Wilhelm Süss

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Wilhelm Süss, around 1954

Wilhelm Süss (born March 7, 1895 in Frankfurt am Main ; † May 21, 1958 in Freiburg - Günterstal ) was a German mathematician ( geometry , differential geometry ), the founder of the Mathematical Research Institute Oberwolfach .

Life

Süss attended the Goethe-Gymnasium in Frankfurt. After graduating from high school, he studied in Freiburg im Breisgau (with Alfred Loewy , among others ), Göttingen and Frankfurt . He was called up in 1915 and was only able to continue his studies after the First World War. He received his doctorate in 1920 in Frankfurt under Ludwig Bieberbach on the theory of the content of polygons in spaces of any dimension, following David Hilbert's Fundamentals of Geometry , which he had studied as a soldier during the war. He went to Berlin with Bieberbach as his assistant and worked for the emergency community of German science. In 1922 he became a German teacher at the University of Kagoshima in Japan and at the same time published mathematical works from geometry, e.g. B. on convex bodies, group-theoretical justification of the geometry and "relative differential geometry" (with a direction-dependent unit of measurement). In 1928 he completed his habilitation at the University of Greifswald with Karl Reinhardt , with whom he had previously corresponded and who had been a friend since childhood.

In 1934 he went to the University of Freiburg as a professor (as the successor to Alfred Loewy , who was forced into retirement as a Jew ), where he was dean of the natural science and mathematics faculty from 1938 to 1940 and rector of the university from 1940 to 1945. During his time as rector, Süss was "careful to ban non-academic influences from the university."

After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists , he became a member of the SA in 1933 . In 1937 he became a member of the NSDAP after the suspension of admission and in 1938 a member of the Nazi lecturers' association . Süss was not a fanatical National Socialist, but continued the National Socialist policy z. B. in the exclusion of Jewish members from the DMV by, as also later as rector and chairman of the DMV, he cooperated closely with the Reich Ministry of Education. In Freiburg, he initially worked well with Gustav Doetsch , a leading applied mathematician who had brought him to the university and with whom he shared the management of the Mathematical Institute until 1940. Their relationship deteriorated increasingly. Both competed for influence in the scientific community of the "Third Reich". Thanks to his pronounced ability to make contacts, Süss ultimately succeeded in gaining the upper hand and eliminating Doetsch from university life after the war. From 1938 to 1945 Süss was chairman of the German Mathematicians Association . In 1939 he was elected a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences . From 1943 he was a representative for mathematics in the Reich Research Council and in 1944 he initiated the establishment of the Reich Institute for Mathematics in Oberwolfach in the Black Forest, from where he headed the university even after the war-related destruction of the mathematical institute in Freiburg. In addition, numerous mathematicians found refuge here at the end of the war (e.g. Heinrich Behnke , William Threlfall , Herbert Seifert , Emanuel Sperner , Hermann Boerner ).

Badge at the institute in Oberwolfach with the picture of Wilhelm Süss

After the Second World War , Süss was relieved of office, but was returned to the chair in December 1945. In addition, his assets were frozen by the French occupying forces. Süss was able to save the Oberwolfach Institute until the 1950s and make it a meeting place for German and foreign mathematicians. He remained its leader until his death. In 1954 he founded an institute for mathematics didactics in Freiburg and initiated the multi-volume series “Grundzüge der Mathematik” (with Behnke, Fladt, Bachmann), which appeared in 1958. Shortly before his death in 1958, he became rector of the University of Freiburg again, but was already suffering from cancer.

In 1943 Süss was appointed a member of the Leopoldina .

Süss was a cousin of the classical philologist Wilhelm Süss .

Fonts

  • as editor with Heinrich Behnke , Kuno Fladt : Grundzüge der Mathematik. 3 volumes. Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht 1958 (English translation by MIT Press).
  • with Helmut Hasse and others: Pure Mathematics (= FIAT Review of German Science. ZDB -ID 990356-2 ). 2 volumes. Dieterich, Wiesbaden 1948.

literature

  • Helmuth Gericke : Wilhelm Süss, the founder of the Mathematical Research Institute Oberwolfach. In: Annual report of the German Mathematicians Association . Vol. 69, Abt. 1, No. 4, 1967/1968, ISSN  0012-0456 , pp. 161-183, ( digitized version ).
  • Bernd Grün: The rector as a leader? The University of Freiburg i. Br. From 1933 to 1945 (= Freiburg contributions to the history of science and universities. NF vol. 4). Alber, Freiburg (Breisgau) et al. 2010, ISBN 978-3-495-49607-7 , pp. 526-584, 704-721, (also: Freiburg (Breisgau), University, dissertation, 2006).
  • Michael Grüttner : Biographical lexicon on National Socialist science policy (= studies on science and university history. 6). Heidelberg, Synchron 2004, ISBN 3-935025-68-8 , p. 172.
  • Volker R. Remmert : The German Mathematicians Association in the "Third Reich". 2 parts. In: Messages from the DMV. 12, 2004, pp. 159–177, part 1 online (PDF; 853 KB) and pp. 223–245, part 2 online (PDF; 827 KB) .
  • Volker R. Remmert: Mathematicians at War. Power Struggles in Nazi Germany's Mathematical Community: Gustav Doetsch and Wilhelm Süss. In: Revue d'histoire des mathématiques. Vol. 5, No. 1, 1999, ISSN  1262-022X , pp. 7-59, ( digital version (PDF; 386 KB) ).
  • Volker R. Remmert: Unequal partners in mathematics in the “Third Reich”: Heinrich Behnke and Wilhelm Süss. In: Mathematical semester reports. Vol. 49, No. 1, 2002, ISSN  0720-728X , pp. 11-27, doi : 10.1007 / s005910100041 .
  • Volker R. Remmert: The problem of war research in mathematics and natural sciences. Wilhelm Süss as rector and chairman of the German Mathematicians Association. In: 550 years of the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg. Festschrift. Volume 3: Bernd Martin (Ed.): From the Baden State University to the University of the 21st Century. Alber, Freiburg (Breisgau) et al. 2007, ISBN 978-3-495-48253-7 , pp. 485-502.
  • Volker R. Remmert:  Süss, Wilhelm. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 25, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-428-11206-7 , pp. 681 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Sanford L. Segal: Mathematicians under the Nazis. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2003, ISBN 0-691-00451-X .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernd Grün: The rector as a guide? The University of Freiburg i. Br. From 1933 to 1945. 2010, p. 566.
  2. ↑ a b c Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich . Who was what before and after 1945 (= Fischer. 16048). Updated edition. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-596-16048-0 , p. 616.
  3. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 237.
  4. ↑ Bernd Grün: The rector as a guide? The University of Freiburg i. Br. From 1933 to 1945. 2010, pp. 268–346, 638.
  5. ^ Member entry of Wilhelm Süß at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on June 20, 2016.
predecessor Office successor
Otto Mangold Rector of the University of Freiburg
1940 - 1945 		Sigurd Janssen
personal data
SURNAME Sweet, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mathematicians (geometry, differential geometry)
DATE OF BIRTH March 7, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH May 21, 1958
Place of death Freiburg - Günterstal