Ludwig Bieberbach German mathematician. Date of Birth: 04.12.1886 Country: Germany

1. Biography of Ludwig Bieberbach
2. Academic Career
3. Contributions
4. Involvement with the Nazi Party
5. Post-War Consequences

Biography of Ludwig Bieberbach

Ludwig Bieberbach was a German mathematician who was born in Goddelau, near Darmstadt. He studied in Heidelberg and later in Göttingen under the guidance of Felix Klein. In 1910, Bieberbach completed his doctoral dissertation on the theory of automorphic functions and received his deserved degree.

Academic Career

In 1910, Ludwig became a private lecturer in Königsberg, and three years later, he obtained a professorship at the University of Basel. In 1915, he taught at the University of Frankfurt, and in 1921, he joined the University of Berlin, where he remained until 1945. During his career, Bieberbach actively worked on complex analysis and its practical application in various areas of mathematics.

Contributions

In 1911, Bieberbach wrote a paper on Euclidean motions, which later helped solve Hilbert's 18th problem. He formulated the so-called "Bieberbach conjecture" in 1916, which was finally proven in 1984 by Louis de Branges and is now known as the "de Branges' theorem." Additionally, Bieberbach's name is immortalized in the theorem on spatial groups.

Involvement with the Nazi Party

Although Bieberbach was never an active member of the Nazi Party, he clearly supported the actions of the fascists. It is known that he participated in the persecution of Jewish scientists such as Edmund Landau and Issai Shur. Bieberbach was heavily influenced by another German mathematician and anti-Semite, Theodore Vahlen. Together, they founded the movement "Deutsche Mathematik" (German Mathematics) and published a journal with the same name. The goal of the movement was to develop the German intuitionistic mathematical school. It is worth noting that Bieberbach and Vahlen's project was just a small part of the larger project in Nazi Germany to give science racial characteristics. Similar groups, such as "Deutsche Physiker" (German physicists), "Deutsche Chemiker" (German chemists), and "Deutsche Biologen" (German biologists), were also actively functioning at the time.

Post-War Consequences

In 1945, Bieberbach faced severe consequences for his collaboration with the Nazis. He was expelled from all his positions. It was only in 1949 that Alexander Ostrovsky invited Ludwig to give a lecture series at the University of Basel. Alexander was confident that the scientist's political views would not affect his professional skills. Ludwig Bieberbach passed away on September 1, 1982, at the age of 95.