollack. Her father was an industrial chemist, journalist and director of a vinegar factory in Linz. Her sister Ilona (* 1905) worked as a chemist, her sister Hertha (* 1909) as a pharmacist.

Taussky studied mathematics at the University of Vienna and did his doctorate in 1930 under Philipp Furtwängler on the topic of number theory : On tightening the main ideal theorem . Shortly before, Furtwängler had succeeded for the first time in proving the main ideal. During this time, Taussky participated occasionally in the Vienna Circle and regularly in Karl Menger's Mathematical Colloquium .

Olga Taussky-Todd in Göttingen , 1932

In 1931 she received an assistant position in what was then the mathematics stronghold, the University of Göttingen . Her job was to publish David Hilbert's collected works and to correct any errors that still existed. She also dealt intensively with its payment report. The long-standing friendship with the eminent mathematician Emmy Noether developed . The common field of work was algebraic number theory . In 1934, Taussky had to emigrate because of her Jewish origins and first went to Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania , USA with Emmy Noether .

In 1935, after Noether's death, she went to England and became a fellow at Girton College at Cambridge University , as did Bryn Mawr, a women's college. In 1938 she married the English mathematician John Todd (1911–2007), a colleague at the University of London . During the Second World War she (in collaboration with her husband) analyzed the vibrations of aircraft at the National Physical Laboratory and developed the pioneering numerics of matrices, which she subsequently played a key role in developing, initially at the US National Bureau of Standards . She was later widely revered as the pioneer of matrix theory. In addition, she continued to work in the field of algebraic number theory, which she still regarded as her real field. Here she developed algorithmic methods, among other things, partly in collaboration with Hans Zassenhaus and others.

In 1957 the couple accepted an offer at the California Institute of Technology (CALTECH) in Pasadena (near Los Angeles ), where they lived until their death. At first only her husband was a professor, she herself a research assistant, but with the duties of a full professorial position. It wasn't until another, much younger woman was hailed as the first female professor at Caltech around 1970 that she had her status corrected to a full professorship in 1971. In 1981 she gave the Noether Lecture . In 1975 she became a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences . Since 1985 she has been a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences .

Works (excerpt)

  • How I became a torchbearer for matrix theory , American Mathematical Monthly Vol. 95, 1988
  • Sums of squares , American Mathematical Monthly Vol. 77, 1970
  • A recurring theorem on determinants , American Mathematical Monthly Vol. 56, 1949

Awards

literature

  • Albers, Alexanderson: Mathematical people , Math.Association America 1985 (autobiographical essay)
  • Christa Binder :  Taußky, Olga. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 25, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-428-11206-7 , p. 813 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Case, Leggett (Ed.): Complexities-woman in mathematics , Princeton 2005
  • Chandler Davis: Remembering Olga Taussky-Todd. Mathematical Intelligencer Vol. 19, 1997, No. 1 (and contribution by Edmund Hlawka)
  • Stadler, Friedrich : Studies on the Vienna Circle. Origin, Development and Effect of Logical Empiricism in Context. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1997. Short biography and bibliography of Olga Taussky-Todd: 784–796.
  • Claudia Wurzinger: Taussky-Todd, Olga. In: Brigitta Keintzel, Ilse Korotin (ed.): Scientists in and from Austria. Life - work - work. Böhlau, Wien et al. 2002, ISBN 3-205-99467-1 , pp. 729-731.
  • Werner Röder, Herbert A. Strauss (Eds.): International Biographical Dictionary of Central European Emigrés 1933–1945. Volume 2.2. Saur, Munich 1983 ISBN 3-598-10089-2 , pp. 1156f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christa Binder:  Taußky (since 1938 Taussky-Todd), Olga. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 25, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-428-11206-7 , p. 813 ( digitized version ).
  2. ↑ Christa Binder:  Taußky (since 1938 Taussky-Todd), Olga. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 25, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-428-11206-7 , p. 813 ( digitized version ).
  3. ^ Stadler, Friedrich : Studies on the Vienna Circle. Origin, Development and Effect of Logical Empiricism in Context. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 1997, 784.
  4. ^ Olga Taussky-Todd obituary by Friedrich L. Bauer in the 1996 yearbook of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (PDF file).
  5. ↑ orf.at - Seven women's monuments for the University of Vienna . Article dated October 28, 2015, accessed October 28, 2015.
  6. ↑ derStandard.at - Arkadenhof of the University of Vienna now also houses women's monuments . Article dated June 30, 2016, accessed July 1, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Taussky-Todd, Olga
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Olomouc
DATE OF DEATH October 7, 1995
Place of death Pasadena