Emmy Noether – Mathematician Extraordinaire (eBook)

David E. Rowe (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2021 | 1st ed. 2021
XXI, 339 Seiten
Springer International Publishing (Verlag)
978-3-030-63810-8 (ISBN)

Infos

Although she was famous as the 'mother of modern algebra,' Emmy Noether's life and work have never been the subject of an authoritative scientific biography. Emmy Noether - Mathematician Extraordinaire represents the most comprehensive study of this singularly important mathematician to date. Focusing on key turning points, it aims to provide an overall interpretation of Noether's intellectual development while offering a new assessment of her role in transforming the mathematics of the twentieth century.

Hermann Weyl, her colleague before both fled to the United States in 1933, fully recognized that Noether's dynamic school was the very heart and soul of the famous Göttingen community. Beyond her immediate circle of students, Emmy Noether's lectures and seminars drew talented mathematicians from all over the world. Four of the most important were B.L. van der Waerden, Pavel Alexandrov, Helmut Hasse, and Olga Taussky. Noether's classic papers on ideal theory inspired van der Waerden to recast his research in algebraic geometry. Her lectures on group theory motivated Alexandrov to develop links between point set topology and combinatorial methods. Noether's vision for a new approach to algebraic number theory gave Hasse the impetus to pursue a line of research that led to the Brauer-Hasse-Noether Theorem, whereas her abstract style clashed with Taussky's approach to classical class field theory during a difficult time when both were trying to find their footing in a foreign country.

Although similar to Proving It Her Way: Emmy Noether, a Life in Mathematics, this lengthier study addresses mathematically minded readers. Thus, it presents a detailed analysis of Emmy Noether's work with Hilbert and Klein on mathematical problems connected with Einstein's theory of relativity. These efforts culminated with her famous paper 'Invariant Variational Problems,' published one year before she joined the Göttingen faculty in 1919.

      

David E. Rowe is professor emeritus for history of mathematics and natural sciences at Mainz University. He is the author of A Richer Picture of Mathematics: The Göttingen Tradition and Beyond, Springer, 2018.

Inhalt

Contents 5
Preface 7
Chapter 1 Max and Emmy Noether: Mathematics in Erlangen 22
1.1 Max Noether’s early Career 23
1.2 Academic Antisemitism 27
1.3 Emmy Noether’s Uphill Climb 36
1.4 Classical vs. Modern Invariant Theory 44
1.5 Max Noether’s Career in Retrospect 56
Chapter 2 Emmy Noether’s Long Struggle to Habilitate in Göttingen 60
2.1 Opportunities for Women in Göttingen, 1890–1914 60
2.2 Habilitation as the Last Hurdle 65
2.3 Noether’s Attempt to Habilitate 69
Chapter 3 Emmy Noether’s Role in the Relativity Revolution 84
3.1 Einstein’s Road to General Relativity 85
3.2 Hilbert’s Approach to Einstein’s Theory 88
3.3 Einstein reads Hilbert 91
3.4 Klein’s Interests in General Relativity 94
3.5 Noether on Invariant Variational Problems 100
3.6 On the Slow Reception of Noether’s Theorems 106
Chapter 4 Noether’s Early Contributions to Modern Algebra 110
4.1 On the Rise of Abstract Algebra 110
4.2 Noether’s Contributions to Abstract Ideal Theory 113
4.3 Noether’s Ideal Theory and the Theorem of LaskerNoether 117
4.4 Van der Waerden in Göttingen 119
4.5 Pavel Alexandrov and Pavel Urysohn 127
4.6 Brouwer and the Two Russians 130
4.7 Urysohn’s Tragic Death 133
4.8 Helping a Needy Friend 136
Chapter 5 Noether’s International School in Modern Algebra 142
5.1 Mathematics at “The Klie” 142
5.2 The Takagi Connection 146
5.3 Bologna ICM and Semester in Moscow 149
5.4 Helmut Hasse and the Marburg Connection 155
5.5 Takagi and Class Field Theory 158
5.6 Collaboration with Hasse and Brauer 160
5.7 Noether’s “Wish List” for Favorite Foreigners 166
5.8 Paul Dubreil and the French Connection 171
Chapter 6 Emmy Noether’s Triumphal Years 175
6.1 The Marburg “Schiefkongress” 175
6.2 Rockefeller and the IEB Program 179
6.3 Birth of the Brauer-Hasse-Noether Theorem 183
6.4 Olga Taussky and the Hilbert Edition 190
6.5 From Vienna to Göttingen 192
6.6 Taussky on Hilbert’s 70th Birthday 196
6.7 Zurich ICM in 1932 201
Chapter 7 Cast Out of Her Country 208
7.1 Dark Clouds over Göttingen 208
7.2 First Wave of Dismissals 213
7.3 Hasse’s Campaign for Noether 218
Chapter 8 Emmy Noether in Bryn Mawr 232
8.1 Bryn Mawr College and Algebra in the United States 232
8.2 Emmy Noether’s New Home 238
8.3 Emmy’s Efforts on Behalf of Fritz Noether 245
8.4 Last Visit in Göttingen 254
8.5 Lecturer at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study 260
Chapter 9 Memories and Legacies of Emmy Noether 273
9.1 Obituaries and Memorials 273
9.2 Fate of Fritz Noether and his Family 285
9.3 Hasse’s Sympathies for Hitlerism 297
9.4 Noether and “Hebraic Algebra” 298
9.5 “German Algebra” in the United States 302
9.6 On Noether’s Influence and Legacies 304
9.7 Courant, Alexandrov, and Grete Hermann 309
Bibliography 315
Name Index 347

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 9.1.2021
• Zusatzinfo: XXI, 339 p. 14 illus. in color.
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Mathematik ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Schlagworte: Emmy Noether mathematics • Emmy Noether's school • German mathematicians • History of Abstract Algebra • History of Algebra • Jewish mathematicians • Life of Emmy Noether • Mathematics in the twentieth century • Mathematics under the Nazis • Noether's Theorem • women in mathematics
• ISBN-10: 3-030-63810-3 / 3030638103
• ISBN-13: 978-3-030-63810-8 / 9783030638108