Mathematicians fleeing from Nazi Germany : individual fates and global impact / Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Siegmund-Schultze, R. (Reinhard)

Standardized Title:

Mathematiker auf der Flucht vor Hitler. English

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mathematicians--Germany--History--20th century.

Mathematicians.

Mathematicians--United States--History--20th century.

Mathematicians--Germany--Biography.

Mathematicians--United States--Biography.

World War, 1939-1945--Refugees--Germany.

World War, 1939-1945.

Germans--United States--History--20th century.

Germans.

Immigrants--United States--History--20th century.

Immigrants.

Mathematics--Germany--History--20th century.

Mathematics.

Mathematics--United States--History--20th century.

Germany--Emigration and immigration--History--1933-1945.

Germany.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (500 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The emigration of mathematicians from Europe during the Nazi era signaled an irrevocable and important historical shift for the international mathematics world. Mathematicians Fleeing from Nazi Germany is the first thoroughly documented account of this exodus. In this greatly expanded translation of the 1998 German edition, Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze describes the flight of more than 140 mathematicians, their reasons for leaving, the political and economic issues involved, the reception of these emigrants by various countries, and the emigrants' continuing contributions to mathematics. The influx of these brilliant thinkers to other nations profoundly reconfigured the mathematics world and vaulted the United States into a new leadership role in mathematics research. Based on archival sources that have never been examined before, the book discusses the preeminent emigrant mathematicians of the period, including Emmy Noether, John von Neumann, Hermann Weyl, and many others. The author explores the mechanisms of the expulsion of mathematicians from Germany, the emigrants' acculturation to their new host countries, and the fates of those mathematicians forced to stay behind. The book reveals the alienation and solidarity of the emigrants, and investigates the global development of mathematics as a consequence of their radical migration. An in-depth yet accessible look at mathematics both as a scientific enterprise and human endeavor, Mathematicians Fleeing from Nazi Germany provides a vivid picture of a critical chapter in the history of international science.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Figures and Tables

Preface

Chapter 1. The Terms "German-Speaking Mathematician," "Forced," and "Voluntary Emigration"

Chapter 2. The Notion of "Mathematician" Plus Quantitative Figures on Persecution

Chapter 3. Early Emigration

Chapter 4. Pretexts, Forms, and the Extent of Emigration and Persecution

Chapter 5. Obstacles to Emigration out of Germany after 1933, Failed Escape, and Death

Chapter 6. Alternative (Non-American) Host Countries

Chapter 7. Diminishing Ties with Germany and Self-Image of the Refugees

Chapter 8. The American Reaction to Immigration: Help and Xenophobia

Chapter 9. Acculturation, Political Adaptation, and the American Entrance into the War

Chapter 10. The Impact of Immigration on American Mathematics

Chapter 11. Epilogue: The Postwar Relationship of German and American Mathematicians

Appendix 1: Lists of Emigrated (after 1933), Murdered, and Otherwise Persecuted German-Speaking Mathematicians (as of 2008)

Appendix 2: Excerpt from a Letter by George David Birkhoff from Paris (1928) to His Colleague-Mathematicians at Harvard Concerning the Possibility of or Desirability to Hire Foreigners

Appendix 3.1: Report Compiled by Harald Bohr "Together with Different German Friends" in May 1933 Concerning the Present Conditions in German Universities, in Particular with Regard to Mathematics and Theoretical Physics

Appendix 3.2: Translation of a Letter from Professor Karl Löwner of the University of Prague to Professor Louis L. Silverman (Dartmouth College) Dated August 2, 1933

Appendix 3.3: Richard von Mises's "Position toward the Events of Our Time" in November 1933

Appendix 3.4: Report by Artur Rosenthal (Heidelberg) from June 1935 on the Boycott of His and Heinrich Liebmann's Mathematical Courses

Appendix 3.5: Max Pinl-Later the Author of Pioneering Reports (1969-72) on Mathematical Refugees - in a Letter to Hermann Weyl on the Situation in Czechoslovakia Immediately after the Munich Dictate of September 29, 1938

Appendix 4.1: A Letter by Emmy Noether of January 1935 to the Emergency Committee in New York Regarding Her Scientific and Political Interests during Emigration

Appendix 4.2: Richard Courant's Resignation from the German Mathematicians' Association DMV in 1935

Appendix 4.3: Von Mises in His Diary about His Second Emigration, from Turkey to the USA, in 1939

Appendix 4.4: Hermann Weyl to Harlow Shapley on June 5, 1943, Concerning the Problems of the Immigrant from Göttingen, Felix Bernstein

Appendix 5.1: Richard Courant in October 1945 to the American Authorities Who Were Responsible for German Scientific Reparation

Appendix 5.2: Max Dehn's Refusal to Rejoin the German Mathematicians' Association DMV in 1948

Appendix 6: Memoirs for My Children (1933/1988) by Peter Thullen

References

Photographs Index and Credits

Subject Index

Name Index

Notes:

Originally published in German in 1998. This English edition contains new material not found in the original, as well as an updated bibliography.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

9786612580796

9781282580794

1282580795

9781400831401

1400831407

OCLC:

642205793