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Kurt Werner Friedrich Reidemeister (13 October 1893 – 8 July 1971) was a mathematician born in
Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...
(Brunswick), Germany.


Life

He was a brother of Marie Neurath. Beginning in 1912, he studied in Freiburg, Munich, Marburg, and Göttingen. In 1920, he got the staatsexamen (master's degree) in mathematics, philosophy, physics, chemistry, and geology. He received his doctorate in 1921 with a
thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...
in
algebraic number theory Algebraic number theory is a branch of number theory that uses the techniques of abstract algebra to study the integers, rational numbers, and their generalizations. Number-theoretic questions are expressed in terms of properties of algebraic ob ...
at the University of Hamburg under the supervision of Erich Hecke. He became interested in differential geometry; he edited Wilhelm Blaschke's 2nd volume about that issue, and both made an acclaimed contribution to the Jena DMV conference in Sep 1921. In October 1922 (or 1923) he was appointed assistant professor at the University of Vienna. While there he became familiar with the work of Wilhelm Wirtinger on
knot theory In the mathematical field of topology, knot theory is the study of mathematical knots. While inspired by knots which appear in daily life, such as those in shoelaces and rope, a mathematical knot differs in that the ends are joined so it cannot ...
, and became closely connected to Hans Hahn and the Vienna Circle. Its manifesto (1929) lists one of Reidemeister's publications in a bibliography of closely related authors. In 1925 he became full professor at University of Königsberg; he stayed until 1933, when he was regarded politically unsound by the
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Naz ...
, and dismissed from his chair. Whilst there he organised the Second Conference on the Epistemology of the Exact Sciences in conjunction with journal '' Erkenntnis''. Blaschke managed to get a promise about Reidemeister's reappointment, and in autumn 1934 he got the chair of Kurt Hensel at the University of Marburg. He stayed there, except for a visit to the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study in 1948–1950, until he got appointed to Göttingen University in 1955, where he stayed until his emeritation.


Works

Reidemeister's interests were mainly in
combinatorial group theory In mathematics, combinatorial group theory is the theory of free groups, and the concept of a presentation of a group by generators and relations. It is much used in geometric topology, the fundamental group of a simplicial complex having in a na ...
,
combinatorial topology In mathematics, combinatorial topology was an older name for algebraic topology, dating from the time when topological invariants of spaces (for example the Betti numbers) were regarded as derived from combinatorial decompositions of spaces, such ...
, geometric group theory, and the foundations of geometry. His works include ''Knoten und Gruppen'' (1926), ''Einführung in die kombinatorische Topologie'' (1932), and ''Knotentheorie'' (1932). He co-edited the journal '' Mathematische Annalen'' from 1947 until 1963.Title page
of vol.274 (1986)
He was also a philosopher. His book "Das exakte Denken der Griechen" (1949) is not so well known as his mathematical work. In it he remarks that mathematical thought is "just the beginning of thought."


See also

* Reidemeister moves * Reidemeister–Singer theorem * Reidemeister torsion


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reidemeister, Kurt 1893 births 1971 deaths 20th-century German mathematicians Scientists from Braunschweig Topologists University of Hamburg alumni Academics of the University of Vienna University of Königsberg faculty Vienna Circle