Constantin Caratheodory

Mathematics and politics in turbulent times

Maria Georgiadou

651 pages, parution le 05/01/2004

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Résumé

Constantin Caratheodory - Mathematics and Politics in Turbulent Times is the biography of a mathematicien, born in Berlin in 1873, who became famous during his life time, but has hitherto been ignored by historians for half a century since his death in 1950, in Munich.

In a thought-provoking approach, Maria Georgiadou devotes to Constantin Caratheodory all the attention such a personality deserves. With breathtaking detail and the appropriate scrutiny she elucidates his oeuvre, life and turbulent political and historical surroundings. A descendant of the Greek elite of Constantinople, Caratheodory graduated from the military school of Brussels, became an engineer at the Assiut dam in Egypt and fïnally dedicated a life of effort to mathematics and education. He studied and embarked on an international academic career, haunted by wars, catastrophes and personal tragedies. Over the last years of his life, he stayed in Munich despite World War II, an ambiguous decision upon which the author sheds unprecedented light.

Caratheodory's most significant mathematical contributions were to the calculus of variations, the theory of point set measure and the theory of functions of a real variable, pde's, also to complex function theory. The interdisciplinary nature of the text allows easy access for both scholars and readers with a general interest in mathematics, politics and history. The thoroughness of the author's research and evaluations is certain to leave everyone impressed and more knowledgeable.

L'auteur - Maria Georgiadou

She was born in Thessaloniki in 1952. She studied physics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, received an MSc degree in theoretical physics from the University of Essex and, after specialising in theoretical astrophysics, a doctoral degree from the Eberhard-Karl Universität zu Tübingen. She worked as a teacher of physics in Greek secondary education in Greece and Germany from 1979 to 1994 and was Stanley Seeger Visiting Fellow at the Program in Hellenic Studies of Princeton University in 2000. She has published on the history and organisation of science, on physics and natural sciences and recently, as a consequence of her interest in the mathematician C. Carathéodory, on the history of the Graeco-Ottoman elite of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Sommaire

Origin and formative years
Academic Career in Gemany
The Asia-Minor Project
A scolar of World Reputation
National Socialism and War
The final years
Epilogue
A - Some explanations concerning the text
B - A short biographical sketch of the Carathéodory family
C - Chronology
D - Carathéodory's fields of study and contributions bearing his name
E - A list of Carathéodory's Students
Notes
Bibliograpy

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	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Springer
Auteur(s)	Maria Georgiadou
Parution	05/01/2004
Nb. de pages	651
Format	16,5 x 24
Couverture	Relié
Poids	1285g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9783540442585