David van Dantzig (September 23, 1900 – July 22, 1959) was a Dutch mathematician, well known for the construction in topology of the

dyadic solenoid In mathematics, a dyadic rational or binary rational is a number that can be expressed as a fraction whose denominator is a power of two. For example, 1/2, 3/2, and 3/8 are dyadic rationals, but 1/3 is not. These numbers are important in computer ...

. He was a member of the

Significs Group Significs ( nl, significa) is a linguistic and philosophical term introduced by Victoria, Lady Welby in the 1890s. It was later adopted by the Dutch Significs Group (or movement) of thinkers around Frederik van Eeden, which included L. E. J. Brouwe ...

Biography

Born to a Jewish family in Amsterdam in 1900, Van Dantzig started to study Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam in 1917, where Gerrit Mannoury lectured. He received his PhD at the University of Groningen in 1931 with a thesis entitled "" under supervision of Bartel Leendert van der Waerden.David van Dantzig
at Mathematics Genealogy Project. He was appointed professor at the Delft University of Technology in 1938, and at the University of Amsterdam in 1946. Among his doctoral students were

Jan Hemelrijk Jan Hemelrijk (28 May 1918 – 16 March 2005) was a Dutch mathematician, Professor of Statistics at the University of Amsterdam, and authority in the field of stochastic processes.Jo van Nunen and Jaap van der Wal. "Jaap wessels–his life with s ...

(1950), Johan Kemperman (1950), David Johannes Stoker (1955), and

Constance van Eeden Constance van Eeden (April 6, 1927 – September 21, 2021) was a Dutch mathematical statistician who made "exceptional contributions to the development of statistical sciences in Canada". She was interested in nonparametric statistics including ...

(1958). In Amsterdam he was one of the founders of the Mathematisch Centrum. At the University of Amsterdam he was succeeded by

. Originally working on topics in differential geometry and topology, after World War II he focused on probability, emphasizing the applicability to

statistical hypothesis testing A statistical hypothesis test is a method of statistical inference used to decide whether the data at hand sufficiently support a particular hypothesis. Hypothesis testing allows us to make probabilistic statements about population parameters. ...

. In 1949 he became member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

. In response to the

North Sea flood of 1953 The 1953 North Sea flood was a major flood caused by a heavy storm surge that struck the Netherlands, north-west Belgium, England and Scotland. Most sea defences facing the surge were overwhelmed, causing extensive flooding. The storm and flo ...

, the Dutch Government established the Delta Committee, and asked Van Dantzig to develop a mathematical approach to formulate and solve the economic cost-benefit decision model concerning optimal dike height problems in connection with the Delta Works. The work of the Delta Committee, including the work by Van Dantzig, finally resulted in statutory minimal safety standards.

Publications

Books, a selection: * 1931. ''Studien over topologische algebra''. Doctoral thesis University of Groningen. * 1932. ''Over de elementen van het wiskundig denken : voordracht''. Rede Delft. Groningen : Noordhoff. * 1938. ''Vragen en schijnvragen over ruimte en tijd : een toepassing van den wiskundigen denkvorm''. Inaugurale rede Technische Hogeschool te Delft * 1948. ''De functie der wetenschap : drie voordrachten, met discussie''. With E.W. Beth and C.F.P. Stutterheim. 's-Gravenhage : Leopold Articles, a selection: * D. van Dantzig, C. Scheffer "On hereditary time discrete stochastic processes, considered as stationary Markov chains, and the corresponding general form of Wald’s fundamental identity," Indag. Math. (16), No.4, (1954), p. 377–388 * Dantzig, D. van. 1956. Economic decision problems for flood prevention. Econometrica 24(3) 276–287.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dantzig, David van 1900 births 1959 deaths Dutch Jews Dutch statisticians 20th-century Dutch mathematicians University of Groningen alumni Academic staff of the Delft University of Technology Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam Fellows of the American Statistical Association Scientists from Amsterdam Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences