Thomas von Randow

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Thomas Viktor Heinrich Nertus Wilhelm Giselher Karl Gero von Randow (born December 26, 1921 in Breslau , Silesia , † July 29, 2009 in Hamburg ), pseudonym Zweistein , was a German mathematician, science editor and book author.

Life

He was the second son of the senior field doctor a. D. Dr. Gero von Randow and his wife Anne-Marie Bötticher, a cousin of the poet Joachim Ringelnatz , who was born as Hans Bötticher. With the high school diploma he left the Luisenstädtische Realgymnasium in Berlin on July 31, 1941 . Then the Wehrmacht moved in Randow and made him a paratrooper . However, it was never used in combat as such. But since his troops could shoot well, they were commanded as snipers on the eastern front.

After long stays in hospital due to illness, Randow was written unfit for war in 1944 and began studying mathematics in Berlin, which he continued in Hamburg immediately after the war . He also worked in all sorts of jobs to support his family, most recently as an assistant at the University of Hamburg .

1954 Randow received a call as a "Visiting Fellow" (guest professor) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he also dealt with "Information Theory" ( information theory ). Returning in 1957, he was unable to regain his position as an assistant and worked for several years, including as a discussion leader in the America House in Hamburg. In 1961, Marion Countess Dönhoff finally brought him to the weekly newspaper Die Zeit , where he founded the science department . He stayed there until 1989. During that time , Thomas von Randow published his logelies weekly for four decades under his pseudonym Zweistein .

Together with Alexander von Cube, he was one of the well-known presenters of the WDR television program Kopf um Kopf (1977–1991).

In 1942 Randow married Marianne Schultze-Ritter (* 1919). She is the daughter of the then well-known Staatsoper Kapellmeister and later professor at the Hans Schultze-Ritter Academy of Music . With her he had two daughters who now live in the USA. After the divorce from her Randow married Ingrid-Kornelie Kleikamp (1924-1994), the daughter of the former Vice Admiral of the Navy Gustav Kleikamp and Alix von Kaisenberg in 1951. They met in 1950 during a course in the course of the "re- education " practiced by the Americans . With her he had two sons, Gero and Philipp.

Awards

In 1965, Randow received the Theodor Wolff Prize for his publications . On his retirement in 1989 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class and in 1991 the “Technology and Public” award from the Technical and Scientific Association.

Fonts

  • Man and energy. From the pyramids to nuclear fission. Edited by Thomas von Randow. Delphin, Zurich 1962.
  • College leader. Edited by Petra Kipphoff, Thomas von Randow, Dieter E. Zimmer . Nannen, Hamburg 1964.
  • The fairy tale of the clever robot , in Die Zeit , 1966, no.36.
  • Too stupid for the future? Yesterday's people in tomorrow's world . Schwann, Düsseldorf 1971. Seven authors, including Thomas von Randow.
  • Bertelsmann AG: 1835–1985. 150 years of Bertelsmann . Bertelsmann, Munich 1985. Festschrift with contributions by various authors, including Thomas von Randow.
  • Logic. Humans as the best of all computers . Econ, Munich 1989.
  • The devil in science - woe when scholars are wrong: from the witch craze to the dying forest. With Gerhard Prause , Munich 1989, ISBN 3-426-03878-1 .
  • Erratic boulders - encrypted messages in mysterious symbols . Insel, Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 1993, ISBN 3-458-33220-0 .
  • The big international paper airplane book. German adaptation by Thomas von Randow, Hugendubel, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-88034-086-2 .
  • For the newspaper Die Zeit , Thomas von Randow invented the series Logelei von Zweistein , which he supervised for over 40 years and which also appeared as a collective series of books:
    • 99 logelies from Zweistein. Christian Wegner, Hamburg 1968.
    • New logelies from Zweistein. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1976.
    • Logeleien for connoisseurs. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1975.
    • 88 new logelias. Nymphenburger, Munich 1983.
    • 87 new logelias. Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1985.
    • More logelies from Zweistein. Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag (dtv), Munich 1985, ISBN 3-485-00446-4 .
    • Zwestein's number magic. Mathematical and mystical things about an abstract everyday object. From one to thirteen. Illustrations by Gerhard Gepp. Christian Brandstätter, Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-85447-481-4 .
    • Zwestein's number logelies. Insel, Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig 1993, ISBN 3-458-33210-3 .

literature

  • Olof v. Randow: The Randows. A family story . Degener, Neustadt / Aisch 2001, ISBN 3-7686-5182-7 , ( German family archive 135/136).

Web links

See also

Randow (noble family)

Remarks

  1. The Luisenstädtische Realgymnasium was at the time at Sebastianstrasse 26 in Kreuzberg and should not be confused with the former Luisenstädtische Gymnasium , at the time at Gleimstrasse 49 ( Prenzlauer Berg ).
  2. Mathematics is my home. October 12, 2005, accessed March 4, 2019 .