Philipp Frank (philosopher)

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Philipp G. Frank (born March 20, 1884 in Vienna , † July 21, 1966 in Cambridge , Massachusetts , USA) was an Austrian philosopher , physicist and mathematician .

Life

Philipp Frank was the son of Ignaz Frank and Jenny Feilendorf. His brother was the Austrian-Swedish architect Josef Frank . Philipp Frank studied physics with Ludwig Boltzmann at the University of Vienna , where he received his doctorate in theoretical physics in 1907. He has been interested in philosophical questions since he was a student and so he came into contact with the Vienna Circle . Frank was friends with Richard von Mises . The book Differential Equations and Integral Equations of Mechanics and Physics (1925) emerged from the collaboration .

Frank wrote a paper on causality that impressed Albert Einstein , and there was a lively exchange between the two. Frank completed his habilitation in 1910 at the University of Vienna and became a lecturer there. On Einstein's recommendation, Frank succeeded him at the German University in Prague in 1912 , where he stayed until 1938. Because of the invasion of the Wehrmacht and the destruction of the Vienna Circle, Frank emigrated to the USA. There he was first visiting professor and then lecturer in physics and mathematics at Harvard University . His friend Richard von Mises followed him there. Frank wrote a biography of Einstein, with whom he was friends, in the USA in 1947, entitled: His life and his time .

Frank worked in various fields of mathematics and physics: calculus of variations , Fourier series , function spaces , geometric optics , Schrödinger wave mechanics and relativity theory . His publications cover a wide area. For example, in 1910, together with Hermann Rothe , he tried to derive the Lorentz transformation within the framework of group theory and without recourse to the postulate of the constancy of the speed of light .

Memberships

In 1943 Frank was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 1945 he became a Fellow of the American Physical Society .

Fonts

  • with H. Rothe: About the transformation of space-time coordinates from resting to moving systems. In: Annals of Physics. 34, 1910, pp. 825-855 ( online ).
  • with Richard von Mises (ed.): The differential and integral equations of mechanics and physics, Volume I: Mathematical part, Volume II: Physical part. 1st edition 1925, 2nd increased edition 1930, unchanged reprint of the 2nd increased edition 1961, Dover Publications Inc., New York and Friedrich Vieweg & Son , Braunschweig.
  • The law of causality and its limits. Vienna 1932. New edition 1988.
  • Between physics and philosophy. Univ. Press, Cambridge, Mass. 1941.
  • Modern science and its philosophy. Univ. Press, Cambridge, Mass. 1949.
  • Einstein: His life and time. Paul List Verlag, Munich Leipzig Freiburg i. Br. 1949. (American edition by Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1947). New edition: Vieweg, Wiesbaden 1979, ISBN 3-528-08437-5 .
  • Truth - Relative or Absolute? Zurich 1952.
  • The validation of scientific theories. 1961.
  • with others: The Law of Causality and Its Limits. Vienna Circle Collection. 1997.
  • Foundations of Physics (= Foundations of the Unity of Science . Volume 1, No. 7). University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1946; 6th edition 1969.
  • The validation of scientific theories.
  • Relativity and its astronomical implications: The significance of general relativity presented in the language of the layman.
  • Thermodynamics.
  • Interpretations and misinterpretations of modern physics.
  • Relativity: A richer truth. Seeds of thought series
  • Philosophy of science.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Frank.html . Retrieved September 30, 2015
  2. ^ Widder art trade: Trude Waehner - Vienna 1900-1979 Vienna , accessed on April 10, 2017
  3. ^ Members of the American Academy. Listed by election year, 1900-1949 ( PDF ). Retrieved September 29, 2015
  4. ↑ APS Fellow Archive. APS Fellows 1945. American Physical Society, accessed December 11, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Frank, Philipp
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Frank, Philipp G.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian philosopher, physicist and mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH March 20, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH July 21, 1966
Place of death Cambridge , Massachusetts , USA