Related papers: Helmut Salzmann and his Legacy
I discuss some problems related to extreme mathematical realism, focusing on a recently proposed "shut-up-and-calculate" approach to physics (arXiv:0704.0646, arXiv:0709.4024). I offer arguments for a moderate alternative, the essence of…
This is a short obituary of Saunders Mac Lane (1909--2005).
Despite the increasing number of women graduating in mathematics, a systemic gender imbalance persists and is signified by a pronounced gender gap in the distribution of active researchers and professors. Especially at the level of…
The problem of advancing coordinatization of mathematics is considered. The need to develop a theory for measuring value and complexity of mathematical implications and proofs is discussed including motivations, benefits and implementation…
Recollections of the Austrian geometer Heinrich Brauner (in German).
I present some memories of my Ph.D supervisor and, later, collaborator but always encouraging supporter Prof. G. Lazarides. Some of his contributions to our common and related scientific activities on the phenomenology of MSSM and inflation…
A Thesis about Euler discussing the possibilities and limits of his method of work in Mathematics.
Adolf Hurwitz is rather famous for his celebrated contributions to Riemann surfaces, modular forms, diophantine equations and approximation as well as to certain aspects of algebra. His early work on an important generalization of…
We survey the main ideas in the early history of the subjects on which Riemann worked and that led to some of his most important discoveries. The subjects discussed include the theory of functions of a complex variable, elliptic and Abelian…
A small and unsystematic selection of my favorite appearances of mathematicians and mathematics in German literature. It includes classic and romantic (Lessing, Goethe, Wezel, F. Schlegel, Kleist, Novalis, Grillparzer, Heine), modern…
Incomputability as a mathematical notion arose from work of Alan Turing and Alonzo Church in the 1930s. Like Turing himself, it attracted less attention than it deserved beyond the confines of mathematics. Today our experiences in computer…
James Philip Elliott, one of the towering figures of nuclear physics of the second half of the twentieth century, died on the 21st of October 2008. Obituaries appeared in the British press but relatively little attention was paid by the…
I discuss some general aspects of the creation, interpretation, and reception of mathematics as a part of civilization and culture.
n this paper, we establish the sharp estimate of the Lipschitz continuity with respect to the Bergman metric. The obtained results are the improvement and generalization of the corresponding results of Ghatage, Yan and Zheng (Proc. Amer.…
The Midwest Geometry Conference 2007 was devoted to the substantial mathematical legacy of Thomas P. Branson who passed away unexpectedly the previous year. This contribution to the Proceedings briefly introduces this legacy. We also take…
The prominent Russian mathematician Igor Rostislavovich Shafarevich passed away on February 19, 2017. In this article we supply his biography, discuss his many important contributions to number theory, algebra and algebraic geometry, and…
In November 2014 Alexander Grothendieck passed away at the age of 86. There is no doubt that he was one of the greatest and most innovative mathematicians of the 20th century. After a bitter childhood, his meteoric ascent started in the…
We discuss the scientific contributions of Edsger Wybe Dijkstra, his opinions and his legacy.
This paper frames calculus as a global, centuries-long development rather than a subject that began only with Newton and Leibniz. Drawing on ideas from Greek, Indian, Islamic, and later European mathematics, it highlights how concepts like…
A focused modernization of Sophus Lie's brilliant writings about the foundations of geometry that every contemporary geometer should have at least once a look at. Translated, updated, commented.