Paul Günther (mathematician, 1926)

Paul Anton Günther (born May 7, 1926 in Hohenfichte ; † April 1, 1996 in Leipzig ) was a German mathematician who dealt with partial differential equations .

Günther studied from 1947 at the University of Leipzig , where he at 1950 Ernst Hölder with the work The validity of Huygens' principle for partial differential equations of the normal hyperbolic type doctorate was. In 1955 he completed his habilitation and in 1960 he was appointed professor. In 1987 he retired .

He dealt in particular with the problem of Jacques Hadamard , for which partial differential equations the Huygens principle applies. He wrote a monograph about it. In 1965 he gave a counterexample to the Hadamard conjecture in four space-time dimensions (in higher dimensions Karl-Ludwig Stellmacher had already given counterexamples in the 1950s). The conjecture says that only the ordinary wave equation satisfies the Huygens principle. He also dealt with differential geometry and global analysis.

Volkmar Wünsch , who was later appointed professor to Jena, is one of his doctoral students .

Paul Günther was director of the mathematics section at Leipzig University from 1969 to 1971. From 1982 he was a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina . In 1976 he was awarded the badge of honor from the Karl Marx University in Leipzig. In 1985 he received the Humboldt Medal in bronze.

Fonts

• On the validity of Huygens' principle for partial differential equations of the normal hyperbolic type. In: Meeting reports of the Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig. Mathematics and science class. Volume 100, 1952, p. 1.
• Huygens principle and hyperbolic equations. Academic Press 1988.
• An example of a nontrivial Hugens differential equation with four independent variables. In: Arch. Rat. Mech. Anal. 18, 1965, p. 103.
• with Klaus Beyer , Volkmar Wünsch, Siegfried Gottwald : Basic Analysis Course. 4 volumes. Teubner, Leipzig from 1972.

Web links

• Paul Günther in the Mathematics Genealogy Project (English)
• Paul Günther on the website of the University of Leipzig
• Martin Belger, Friedbert Prüfer: Persistent, critical, formative. A memory of the mathematician Paul Günther. In: Journal of the University of Leipzig. Issue 2, 2006, p. 35 (with picture).