Konrad Knopp
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Konrad Hermann Theodor Knopp (22 July 1882 – 20 April 1957) was a German
mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
who worked on generalized limits and complex functions.


Family and education

Knopp was born in 1882 in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
to Paul Knopp (1845–1904), a businessman in manufacturing, and Helene (1857–1923), née Ostertun, whose own father was a butcher. Paul's hometown of Neustettin, then part of Germany, became Polish territory after the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and is now called
Szczecinek Szczecinek (; ) is a historic city in Middle Pomerania, northwestern Poland, capital of Szczecinek County in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, with a population of more than 40,000 (2011). The town's total area is . The turbulent history of Szcze ...
. In 1910, Konrad married the painter Gertrud Kressner (1879–1974). They had a daughter Ortrud Knopp (1911–1976), with the grandchildren Willfried Spohn (1944–2012), Herbert Spohn (born 1946) and
Wolfgang Spohn Wolfgang Konrad Spohn (born 20 March 1950, in Tübingen) is a German philosopher. He is professor of philosophy and philosophy of science at the University of Konstanz. Biography Wolfgang Spohn studied philosophy, logic and philosophy of sc ...
(born 1950), and a son Ingolf Knopp (1915–2008), with the grandchildren Brigitte Knopp (born 1952) and Werner Knopp (born 1954). Konrad was primarily educated in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, with a brief sojourn at the
University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne (UNIL; ) in Lausanne, Switzerland, was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second-oldest in Switzerland, and one of the oldest universities ...
in 1901 for a single semester, before settling at the
University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...
, where he remained for his doctoral studies. His doctoral thesis, entitled ''Grenzwerte von Reihen bei der Annäherung an die Konvergenzgrenze'', was supervised by Schottky and
Frobenius Frobenius is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Ferdinand Georg Frobenius (1849–1917), mathematician ** Frobenius algebra ** Frobenius endomorphism ** Frobenius inner product ** Frobenius norm ** Frobenius method ** Frobenius g ...
; he received his PhD in 1907.


Travels, teaching, and military career

Knopp traveled widely in
Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
, taking teaching jobs in
Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...
, Japan (1908-9), at the commercial college, and in
Qingdao Qingdao, Mandarin: , (Qingdao Mandarin: t͡ɕʰiŋ˧˩ tɒ˥) is a prefecture-level city in the eastern Shandong Province of China. Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, Qingdao was long an important fortress. In 1897, the city was ceded to G ...
, China (1910–11), at the German-Chinese college there, and spending some time in India and China following his stay in Japan. His wedding to Kressner, the daughter of Colonel Karl Kressner and Hedwig Rebling, took place in Germany between these periods. After Qingdao he returned to Germany for good and taught at military academies while writing his
habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...
thesis for Berlin University. During the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
he was an officer and was wounded at the beginning of the war, which resulted in his discharge from the army; by the autumn of 1914 he was teaching at Berlin University. In the following year he was appointed as an
extraordinary professor Academic ranks in Germany are the titles, relative importance and power of professors, researchers, and administrative personnel held in academia. Overview Appointment grades * (Pay grade: ''W3'' or ''W2'') * (''W3'') * (''W2'') * (''W2'', ...
at the
University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in Duchy of Prussia, which was a fief of Poland. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant Reformation, Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke A ...
, becoming an
ordinary professor Academic ranks in Germany are the titles, relative importance and power of professors, researchers, and administrative personnel held in academia. Overview Appointment grades * (Pay grade: ''W3'' or ''W2'') * (''W3'') * (''W2'') * (''W2'', ...
there in 1919. In 1926 he accepted a professorship at
University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...
as the chair of mathematics, and remained there until his retirement in 1950.


Publications and editions


Articles

Selected articles of Knopp include: * * * * * * In 1918, Knopp was one of the co-founders of the journal ''
Mathematische Zeitschrift ''Mathematische Zeitschrift'' ( German for ''Mathematical Journal'') is a mathematical journal for pure and applied mathematics published by Springer Verlag. History The journal was founded in 1917, with its first issue appearing in 1918. It wa ...
'' (in which the majority of his above-cited articles are published). He was the editor of the journal from 1934 to 1952. After retirement Knopp continued to do mathematics, publishing for example * and delivering the lecture ''Folgenräume und Limitierungsverfahren'' at the first meeting of the International Mathematics Union in 1952.


Books

Knopp's mathematical research was on "generalized limits" and he wrote two books on sequences and series: * * He also authored two texts on functions of a complex variable as well as a problem book: * * * He also produced the sixth edition of the three-volume work (a fourth volume was later added by Friedrich Lösch in 1980): *


See also

*
Osgood curve In mathematical analysis, an Osgood curve is a non-self-intersecting curve that has positive area. Despite its area, it is not possible for such a curve to cover any Domain (mathematical analysis), two-dimensional region, distinguishing them from ...
*
Riemann zeta function The Riemann zeta function or Euler–Riemann zeta function, denoted by the Greek letter (zeta), is a mathematical function of a complex variable defined as \zeta(s) = \sum_^\infty \frac = \frac + \frac + \frac + \cdots for and its analytic c ...


References

The following works were used as sources for the MacTutor biography on which this article was originally based: * * * * * *


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Knopp, Konrad 1882 births 1957 deaths 20th-century German mathematicians German Army personnel of World War I Complex analysts German mathematical analysts Mathematicians from Berlin Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Academic staff of the University of Königsberg Academic staff of the University of Tübingen