Robert Sauer

This article deals with the German mathematician. For the US biochemist of the same name, see Robert Thomas Sauer .

Robert Max Friedrich Sauer , nickname Robert (born September 16, 1898 in Pommersfelden , † August 22, 1970 in Munich ) was a German mathematician . From 1954 to 1956 he was Rector of the Technical University of Munich and from 1964 to 1970 President of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences .

Life

Robert Sauer was the son of a teacher. After graduating from high school in Bamberg and completing military service in the First World War as a non-commissioned officer in the artillery, he studied mathematics and physics at the Technical University of Munich from 1919 . In 1921 he passed the teaching examination and taught at the Latin school in Amorbach , among other places . In 1923 he became assistant to Sebastian Finsterwalder at the TH Munich . In 1925 he received his doctorate with distinction with the dissertation on a room division, created by a level system such that four levels go through a point. After completing his habilitation in 1926, he taught at the TH Munich as a lecturer in descriptive geometry . In 1932 he became associate professor and in 1937 full professor for applied mathematics and descriptive geometry at the TH Aachen . During this time Sauer joined the NSDAP and was involved in the National Socialist German Lecturer Association . Sauer was appointed dean by his incumbent rector, Hans Ehrenberg , in 1942/43, partly because of his party affiliation .

During the Second World War he worked on ballistics and supersonic gas dynamics , where he also constructed analog computers for the solution of the differential equations that occurred (the rotationally symmetrical flow problem could be reduced to ordinary differential equations). He received intensive support from his friend, the mathematician Franz Krauss , who also teaches in Aachen . These calculations were related to the calculation of the trajectories of V1 and V2 missiles that were sent to London. His book on mathematical aspects of gas dynamics, published in 1943, was translated into English and Russian during the war. In 1944 he became a professor at the TH Karlsruhe . After the end of the war he was ousted by the US occupiers . The French were very interested in Sauer's know-how and made him the offer to work for the French government in ballistic research in Weil am Rhein and in St. Louis in Alsace, at the newly founded research institute ISL under the Headed by Professor Hubert Schardin .

Soon after, Sauer was also working for the US Air Force. In 1948 he became - especially at the instigation of his friend Josef Lense - professor at the Technical University of Munich and director of the Mathematical Institute. 1954 to 1956 he was rector of the TH Munich and then twice vice rector. In Munich he set up a mathematical working group for the newly built electronic computing system PERM at an early stage , which later became the Leibniz computing center headed by the Commission for Computer Science of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . In addition, he continued to deal with engineering training and gas dynamics.

In 1950 he became a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and was its president from 1964 to 1970. She donated the Robert Sauer Prize in his honor . In 1962 he was elected a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina . In 1962 Sauer was elected to the Bavarian Senate . In 1961 he received from the Technical University of Dresden , the honorary doctorate . In 1965 he received an honorary doctorate from the Vienna University of Technology .

Fonts

• The general square maps, represented by rectilinear triangular meshes . In: Mathematical Annals . 106, 1932, pp. 722-754.
• Strip models and bar models for the differential geometry of the rotating surfaces, helical surfaces and ruled surfaces . In: Mathematical Journal . 48, 1942, pp. 455-466.
• Theoretical introduction to gas dynamics. Springer, Berlin 1943.
• Initial value problems with partial differential equations. Springer, Berlin / Göttingen / Heidelberg 1952.
• Engineer math. 2 volumes. Springer, Berlin / Göttingen / Heidelberg
  • Vol. 1: differential and integral calculus. 1959.
  • Vol. 2: Differential equations and function theory. 1961.
• Performance of machines and limits of their performance. Lecture. Carl Friedrich von Siemens Foundation, Munich 1966.
• Non-stationary problems in gas dynamics. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 1966.
• with István Szabó (ed.): Mathematical tools of the engineer. 4 parts. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 1967–1970 (therein by Sauer Geometrie in Volume 3).
• Difference geometry. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 1970.

literature

• Ansbert Baumann: Between "greatest appreciation" and suspension. The brief work of the mathematician Robert Sauer at the TH Karlsruhe. In: Journal for the history of the Upper Rhine. 158, 2010, pp. 425-446.
• Friedrich L. Bauer & Gunther Schmidt (Ed.): Memories of Robert Sauer. Contributions to the memorial colloquium on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of his death. Springer, Berlin 1981, ISBN 978-3-540-10951-8 , doi: /10.1007/978-3-642-93190-1
• Hubert Kalf :  Sauer, Robert Max Friedrich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , pp. 456-458 ( digitized version ).
• Renate Tobies : Biographical lexicon in mathematics for post-doctoral students. 2006.

Web links

• Literature by and about Robert Sauer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Life pictures: Robert Sauer 1898–1970 , portrait of Friedrich L. Bauer on the website of the Technical University of Munich

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ulrich Kalkmann: The Technical University of Aachen in the Third Reich (1933-1945). Mainz, Aachen 2003, ISBN 3-86130-181-4 .
2. ↑ Oral History Interview, Hans Stetter, pdf . After the war, Hans J. Stetter was his doctoral student in Munich.
3. ↑ Hubert, “Sauer, Robert” in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 22 (2005), pp. 456-458 [online version ; URL: https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd118794671.html#ndbcontent ]
4. ^ Bavarian Academy of Sciences: President Prof. Dr. Robert Sauer , member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences
5. ↑ Member entry by Robert Sauer (with picture) at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on June 20, 2016.
6. ↑ Honorary doctoral students of the TH / TU Dresden. Technical University of Dresden, accessed on January 30, 2015 . 
7. ↑ TU Wien: Honorary doctorates ( memento of the original from February 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved March 26, 2015. 

predecessor	Office	successor
Friedrich Baethgen	President of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences from 1964 to 1970	Hans Raupach