Ruth Moufang

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A woman teaches the friars geometry , allegory based on Martianus Capella's famous work De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii book illumination from a cycle between 1309 and 1316 , holdings of the British Library , digitally available.

Ruth Moufang (born January 10, 1905 in Darmstadt , † November 26, 1977 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German mathematician . She was the first German woman with a doctorate to get a job as a natural scientist in industry . After the Second World War , she became the first German mathematician to receive a full professorship . Until her retirement she taught at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. Ruth Moufang was the third woman in Germany to receive a habilitation in mathematics . Thanks to their scientific research, the terms Moufang level , Moufang identities and Moufang loop entered scientific terminology .

Origin and family

Ruth Moufang is the daughter of Eduard Moufang, who holds a doctorate in chemistry (1874–1941) from Palermo , and his wife Else Moufang, née Fecht. Eduard Moufang is the son of Friedrich Carl Moufang (1848–1885) from Mainz , a businessman in Frankfurt am Main, and Elisabeth Moufang, née. von Moers, daughter of Alexander Fecht (1848–1913) from Kehl and his wife Ella Fecht, b. Scholtz (1847–1921) from Tilsit . Ruth Moufang's family roots from a family that has lived in Mainz for generations include many well-known Moufang ancestors from the clergy , politics and merchants , as well as Nicola Moufang and his brothers.

High school and scientific studies

Ruth Moufang attended the Realgymnasium in Bad Kreuznach from 1913 and passed her Abitur there in 1924. From 1925 to 1929 Ruth Moufang studied mathematics, physics and philosophy at the University of Frankfurt am Main . Ruth Moufang passed her state examination in mathematics and a minor in physics at the University of Frankfurt am Main . Ruth Moufang was the first female student to study mathematics at the University of Frankfurt am Main

In 1930, Ruth Moufang with Max Dehn with the theme " On the structure of projective geometry of the plane " to Dr. phil. nat. PhD. She then received a scholarship to Rome to deepen her knowledge there. In the following years she gave guest lectures at the universities of Frankfurt am Main and Königsberg . During this time you made significant discoveries for synthetic geometry on projective planes . For example, she showed that planes in which Desargues' little projective theorem is general can always be represented as coordinate planes over an alternative field . In her honor, this class of projective planes is called Moufang planes .

In the summer of 1936 Ruth Moufang received her habilitation at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main with her work on Orderly Inclined Bodies . As a woman, she was denied the Venia Legendi under the National Socialist government. That is why she worked from 1937 until the end of the Nazi regime in 1945 in a research institute of the Krupp company , initially as a scientific assistant, from 1942 as head of the department for applied mathematics and mechanics .

After the war, Ruth Moufang returned to the Goethe University in Frankfurt. In 1946 she received her Venia Legendi there and in 1951 a scheduled extraordinary position . In 1957 she was appointed full professor to the chair of mathematics at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main . Ruth Moufang taught at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University until her retirement in 1970.

Scientific achievement

Ruth Moufang is considered to be the founder of a new field of research that deals with the investigation of projective levels . In this context, she managed to combine geometry and abstract algebra .

Another focus of her work was applied elasticity theory in the field of mechanics . The terms Moufang level, Moufang loop and Moufang's elasticity motor are associated with it.

  • In 1965 the Mathematische Zeitschrift published fourteen papers in volume 87 on the occasion of Ruth Moufang's 60th birthday, which were dedicated to her on her birthday.
  • In 2006 , a street was named after Ruth Moufang in the Riedberg campus , the natural science university district on Frankfurt's Riedberg .
  • In 2010 the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main founded the Ruth Moufang Fund . Its funds are intended to support female and male university students in their academic careers.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Toepell:  Moufang, Ruth. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , p. 234 f. ( Digitized version ).
  2. ^ Renate Strohmeyer: Lexicon of the natural scientists and women of Europe with natural knowledge . Verlag Harri Deutsch, ISBN 3-8171-1567-9 , p. 200
  3. ^ Technical University of Munich, Faculty of Computer Science: Mathematicians during the Nazi era - Ruth Moufang
  4. ^ Goethe University: Ruth Moufang Fund ( Memento from April 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Moufang, Ruth
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Darmstadt
DATE OF DEATH November 26, 1977
Place of death Frankfurt am Main